The Anaheim Ducks are up against the wall now after a 3-1 Game 5 loss to the Nashville Predators Saturday.
Pekka Rinne made sure of the loss with 32 saves to get twin for the Preds.
“We all know it’s nothing but Game 6 for us,” Rinne said. “If we win, we’re in the [Cup Final]. If we lose, we come back here, and we don’t want to do that.”
Anaheim now trails in the series, 3-2, as the series heads to Nashville for Game 6 on Monday night.
Pontus Aberg, a rookie, scored the game-winner midway through the third period.
Injuries have mounted on the Predators’ side with Ryan Johansen and Mike Fisher out of the lineup.
Johansen is out for the rest of the postseason after surgery follow9ing a Game 4 injury.
“We had guys show up and play extremely hard today and hard fought,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said. “This is a tough building to play in against a good team, a veteran team, and we’re able to walk away with a win.”
The Ducks lost John Gibson in the first period to a lower body injury.
Jonathan Bernier took the loss on 16 saves.
The Ducks took a 1-0 lead in the second period on a goal from Chris Wagner.
The problem for the Ducks was they basically slept through the last half of the game and were pushed around by Nashivlle.
“We didn’t move our feet, we didn’t compete the way I like our group to do,” Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf said. “We’ve got to do better.”
Colin Wilson tied the game 1-1 with a goal with 41 second lefts in the middle frame.
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Ducks highlights | RELATED: Complete Nashville vs. Anaheim series coverage]
Austin Watson scored an empty-netter to seal it for the Predators.
“We’ll flush this, we’ll get ourselves ready, we’ll re-energize our group, and we’ll look forward to playing a better game than we played tonight,” Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said of the dismal effort from his squad.
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