We knew this series was going to get nasty… fast. Last night’s 5-3 loss in Game Two of the Western Conference Finals was nasty on multiple levels… and only some of the nastiness came from the expected sources. The Ducks well-documented behind the play and after the whistle nonsense continues to be okey-dokey with the league, and is now expected and frankly… allowed and accepted.
The Preds jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period completely taking the Anaheim crowd out of the game until a late first period penalty from Matt Irwin who got turned around, lost his man and took the penalty to stop a scoring chance. That turned the tide of the game as the wheels began falling off at that point. The inevitable power play goal followed, giving the Ducks life heading to the room after one, an early second period goal tied it up. Then, what we have seen over and over again since late January with this team… the Preds got back to work. Taking back the momentum until Filip Forsberg got his 5th of the playoffs to snatch the lead back for the Predators… for exactly 2:42.
Randy Carlysle shook up his lines when the Preds jumped out to their lead… one of the moves he made was to elevate Ondrej Kase to the first line… that decision paid off as Kase got his first of the playoffs to tie the game and wrest the momentum back, which led to a Nick Ritchie goal seven minutes later. The Predators did get a couple of solid pushes in the third period, but couldn’t seem to find the back of the net on a few chaotic series in front of the Ducks net.
The Preds allowed the Ducks to provoke them into playing their game last night, so the Ducks get full marks for that, at times, the Predators lost their discipline, did not play the game they know will be successful, they were loose on defense and Pekka Rinne had his first sub-par game of the playoffs. All-in-all, the poorest playoff performance we have seen from this team.
Let’s get to the GBU…
The Good - The good, the start was outstanding. Exactly what they needed… Five points from the JoFA line and James Neal scoring his 5th of the playoffs.
The Bad - Face offs, face offs, face offs. The reason this is in the bad, and not the ugly? 5-on-5 faceoffs, the Predators won 52%... they went 1-5 on faceoffs on special teams. When the game was on the line, in the third period, Anaheim won 57% of the draws during this critical period.
The Ugly - Discipline – this one goes across the board. Systems were abandoned, players began to press and try to do too much. This was the first time in this playoff season that the Preds looked rattled at times. The cool, confident veneer was cracked last night.
So, the Nashville Predators lost game two for the second consecutive series. There is no reason for sackcloth and ashes, no reason to jump off the Siliman-Evans (unless you are tired of being stuck in that traffic!) Believe it or not… the Nashville Predators achieved the primary goal.
They got a split and now own home ice advantage. Smashville will be out in force tomorrow night and will bring their full-throated fury to 501 Broadway to help this team maintain that advantage.
Game Three is 7pm tomorrow at Bridgestone Arena.
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Conference Final Reset
Eastern Conference
PIT vs. OTT – OTT leads 1-0 – Game two tonight in Pittsburgh
Western Conference
ANA vs. NSH – Series tied 1-1 – Game three tomorrow night in Nashville.
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Playoff Random Notes
- Anaheim posted the first home win of the Conference Finals last night… wondering if Pittsburgh follows suit.
- Ryan Johansen’s postgame quotes about Ryan Kesler was a pretty clear indication of the frustration of this team… how he handles the Kesler pre and post whistle crap will be a critical factor in this series.
- Ryan Johansen tied the franchise record for points in a single post season. He tied Colin Wilson and Joel Ward with 13 points.
- Interesting analysis of Pekka Rinne’s game last night… the Ducks were testing his blocker constantly. The two shots that beat him high blocker went through very small holes… expect a lot more shots going in that direction.
- James Neal also tied the franchise record for playoff goals last night, his first period goal was the 13th of his career as a Predator, tying him with Shea Weber and David Legwand.
- One game in the NHL tonight – 7pm – OTT @ PIT (NBCSN)
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