The hockey world was somewhat stunned on Friday as the Nashville Predators stole Game 1 of their first-round playoff series from the Anaheim Ducks.
The Predators have had this fleeting moment of postseason momentum before and took great advantage of those past occurrences to the fullest. However, the Ducks are no strangers to overcoming daunting adversities themselves, and will now look to even up the series before things get out of hand.
Who will emerge with another key win from Game 2 this Sunday? Let’s find out more about this thrilling Western Conference matchup below. And for more on Sunday night’s playoff action over in the East, check out our previews for Lightning vs. Red Wings and Panthers vs. Islanders right after this.
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Nashville Predators vs. Anaheim Ducks Game 2 Preview
Where: Honda Center, Anaheim
When: Sunday, April 17, 10:30 PM ET
Line: Nashville Predators (+140) at Anaheim Ducks (-160) – view all NHL lines
TV Broadcast: NBCSN
Betting on the Nashville Predators
Could this be a repeat of the two teams’ last postseason encounter five years ago, in which Nashville also stole home-ice advantage from Anaheim for the franchise’s first-ever playoff series win? Friday’s victory also marked the Predators’ first playoff series lead since 2012 when it defeated Detroit in five games, so the trends are certainly in favor of the Music City boys right now.
Winger James Neal scored just 35 seconds into the contest and finished with a career playoff-best nine shots on goal to start things off for the Preds. Filip Forsberg then sealed the deal with his go-ahead goal with less than 10 minutes left in Friday’s match, and now has seven points over his last seven postseason appearances.
While Nashville got solid offense from its speedy forwards, the team’s success still came down to goalie Pekka Rinne’s superb job of containing the high-flying Ducks. Rinne stopped 27 shots in Game 1, and has now saved 92 of Anaheim’s 97 shots across his last three starts, which all led to victories for Nashville.
The Ducks may have avoided fellow Pacific rivals Los Angeles and San Jose in this year’s playoffs, but now they’re probably regretting drawing the Predators in the first round. Quite surprisingly, the Preds actually scored 10 more goals than the Ducks in the regular season (228-218), and they also won two of their three regular season meetings against the Ducks.
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Betting on the Anaheim Ducks
The loss to Nashville on Friday was a total downer, but at least the Anaheim Ducks have got to be grateful that it wasn’t a total blowout.
Young, standout goalie John Gibson made 30 saves in Game 1, but found little help from his team’s blueliners to keep the Predators’ attack at bay. Anaheim’s defensive unit just took another serious blow that evening, as Josh Manson is now questionable for Game 2 after suffering an undisclosed upper-body injury in the first period of Friday’s contest. The team is already playing without another one of its solid defensemen in Kevin Bieksa, so it appears that Gibson will be pulling a lot of is team’s weight on the defensive end once more.
Still, with Gibson (and even backup Frederik Andersen) between the pipes, the Ducks should still be tough to crack. Their 2.27 goals allowed average was tops in the league during the regular season, and their offense is still one to watch out for.
Ryans Getzlaf and Kesler each found the back of the net for the Ducks on Friday, with the former scoring on a 5-on-3 man advantage. Power play goals like Getzlaf’s should be capitalized on more often and Anaheim certainly has the brass to do so, having finished first in power play conversion this season with an even 25-percent success rate.
Plus, let’s not forget that this is the same team that sputtered in the first two months or so of the regular season before going on a league-wide tear from Christmas onwards. Nobody knows how to bounce back in emphatic fashion this season than these Ducks.
Writer’s Prediction
The Predators now have a commanding 2-0 series lead after the stellar 4-2 victory at Anaheim.
