In Anaheim, the Ducks were grounded in game one of their opening round series, 3-2, by the Nashville Predators.
Filip Forsberg scored the game-winner for Nashville in the third period.
Filip Forsberg scored game-winner in Anaheim – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“On to the second, we kind of got our legs going,” Predators forward James Neal said. “I think that’s when we started to feel good about our game. We had a great third, and Filip scored a huge goal, made a great play trying to get it to [Smith], and when you’re going to the net, good things happen.”
Pekka Rinne made 27 saves to backstop the Preds to the win.
“We didn’t play as well as we needed to play in order to be successful, and there’s no doubt,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We can all play better. I think there’s not one guy that played great tonight, so we can all play better.”
Neal and Colin Wilson also scored for Nashville.
Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead after Neal’s opening goal.
“I thought the beginning of the second period, after we scored the goal to take a lead, they took it to us pretty good for about 10 minutes,” Boudreau said. “Then they got the tip goal, and it sort of changed the momentum all around.”
Nashville’s Ryan Ellis played a solid game and earned his coach’s praise after the game.
“He had a really nice play and really played a real strong game,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “The one that he kept out of the net was almost a little bit more fluky than anything else. I’m not sure when he went down in the net that was the plan, but he just found himself there and was able to put up a wall right on the goal line.”
John Gibson took the loss on 30 saves.
The Predators were 0-for-3 on the power play and the Ducks scored once in four chances with the extra skater.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is at Honda Center on Sunday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVA Sports, FS-TN, FS-W).
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