In Nashville Monday night, Pekka Rinne made 26 saves to help the Predators force a decisive Game 7 in Anaheim on Wednesday.
A gutsy performance across the bench earned the Preds a 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks.
“You could tell with the way we played, especially playing at home, it was nice to get that win,” Rinne said. “I have to say about these fans, they’re unbelievable. It was so much fun and a great atmosphere, and thank you, guys. It was a lot of fun and a great win. I’m just really excited about the Game 7.”
Mattias Ekholm opened the scoring in the second period and James Neal upped the lead to 2-0 for Nashville.
“I thought it was big,” Ekholm said. “I thought we needed it at the time, but the building really got us going after that. It was a great play by Jarnkrok. He came out of the other side of the net, and I like to do those little interchanges with the forwards coming down. I think their guys had been out there for a while and were a little bit tired, and I got into a pretty good scoring area. Just trying to put the puck at the net, and it went in.”
Shea Weber added an empty-netter with 10 seconds left in regulation.
“It’s awesome. Looking forward to it,” Weber said. “You grow up with playing these street-hockey games, Game 7s, and you dream of it, so it’s going to be a good time.”1
Ryan Kesler scored on the power play for Anaheim as time was winding down in the middle frame.
Game 7s have not been kind to the Ducks of late; they have lost the last three Game 7s on home ice.
“It’s a new team, new time,” said Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau. “Every year is different, every day is different, and we’re looking forward to the game.”
Frederik Andersen took the loss on 23 saves.
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