ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Victory wasn't achieved on the scoreboard for the Ducks in Game 1 but it was when it came to the art of killing penalties.
The penalty kill has been a sore spot since they began the postseason and their proclivity to get whistled for infractions makes for a hurtful combination. Against Nashville, the Ducks gave the Predators five opportunities against a group that allowed 13 power-play goals _ the most of any playoff teams.
Just one can make a different in a tight game. The Ducks made sure they wouldn't be burned in that area Friday as they capably erased all five. They've now gone back-to-back games without giving up a power-play goal for the first time in these Stanley Cup playoffs.
"It was certainly a step in the right direction," Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said. "You can analyze the penalty kill in the last series specifically against Edmonton, and you can definitely poke some holes in it, but really as a group, we felt that there were some positives to that that came out of it.
"There were some fluky goals and they had a lot of opportunities too so the discipline side of it is certainly important. But I thought the five-on-three last night, that was a huge, huge spot in the game. Unfortunately we weren't able to pull it out."
Fowler played a big role in the 95-second kill after Ryan Getzlaf and Nate Thompson both took delay-of-game penalties for putting the puck over the glass. It was he and Ryan Kesler who had blocked shots to pair with two critical save by goalie John Gibson.
The Ducks saw that as a means to regain lost momentum with the back-to-back penalties after tying the game earlier in the third period on Hampus Lindholm's goal. Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, who grumbled that they haven't had a 5-on-3 advantage of their own and have had to defend several, wants his team to remain aggressive on the kill.
"We've stated that you can win hockey games consistently with your power play not producing, but you cannot consistently win hockey games if your penalty kill is going to be porous," Carlyle said. "And to some degree, we've kind of outlived that fact with the percentage if you look at it and how porous our penalty killing has been.
"We've been a pretty good penalty killing team all year, and for just for whatever reason in the playoffs, in the first series I think we gave up a power play goal every game in the four games, and then Edmonton scorched us a few times."
An injury sidelined Kevin Bieksa for all but Game 1 of the second round against Edmonton but the veteran has recovered to be an "option" to Carlyle. It doesn't mean that he'll be worked back into the defense mix for Game 2 _ or possibly beyond in this matchup with the Predators.
When asked how much he likes his current six on defense, Carlyle _ with a sarcastic edge _ said, "I love them all. What am I'm supposed to say, I don't like them?"
Continuing on, Carlyle highlighted his reasoning for keeping the status quo. Shea Theodore and Josh Manson have been the third pairing, combining with the top four of Fowler, Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Montour.
At the moment, Bieksa is with Korbinian Holzer and Clayton Stoner as those available to use when needed.
"We felt that with the seven-game series and the type of skating team and pressure team that we're presented with Nashville, we're going to need as much mobility as we possibly have on the back end," Carlyle added. "But we're always open for minor adjustments as we go forward."
