NASHVILLE, Tenn. — James Neal scored the winning goal late in the second period, and the Nashville Predators held on to beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Monday night and force the first Game 7 in franchise history.
The Predators had lost the previous five Game 6s when needing a victory to stay alive in the playoffs, and they snapped a three-game skid to the Ducks to force this series back to Anaheim for the deciding game Wednesday night.
Shea Weber had an empty-net goal with 10 seconds left off an assist by Neal. Mattias Ekholm also scored a goal, and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves.
Ryan Kesler scored a power-play goal for the Ducks, who now are 8-6 in Game 6s. They return to Anaheim where they lost their last Game 7 last spring in the Western Conference finals to eventual Stanley Cup champ Chicago.
Rinne, who had been struggling in this series, came up big late. He stopped Corey Perry on a point-blank shot from in front with 6:40 left and turned away David Perron’s wrister with less than 3 minutes to go.
Nashville brought out Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker to wave a towel and charge up the sellout crowd. Fans just needed something to cheer after watching the Predators get outscored 12-3 in losing the last three games. They also got right wing Craig Smith back on the ice after he missed most of the last three games with a lower-body injury.
Ekholm put the Predators up 1-0 at 8:10 of the second period, beating Andersen with a wrister from the top of the right circle off a pass from Calle Jarnkrok. That made the defenseman Nashville’s top goal scorer with his second in this series. Fans rewarded the Predators with not one, but two standing ovations in the period.
The Predators took a 2-0 lead when Ryan Johansen brought the puck up the right side and passed to Neal at the left post who tapped the puck into the net behind Andersen at 17:45.
The Ducks got a power play with 42.8 seconds left in the period when officials penalized Ekholm for holding Hampus Lindolm after the Anaheim defenseman jumped onto Ekholm’s back at the end boards. Kesler tapped the puck into the net behind Rinne who had just stopped a tip-in attempt by Perry.
Fans still furious at the penalty tossed a handful of the towels given away by the Predators onto the ice and booed as the period ended.
SUNDAY’S LATE
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ISLANDERS 2, PANTHERS 1 2OT
NEW YORK — John Tavares tied it in the final minute of regulation and got the winner at 10:41 of the second overtime, leading the New York Islanders past the Florida Panthers and into the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
Tavares skated in and fired an initial shot that Roberto Luongo saved, but the New York captain got the rebound, wrapped around the net and stuffed the puck in to end the longest home game in Islanders history.
The Islanders will next face Tampa Bay.
Thomas Greiss finished with 41 saves in the teams’ second consecutive two-overtime game and third in the series to go past regulation. The Islanders won the third game 4-3 in the first extra period, and captured Game 5 in Florida 2-1 at 16 minutes of the second overtime.
Sports on 04/26/2016