April 22--What we learned from the Ducks' 4-1 victory over Nashville on Thursday:
-- Resilient? Plucky? Gutsy? Determined? The Ducks have displayed all of those qualities during the season and now in the playoffs. Their rise from the near-bottom of the NHL standings in December to the top of the Pacific division in April has been well-chronicled, but they've continued the story by winning twice at Bridgestone Arena to erase the Predators' 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series. They're so accustomed to facing adversity that they don't flinch, but Coach Bruce Boudreau reminded everyone that his team hasn't accomplished anything yet.
"We've dealt with it OK but we're still 2-2. I'm not going to sit up here and talk as if because we've won two games in their building that it's over," he said after Thursday's series-tying win. "That's a hell of a team out there and we'll have to be better again in Game 5 just to bring it back here in Game 6." Well, a Game 6 was guaranteed when it became 2-2, but point taken: They still must cut down on needless penalties.
"You put yourself into too many holes, eventually you don't dig yourself out," Boudreau said. "So we'd certainly like not to do that too much more often. I don't even know if that's the right English. Too often."
Said team captain Ryan Getzlaf: "When you go through adversity during the season you try and build back on that when you get into playoff time and crunch time."
-- Their penalty killers have been exceptional. They're getting a lot of practice -- the Ducks were shorthanded six times on Thursday and have been shorthanded 19 times in the first four games -- but they've held up well.
"Obviously the penalty kill was huge for us tonight again," Getzlaf said. "We don't want to keep doing that to ourselves. But it's good that they're able to do what they're doing."
-- Goaltender Frederik Andersen was calm in the midst of Nashville's bombardment early in the second period, and that calmness has had a good effect on his teammates. But winger Chris Stewart said the team has always had confidence in Andersen and in its penalty killers, so it didn't get an extra boost from their feats Thursday. "It's the same. We're doing exactly what we've done all year," Stewart said. "Freddie's doing what he's done all year and the penalty killing has been stepping up like it's done all year. Guys are blocking shots and sacrificing their body and that's what it takes to win this time of year."
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