ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Pontus Aberg had 10 insignificant NHL playoff games before he laced up Saturday for Game 5 of the Western Conference finals. His 11th became one to remember.
Aberg broke a tie between the Ducks and Nashville midway through the third period to lift the Predators to an eventual 3-1 victory at Honda Center and move with one victory of their first appearance in a Stanley Cup Final.
The win also pushed the Ducks up against elimination as they must win Game 6 on Monday in Nashville to get back to Anaheim for a decisive Game 7. Aberg provided the difference when he pounced on a rebound created by Predators star Filip Forsberg, a thorn in the Ducks' side the entire series.
Austin Watson scored into an empty net with 47.2 seconds left as the Predators rallied around the loss of centers Ryan Johansen and Mike Fisher to injury, forcing them to play Frederik Gaudreau high up in their lineup in his first NHL playoff game.
The Ducks had their own injury problems that surfaced. Jonathan Bernier had to enter the game in the second period in place of John Gibson, who left because of a lower-body injury. Bernier made 16 saves but Nashville's Pekka Rinne bested both of them, lifting the Predators with a strong 32-save game.
Chris Wagner broke the Game 5 ice with a rebound conversion that capped a pinpoint rush. Ryan Kesler carried the puck into the offensive zone and dropped it for linemate Jakob Silfverberg, who found a trailing Brandon Montour as the extra attacker up in the play.
Montour put a shot on Rinne that the goalie stopped but couldn't glove cleanly. Wagner pounced on the loose puck and potted his second goal of the playoffs. It served as some atonement for his Game 3 offensive-zone penalty that ultimately became Roman Josi's winning power-play goal.
The special teams battle is an area the Ducks continue to lose. Two of their three power plays had everything you want _ crisp passing, shots released without hesitation, bodies in front of the net _ except the red light turning on. Shaky penalty killing once again hurt them.
Josh Manson sat in the penalty box for a cross check on Forsberg moments after being bloodied by a high stick from the scoring Swede that escaped the attention of referees Jean Hebert and Dan O'Rourke.
As Manson was unable to do anything about the penalty kill, Colin Wilson batted in a loose puck as Colton Sissons won a battle with the Ducks' Cam Fowler to allow Wilson _ left unmarked by Sami Vatanen _ to work freely on his backhand.
This tight, hotly contested series has dissolved into a war of attrition, with players continuing to drop as day crossed into another day and morning went into night. Nashville started to deal with a severe disadvantage at center with Johansen and Fisher sidelined.
Johansen is lost for the rest of the playoffs after undergoing emergency thigh surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for what NHL Network's Jon Morosi reported as acute compartment syndrome, where pressure within muscles can decrease blood flow.
Fisher did not accompany the team for Game 5. The veteran center, who lost to the Ducks in 2007 Cup Final with Ottawa, appeared to suffer a head injury when Ducks defenseman Josh Manson soared into the air and clipped him as he gloved an airborne puck down to the ice.
Sudden maladies weren't limited to the Predators. The Ducks have their share. Already without Patrick Eaves since the second round, Rickard Rakell was also absent after incurring a lower-body injury in Game 4. And then Bernier was in when Gibson couldn't answer the bell for the second period.
It became Bernier's third relief role in this postseason but the first to rescue Gibson because of an injury. Bernier got the win in Game 3 of the first round against Calgary when he stopped all 16 shots he faced as the Ducks erased a 4-1 deficit to win in overtime.
Those that were still skating and playing had to endure big hits being applied by both teams. Manson and Nashville's Cody McLeod were dishing out many of them, with Manson also leveling McLeod on his own in a particularly physical second period.
