Trailing 0-2 in their series with the Nashville Predators, the Anaheim Ducks needed a win, any kind of win Tuesday night to get back in the series.
They got the win as Frederik Andersen made 27 saves to help blank the Predators, 3-0.
The win makes Anaheim’s deficit only 1-2 heading into Game 4.
“We came with a business-like mindset,” Andersen said. “We wanted to get back in the series. Huge, huge game for us. We came here to play in the first and did some of the things right we wanted to improve from the last two games.”
Jamie McGinn was left alone on Pekka Rinne’s left and one-timed a pass from Shawn Horcoff for the first goal of the game in the first period.
“It was great to see some of the guys like [Horcoff] back in the lineup,” Andersen said. “Veteran presence, both on the ice and in the locker room. It was good to see him back in for us, and I think definitely the penalty kill did a great job to help us win the game.”
The Ducks extended the lead in the second period on a goal from Rickard Rakell. The goal was a bit of sleight of hand as Rakell deflected the puck from the point as it went through his legs and off the back of his stick blade.
“He (Sami Vatanen) made a perfect shot-pass for me,” Rakell said. “I just really had to put the stick on it. We work a lot on deflections and shots from the point in practice. I don’t do that all the time, but it was a perfect pass from [Vatanen], and it was nice to see it go in.”
Chris Stewart picked up the third goal of the night on a shot from the slot.
“When we play defense first, the other things tend to work themselves out,” Stewart said. “If we’ve got to win 1-0, 2-0, that’s fine. We’ve been doing that the majority of the year, and that’s when we’re at our best.”
Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau echoed the comments of the business-like approach to the game.
“I think that as a group they were responsible tonight,” he said. “It was a businesslike fashion. We got the couple breaks when we got them and put them in, and that’s playoff hockey.”
The Predators lost Craig Smith to a lower body injury in the first period and went 0-for-5 on the power play.
“We took too many penalties I thought again tonight,” Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa said. “We did a good job killing, but as the series goes on you don’t want to be giving too many chances to that unit.”
Game 4 is slated for Thursday in Nashville (8 p.m. ET; NHLN, FX-CA, TVA Sports 3, PRIME, FS-TN).
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