The Nashville Predators struck first in the Western Conference Final by earning a 3-2 overtime victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.
They didn’t do things the easy way. The nearly unbeatable Pekka Rinne flinched first, allowing a suspect goal on his first chance to stop a puck. The Predators failed to score on a lengthy third-period two-man advantage. And they needed extra time to secure their ninth victory in their 11th Stanley Cup Playoff game of 2017.
Here’s what we learned from Game 1.
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Rinne starts slow
The best goaltender in the Stanley Cup Playoffs through two rounds was clearly Pekka Rinne. The Nashville Predators goaltender boasted the best save percentage (.951) during two series wins, bettering second place Jake Allen of the St. Louis Blues by a healthy margin (.935).
He looked anything like that stalwart netminder early on in Game 1. Jakob Silfverberg beat him with a shot from the corner at 5:15, scoring on the first Anaheim shot of the game.
It took 13 minutes for Rinne to make his first save of the game, albeit by no fault of his own. By that point the Preds had tied the score and had already mustered 12 shots on goal.
Rinne weathered the early storm and allowed only one more goal the rest of the way. He made 27 saves, good for a solid .931 save percentage on the night.
Predators power play powerless
While nary a power-play goal was scored in nine opportunities between the two teams, it was the Predators’ ineffectiveness that stood out most of all.
With the score tied 2-2 just past the midway point of the third, Nashville was gifted a two-man advantage for 1:27 after consecutive delay-of-game penalties to Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf and Nate Thompson.
Not only did the Predators fail to score, but they managed just three shots on goal. Two of those shots came near the end of the power play when the Predators only had one extra skater. They struggled to enter the zone with possession despite the 5-on-3 advantage.
Nashville’s power play operated at an effective 20 per cent clip during the first two rounds. But an 0-for-5 night in Game 1 likely would have prevented the Preds from having to work overtime.
Ducks’ extra-time magic ends
The Anaheim Ducks were perfect in overtime in three tries throughout their matchups with the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.
Corey Perry scored the winner in Game 3 against the Flames en route to a first-round sweep. Jakob Silfverberg netted the decisive goal in Game 4 against the Oilers to even that series. And it was Perry again in double overtime in the next contest as the Ducks stunned Edmonton by erasing a three-goal deficit late in the third.
Well, their luck ran out, if only for one night. James Neal won the game for Nashville, one-timing a pass from P.K. Subban past John Gibson at 9:24 of the first extra session.
For the record, the Predators are a perfect 2-0 in overtime this year. The now-injured Kevin Fiala was the other hero, scoring in Game 3 of a first-round sweep over Chicago.
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