NASHVILLE, Tenn – Hoping to take advantage of Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan’s suspension for games three and four in this series, The Predators stormed out of the locker Sunday and broke out to a 2-0 lead. Nashville scored two goals in 38 seconds at 15:00 and 15:38 of the first.
The problem for the Predators was that no one told the Anaheim Ducks to roll over and play dead.
Martin Erat and Jordin Tootoo staked the Preds to the early 2-0 lead when they broke through with their first goals of the post season. With the arena in a frenzy, the Predators stymied the Ducks offense through the remainder of the first period and deep into the second period.
But late in the second, the Ducks surpassed the Predators first period scoring rush when they potted two goals in 30 seconds to knot the match at two apiece.
Teemu Selanne was responsible for both markers, his third and fourth of the series. The goals came at 18:10 and 18:40 of the period and silenced the home crowd.
The game see-sawed the rest of the night and was not settled until the final frantic rush by Anaheim to tie the score and force overtime was turned aside by Nashville.
Mike Fisher was credited with the game winner when he scored at 10:21 of the third off assists from Sergie Kostitsyn and Ryan Suter.
Earlier in the final period David Legwand had pushed Nashville back in the lead 3-2 when he scored at 5:25.
But a little over a minute later Matt Beleskey tied the game at three and set the stage for Legwand’s heroics minutes later.
Ray Emery took the loss in stopping 33 of 37 shots. Pekka Rinne was able to stop 13 of the 16 shots he faced on the evening for the win.
The Predators were able to smother the Ducks offense in limiting their chances and shots on net. The club is a grinding squad with a dedication to defense and blocking shots. The Ducks now find themselves down in the series 2-1 and must get through one more game before Ryan is back on the bench.
Contact Lou.Lafrado@prohockeynews.com
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