Ducks Bounce Back, Beat Predators 3-0 To Pull Within 2-1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Frederik Andersen made 27 saves, and the Anaheim Ducks shut out the Nashville Predators 3-0 Tuesday night to pull within 2-1 in their first-round playoff series.
The Ducks have not lost three straight to open a postseason series since the 2006 Western Conference finals, and they didn't come close to dropping a third straight this year.
Andersen, who started in net after John Gibson took the first two losses in Anaheim, posted his second postseason shutout despite taking Shea Weber's slap shot off his head. He has 15 postseason wins since 2014.
Chris Stewart had a goal and an assist, and Jamie McGinn and Rickard Rakell each scored their first goals of the series.
Game 4 is Thursday night in Nashville.
The Predators returned home with their first 2-0 lead in the postseason. The Predators lost center Craig Smith to a lower-body injury after he played only 65 seconds over two shifts, leaving coach Peter Laviolette mixing up his lines.
Coach Bruce Boudreau called out his Ducks after a 3-2 loss in Game 2 for taking too many penalties and talking too much to the officials. Boudreau also switched back to Andersen and played Shawn Horcoff for the first time in this series looking for a spark.
Even though the Ducks took five penalties, they still showed much more discipline once the whistle blew.
They also took very good care of the puck with no turnovers in the first 20 minutes, and the combination helped them lead at the end of a period for the first time in this series.
McGinn scored on a wrister from the right circle off a pass from Horcoff after he skated up the slot midway through the first.
A sold-out crowd tried to give the Predators a boost, but some sloppy play with too many turnovers and missed opportunities on the man advantage led to a smattering of boos late in the second.
When Filip Forsberg helped kill off a big chunk of an Anaheim power play, fans gave him a standing ovation. Nashville took the first few shots of the second period and even got its second man advantage when McGinn tripped Forsberg after the Predators forward beat two Ducks for the puck.
Weber, who won the hardest shot competition at the All-Star Game in January, had a slap shot in the opening seconds of the power play that hit Andersen in the mask. A trainer came out to check on Andersen, who missed seven games because of a concussion in March. The goalie stayed in the game.
Rakell, who returned for this series after a ruptured appendix, finally got his first goal of the series at 11:33 of the second. He redirected a shot from Sami Vatanen to give Anaheim its biggest lead in this series. Then Stewart padded the lead, putting a backhand top shelf off his own miss at 17:06 of the second.
NOTES: Captain Ryan Getzlaf became the first Anaheim player in franchise history to play in 100 playoff games. ... Weber set a franchise record by playing in his 48th postseason game, breaking a tie with David Legwand (47).
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