NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ The first time the Nashville Predators hosted a game in the Western Conference finals became a memorable one. And the Ducks are again dealing with an uphill battle in a series.
Roman Josi scored a power-play goal with 2:43 left in regulation to lift the Predators to a 2-1 win at a raucous Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night, giving Nashville a 2-1 series lead in its first opportunity in franchise history to win the West.
The Predators got the man advantage when Ducks fourth-liner Chris Wagner caught Ryan Ellis with a high stick in the offensive zone. After a number of passes around the perimeter above the Anaheim penalty kill, Mattias Ekholm took a shot that struck teammate Viktor Arvidsson in front of the net.
The puck shot back out to the right circle and as Ducks goalie John Gibson lost sight of the rebound, Josi fired it into an open net for winning goal _ which was also Nashville's first power-play strike in the first three games.
The Ducks were unable to make a second-period Corey Perry goal stand up as the Predators were relentless in applying pressure with their aggressive forecheck to continually gain possession. Filip Forsberg finally broke through on Gibson with a tying goal at 3:54 of the third period.
Gibson, who made 38 saves, had to withstand a barrage of shots that flew in his direction from the middle of the first period on. The Ducks withstood numerous flurries around the net. But they couldn't shut the door completely on the Predators.
Forsberg won a puck battle behind the net to create an opportunity for Ryan Ellis, whose shot created a rebound. And it was Forsberg who ended the play by slamming in the puck for a 1-1 tie.
Nashville kept applying the pressure in the third and thought it had scored on two occasions within seconds. Colton Sissons wanted to celebrate a goal but it was immediately waved off when Harry Zolnierczyk, a former Ducks farmhand, collided with Gibson as he battled for space with Ryan Kesler.
On the next possession, Ryan Johansen jumped all over a loose puck and put it into the net but that was nullified when Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm ran over Gibson to get a clear goalie interference penalty.
The Ducks suddenly had another opportunity to make it pay off but didn't make Rinne work much despite getting their power play set up twice. Ekholm was involved in another close call earlier that nearly went against the Predators.
At 11:46 of the second, Ducks rookie Brandon Montour was able to corral a bouncing puck in the Nashville zone and tried to squeeze a tight shot past Rinne on the short side. The puck seemed to be headed for an opening over the goal line but a retreating Ekholm knocked the goal post off its moorings.
Ekholm was not penalized on the play and a review held up the original no-goal call on the ice.
