LDN - Sports

Ducks rally for shootout victory over Predators

[March 08, 2017] ANAHEIM, Calif. -- In just his fourth game with the Anaheim Ducks, Patrick Eaves made his biggest contribution so far for his new team.

Eaves scored in the fifth round for the lone goal in a shootout as the Ducks rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night at the Honda Center.

Eaves added two assists for the Ducks, who moved into a second-place tie with the Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division. Ryan Getzlaf also had a goal and two assists, Nick Ritchie and Rickard Rakell contributed goals, and goalie Jonathan Bernier stopped 24 shots for Anaheim (34-22-10).

"Our goaltending and penalty killing saved us," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "It didn't really look that way. We were pretty flat. Our passing was not where it needed to be to execute against their forecheck. They were coming at us and controlling the play early.

"We just simplified our game. I thought for the last 40 minutes of the game, we played a lot of hockey in their zone. We were physical and closer to the level that's going to be required as we go down the stretch."

Filip Forsberg, Colin Wilson and Ryan Ellis scored for the Predators, who received two assists from Calle Jarnkrok and 39 saves from goalie Pekka Rinne.

Nashville (32-24-10) lost its third in a row after conceding late goals in each contest.

"We need to stay with the mindset of attacking when we're up, not just when we're down," Ellis said. "We have to have a going-forward attitude all the time. Tonight, we didn't."

Eaves, who converted his only previous shootout opportunity earlier this season for the Dallas Stars, was successful on a rising wrist shot into the upper left corner.

"He's so big and he's always on his angle," Eaves said about Rinne, "so I was just going to try to get a quick shot off and, hopefully, make it so he has to react to it and that it just doesn't hit him. Fortunately, I got it over the pad and it went in."

Bernier then used his right leg pad to block Ryan Johansen's backhand attempt to secure the victory.

"Everything you do on the ice magnifies at this point of the season," Rinne said. "You don't want to be in the situation where you look back at these games and have second thoughts about these points that we lost."

Ritchie and Rakell enabled the Ducks to nullify a 3-1 deficit by scoring in the final seven minutes of the second period. At 13:19, Ritchie pounced on a loose puck that hit Eaves after Getzlaf fired a slap shot, and he converted inside the right post.

Then with 57.3 seconds left in the period, Rakell's team-leading 27th goal tied the score. Eaves corralled the rebound of another slap shot from Getzlaf and passed to Rakell, whose wrist shot deflected off the Predators' Vernon Fiddler into the net.

Nashville scored twice within two minutes early in the first period to build a 2-0 lead. Wilson began the scoring with his fifth goal in the past 10 games and his 12th of the season.

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Ducks center Ryan Kesler (17) shoots on goal in front of Nashville Predators center Calle Jarnkrok (19) during the second period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm started the sequence by deflecting Andrew Cogliano's pass intended for Ryan Kesler. Jarnkrok secured the loose puck in the neutral zone and dropped a pass to James Neal near the right boards.

As Cogliano checked him from behind, Neal passed to Wilson while falling forward, and Wilson converted a backhand in front of the crease 4:26 into the first period.

Then at 6:23, Ellis celebrated his return to the lineup by one-timing a slap shot from the left point on a power play for his 12th goal. Ellis missed one game after injuring his right leg Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens.

Bernier conceded two goals on the Predators' first four shots.

"We gave up a goal on the power play, and in the past, that would bury our team," Getzlaf said. "This time, it didn't. We kept fighting and kept doing the right things."

Anaheim used a power-play goal with 5:44 left in the opening period to draw within 2-1. Sami Vatanen's slap shot just inside the blue line deflected off Rinne's glove to Getzlaf, who swept the rebound over Rinne's left leg pad for his 12th goal.

"Once the power play got the goal," Carlyle said, "it was like, 'Now, this is going to be a hockey game. We're not out of this thing.' "

The Predators extended their lead to 3-1 with a short-handed goal at 11:29 of the second period. Jarnkrok secured a puck that rolled off the stick of Anaheim's Cam Fowler and passed to Forsberg, who scored his team-leading 27th goal on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle. Forsberg now has 11 goals and four assists in his past eight games.

NOTES: Nashville scratched D Anthony Bitetto, LW Kevin Fiala, D Brad Hunt, RW P.A Parenteau and C Colton Sissons. ... Anaheim scratched G John Gibson, D Korbinian Holzer, RW Ondrej Kase and C Antoine Vermette. ... Ducks LW Andrew Cogliano played in his 770th consecutive game. If he plays in the next seven, Cogliano would pass Craig Ramsay and move into fourth place among the NHL's career leaders in successive appearances.

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