Ducks at Predators
Amid the Western Conference final turning into a series of attrition, the Nashville Predators can advance to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in franchise history when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night in Game 6. Nashville pushed the Ducks to the brink of elimination with a 3-1 victory at Anaheim on Saturday to take a 3-2 series lead.
The Predators had to overcome the stunning loss of top-line center Ryan Johansen to emergency surgery following Game 4 and the absence of captain and center Mike Fisher to win at the Honda Center for the second time in the series and earn the chance to clinch at home. "We all know it's nothing but Game 6 for us," said Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne, who sparkled with 32 saves in Game 5. "If we win, we're in the (Cup Final). If we lose, we come back here, and we don't want to do that." The Ducks have major injury concerns of their own after starting goaltender John Gibson (lower body) exited Game 5 and Rickard Rakell, a 33-goal scorer during the regular season, sat out the contest. Gibson vowed to be back in the lineup Monday but coach Randy Carlyle was not as optimistic, telling reporters: "We'll do an assessment tomorrow and we'll do an assessment once we get to Nashville on Monday morning and see where that takes us."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, CBC, TVAS
ABOUT THE DUCKS: The murky status of Gibson - "We can't risk him," Carlyle said - could have Anaheim pinning its must-win hopes on backup Jonathan Bernier, who turned aside 16 of 18 shots Saturday but hasn't made a start since April 9. Bernier finished 21-7-4 with a 2.50 goals-against average and ripped off a 9-0-1 stretch late in the season that started with a 4-3 shootout win over visiting Nashville on March 7, but he has been limited to three relief appearances in the postseason. Rakell has scored seven times in the postseason and was termed day-to-day by Carlyle, who assigned the same status to injured forward Patrick Eaves (career-high 32 goals) - sidelined for the past nine games of the playoffs.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS: Nashville had to tap into its reserves to replace Johansen and Fisher and received more than they could hope for from two rookies: Pontus Aberg scored the game-winning tally (matching his career total) with an airborne swipe of a rebound before being summoned to the league's concussion protocol, and Frederick Gaudreau did yeoman's work against Anaheim's center men - winning 10 of 14 faceoffs in his postseason debut. "This was his first playoff game and he played like he's been in the league for 10 years," said star forward Filip Forsberg of Gaudreau, seeing his first action since Jan. 8. Forsberg continues to do the heavy lifting with four goals and two assists during a six-game point streak.
OVERTIME
1. The Ducks are 2-for-30 on the power play in the last 10 postseason contests.
2. Nashville is 10-3 at home in the playoffs the past two seasons - and all three losses have been against Anaheim.
3. Ducks C Ryan Kesler has been limited to a three assists over the past nine games.