Neal’s winner powers Preds
James Neal scored 9:24 into overtime, and the Nashville Predators kicked off their first appearance in the Western Conference finals with a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks last night in California.
Pekka Rinne made 27 saves for the Predators, who continued their dominant surge through these Stanley Cup playoffs with a strong start and a gritty overtime effort after Hampus Lindholm’s first playoff goal in two years tied it for the Ducks.
Filip Forsberg and Austin Watson scored in regulation for Nashville, which improved to 9-2 in the postseason.
Jakob Silfverberg scored on the Ducks’ first shot, and John Gibson stopped 43 shots. Just two days after finishing off Edmonton in the second round, Anaheim struggled to keep up at times with the more-rested Predators.
Game 2 is tomorrow night.
Neal put a long shot past a sprawled Gibson after a prolonged threat by the Predators that left Anaheim’s defense in disarray. The goal was the veteran forward’s third in four games.
The Ducks were back on the Honda Center ice two days after their Game 7 victory over Edmonton to reach the conference finals for the second time in three years. Anaheim had little time to recover from that grueling secondseries, and it showed in an occasionally slow-footed performance.
The Predators had the past four days off.
Elsewhere in the NHL — Ben Bishop signed a six-year, $29.5 million deal with the Dallas Stars, whose announcement yesterday came only three days after the team acquired rights to the 30-year-old goalie from the Los Angeles Kings. Dallas gave up a fourth-round pick in next month’s NHL draft.
The Stars, who last month re-introduced Ken Hitchcock as their coach after firing Lindy Ruff, see the two-time Vezina Trophy finalist as their new starter. . . .
San Jose signed forwards Melker Karlsson and Joonas Donskoi to new contracts — threeand two-year, respectively — before they become restricted free agents. . . .
New Jersey signed its 2016 sixth-round draft pick, forward Jesper Bratt, to a three-year, entry-level contract.