Nashville Predators eliminate Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 for first series win – NHL Play-offs
For the first time in franchise history, the Nashville Predators defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 to advance to the second round of the play-offs at the sold out Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday.
Nashville’s Coach Barry Trotz finally got what he deserved after spending 12 seasons with the Predators and that was a series win in the play-offs.
"I'm happy because I think of the resiliency of the group that worked so hard all year, and I'm relieved because there is a little bit of a cloud that we wanted to get to the next level," said Trotz.
Anaheim’s veteran player, Teemu Selanne pitched in his sixth post-season goal in their last game this time around. Selanne had control of the puck and was just looking for an open opportunity, finally finding one as he completed a circle around Pekka Rinne’s
net and back-handed one through him. The Ducks took the lead midway through the first. Nick Spaling scored with 28 seconds remaining to send the crowd roaring as they finished the first period tied 1-1.
Steve Sullivan scored early in the second period to take the lead for Nashville. Sullivan had a breakaway after being tackled on the right side, as he intercepted a pass from J.P. Dumont after sliding it from his skate to his stick and back-handed it through
Ray Emery.
Both teams remained cautious of giving a power-play opportunity to the other. Anaheim’s Francois Beauchemin was sent to the benches in their only penalty of the period, but the Ducks worked around it on time to save them from another goal. J.P. Dumont gave
the Ducks a power-play chance when he went out with less than three minutes remaining. Jason Blake tied up the match again after tipping in a missed shot by Bobby Ryan.
It is always hard entering the third period tied-up and even harder when you remain scoreless and have to play in an over-time which could be anyone’s game. "I felt that we couldn't play at our level ... and that's disappointing," Selanne said. "But what
are you going to do? It's too late now. We gave everything that we had."
Nick Spaling and David Legwand both scored to take the match in the final period. Spaling notched in his second of the play-offs when firing back Jordin Tootoo’s missed shot while Legwand scored on an open net with 10 seconds remaining to finalise the contest.
The next step for Nashville is to wait and see who they are going to be up against in the second-round of the Western Conference play-offs. Until then, they can use this time to rest and reenergise themselves for the tough road ahead.
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