Ducks tie series with a flurry
Anaheim trails 2-0 before scoring four goals in 19 minutes.
A NAHEI M, CA L I F. — N i c k Ritchie scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, and the Anaheim Ducks rallied from an early two-goal deficit to even the Western Conference finals with a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game 2 on Sunday night.
Jakob Silfverberg, Sami Vatanen and Ondrej Kase also scored while the Ducks cracked goalie Pekka Rinne with a four-goal surge in less than 19 minutes.
T h e P r e d a t o r s h a d n’ t allowed four goals in any game during their Stanley Cup playoff run before Anaheim finally got rolling for its sellout crowd.
John Gibson stopped 30 shots, and Antoine Vermette had an empty-net goal for the Ducks.
Ryan Johansen, James Neal and Filip Forsberg scored for the Predators.
Game 3 is Tuesday night in Nashville.
Rinne made 22 saves for the eighth-seeded Predators, who steamrolled Chic ago and St. Louis in the first two rounds on the way to the first conference finals in franchise history.
Two days after Nashville’s 3-2 overtime victory at Honda Center in the series opener, Johansen and Neal scored in the opening 8:32 of Game 2.
The Ducks finally awakened at the prospect of their second straight 0-2 series d e f i c i t a n d r e p l i e d wi t h high-octane hockey — and a few fortunate bounces — that was too much even for Rinne, who hadn’t given up four goals in a game since March 13.
Ritchie, the power forward making his first career playoff run, scored the winning goal in Game 7 against Edmonton. Four days later, he got his next major goal on an exceptional high shot that appeared to glance off Rinne’s mask on the way in.
Anaheim hung on through a frenetic third period, surviving a few mad scrambles before captain Ryan Getzlaf got his third assist of the night on Vermette’s empty-netter.
A l t h o u g h A n a h e i m ’ s Honda Center was much fuller and louder than it was for the traffic-affected series opener, the Ducks’ knack for slow starts at home remained constant.