Nashville rallies for 2-1 edge
Josi’s goal in third helps Predators stay unbeaten at home.
Roman Josi scored a power-play goal with 2:43 left, and the Nashville Predators rallied to beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 Tuesday night in their firstever home game in the Western Conference finals.
The Predators grabbed a 2-1 lead in the series with their 10th straight home win in the postseason going back to last season.
Filip Forsberg tied it up at 3:54 of the third as the Predators rallied for the win against an Anaheim team that has notched four comeback victories already when trailing by multiple goals.
The Predators thought they had taken the lead earlier in the period only to have two goals within the span of eight seconds waved off for goalie interference.
Josi scored Nashville’s first power-play goal of the series for the win.
Ducks goalie John Gibson made 38 saves, and Corey Perry scored a power-play goal in the second period for Anaheim.
Game 4 is Thursday night in Nashville.
Forsberg tied it up shortly after being poked by Gibson after the whistle, upset after a shot went off him. That revved up the home crowd, and they tossed towels onto the ice after officials waved off first a would-be goal by Colton Sissons at 6:25 and then Ryan Johansen’s goal at 6:33.
Chris Wagner went to the box for high-sticking Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis with 3:55 left. Nashville had been 0 of 11 on the power play in this series. Josi ended that drought with his wrister from the right circle off an assist from Viktor Arvidsson.
The Predators outshot Anaheim 40-20 for the game. Penguins shrug off more key injuries
Seeing a top-line forward and your most indispensable defenseman walking slowly down the tunnel and out of sight during a game would be startling if the Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t grown so used to it.
At least Bryan Rust and Justin Schultz felt well enough on Tuesday to join the rest of the team as the defending Stanley Cup champions hopped a plane and headed to Ottawa for Games 3 and 4 of their Eastern Conference final tied at 1-1.
Whether Rust, Schultz and Patric Hornqvist — scratched after warmups before Pittsburgh’s 1-0 Game 2 victory on Monday night — get a chance to play is unclear. All three are day-to-day with “upperbody injuries,” though their absence hardly slowed their remarkably resilient team.
The Penguins controlled play despite playing the last 50 minutes with just five defensemen and 11 forwards.
“We’ve been having to deal with these kind of injuries all year long,” defenseman Chad Ruhwedel said. “It really shows the character of this squad.”