Once again, Ducks prove slow to take flight
Deep Predators defence proves tough to beat in Western final opener
ANAHEIM, CALIF.— Both the Anaheim Ducks and their fans showed up late for the start of the Western Conference final. Hundreds of empty orange seats ringed the rink while the Nashville Predators largely dominated the first two periods of their 3-2 overtime victory.
At least the fans had Southern California’s murderous Friday afternoon traffic as a good excuse. The Ducks have built their season on a remarkable resilience, but they realize they probably can’t make another tardy start in Game 2 on Sunday night against Nashville, the Stanley Cup playoffs’ best team so far.
“To start the game, it didn’t feel like the conference finals, to be honest,” Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano said Saturday after a short practice at the Ducks’ training rink. “I think a lot of things played a factor into it, but emotionally, we didn’t start the game like we needed to. From the flipside, the positive is we lost in overtime, so I think we were able to weather the storm in terms of how (Nashville) came out.”
The Ducks would never blame their fan base for their own sluggishness. Unfortunately, it’s kind of their thing.
From autumn to spring, both home and away, slow starts have been a regular theme over the past two seasons for the Ducks, who have relied to an extraordinary degree on their veteran ability to rally when it really matters. Anaheim famously turned last season’s horrific start into a Pacific Division title, but then lost a seven-game series in the first round to Nashville by dropping the first two games and Game 7, all at home.
Just two days after surviving Edmonton, the Ducks had to face Nashville in an early-starting game — and they were promptly outskated and outclassed for long stretches by the well-rested Predators. Anaheim still rallied to force overtime on Hampus Lindholm’s clutch third-period goal, but James Neal ended it for Nashville.
“Starts in the playoffs are huge,” Anaheim defenceman Cam Fowler said. “It gave them a lot of momentum and sucked the life out of us.”
The Predators have been a model of consistency while going 9-2 in the post-season, and they think much of the credit should be placed on a defensive corps that might be the best in the playoffs. While Neal scored the winner, he was only open to score on P.K. Subban’s pass because the defenceman froze the entire Anaheim defence with a picture-perfect fake.
“Usually when I get the puck in those types of positions, everybody is expecting me to shoot it,” Subban said. “I just wound up, took a look, and everybody was diving, and legs were trying to get in the way.”
Everybody talks about the pass, but you can’t make the pass unless the guy makes the effort to get open and create that lane.”
Subban, who hoped to have a cupcake Saturday to celebrate his 28th birthday, is regularly dazzling his teammates during the Predators’ playoff run. He’s eager to remind everyone that he’s only one component of a defensive group that has driven the Predators to these unprecedented post-season heights.
While the injury-riddled Ducks are attempting to thrive with six defencemen under 26 years old, Nashville’s top four defencemen are the high-scoring backbone of its roster. With fundamentally sound defensive play and plenty of offensive flash, Subban, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm are a big reason why the Predators are in position to take early control of their franchise’s first conference final with a second road victory.