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 Austin Watson provided it.
The left winger's hustle led to his assist on the game's first goal
and his huge hit on Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf electrified a
sellout crowd Thursday night as Nashville exploded for a 5-1 romp at
Bridgestone Arena.
Defenseman Ryan Ellis and center Colin Wilson each collected a goal
and two assists for the Predators (6-1-0), while center Mike Ribeiro
and defenseman Mattias Ekholm added a goal and a helper each.
But it was Watson who got Nashville started, winning a race for a
loose puck in the neutral zone, skating down the right side and
feeding left winger Eric Nystrom for a tap-in goal from the slot at
3:40 of the second.
"It was a 50-50 puck and luckily, the bounce went my way," Watson
said. "The D-man went down, as a lot of teams try to do, to take
away my lane. But I was able to get around him and Eric was going
hard to the net."
On his next shift, Watson gave his team another jolt when he
dump-trucked Getzlaf in Anaheim's offensive zone as the audience of
17,113 erupted.
"He's a big guy and Watty's a big guy," Ellis said. "What a hit. He
was making great plays all night."
Ellis contributed some as well. Nine seconds after Getzlaf finished
serving a minor for hooking, Ellis bombed a one-timer past goalie
Anton Khudobin at 12:47 for his first goal, the first of his three
points.
Ribeiro upped the lead to 3-0 at 17:00 with a bad-angle slapper that
appeared to hit Khudobin in the leg and trickle over the goal line.
Staring a three-goal deficit in the face, the struggling Ducks were
well on their way to another poor outing to start the season.
They've been outscored 17-6 in a 1-4-1 start, a 180-degree turn from
their 32-8-2 mark in the first month of their last three seasons.
"I thought our first period was real good," Anaheim coach Bruce
Boudreau said, "and as soon as that first goal was scored, we felt a
little sorry for ourselves. You could see our shoulders sag. You
have to dig deeper."
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Instead, the only thing which got deeper was the Ducks' hole. Ellis'
slick cross-ice pass in the neutral zone found Ekholm on a 4-on-4
and he ripped a slapper past Khudobin at 3:03 of the third period,
making it a 4-0 margin and essentially ending the game's competitive
phase.
Anaheim left winger Jiri Sekac potted a power-play tally at 12:15 to
avert a shutout, but Wilson finished the scoring with his own
man-advantage goal from Ellis at 18:18.
"It's tough to play like that every night, but if we can get looks
like that every night and bury our chances, that would be great,"
Ellis said.
Pekka Rinne (5-1-0) stopped 27 shots for the Predators, who won for
just the second time in 10 games against the Ducks and have amassed
12 points in their first seven games for the second straight season.
Khudobin (1-2-0) made 24 stops but couldn't repel enough rubber to
give his team a chance to steal a point or two.
"I think he'd like to have another go at a couple of those goals,"
Boudreau said of Khudobin.
NOTES: Anaheim D Clayton Stoner (lower-body injury) returned to the
lineup after missing the last three games. ... Nashville Ds Ryan
Ellis (knee) and Barret Jackman (upper body) and LW Austin Watson
(upper body) returned to the lineup after sitting out Tuesday
night's 5-4 shootout win over Tampa Bay. ... The Ducks scratched D
Korbinian Holzer, who made his NHL debut Sunday night in a 4-1 win
over Minnesota, and RW Tim Jackman. ... Predators scratches included
D Anthony Bitetto, D Victor Bartley and LW Viktor Arvidsson.
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