Ducks rest up for streaking Predators

NASHVILLE — The post-season can be exhausting, and playing four games in seven nights going from an emotional Game 7 to wrap up one series to the Western Conference final is starting to take a toll on the Anaheim Ducks.

Playing the Nashville Predators inside the NHL’s toughest arena in nearly 20 years sure isn’t helping.

Coach Randy Carlyle said Wednesday that his Ducks ran out of gas after taking a 1-0 lead Tuesday night in Game 3. The Predators scored twice in the third, not counting two goals waved off for goalie interference, and pulled out a 2-1 victory for a 2-1 lead in the Western final.

Carlyle said he thought his Ducks were flat. A schedule that had Anaheim starting this series less than 48 hours after ousting Edmonton in a deciding seventh game didn’t help.

“You look back and you say: ‘Hey, we played Game 7 a week ago today,’ ” Carlyle said Wednesday. “You know, so that’s four games in six nights or seven nights. And then you get more of an understanding of the intensity and the drainage that does take place on your people.”

Then there’s the challenge of playing in Nashville, where the Predators won their 10th straight playoff game.

It’s the NHL’s longest streak since Detroit won 10 straight in 1997-98 after Colorado went 11-0 in 1996-97. The Predators are just the 10th team to win at least 10 straight at home in the playoffs since the NHL expanded in 1967-68. It’s the 15th time an NHL team has ran off 10 consecutive playoff wins at home.

Nashville started the streak last year against these very same Ducks. Anaheim won the first two games in Nashville by a margin of 7-1 before the Predators won Game 6 in taking the firstround series in seven.