The Nashville Predators have made the Western Conference playoffs for the sixth time in their franchise history but as of yet, they've failed to make it out of the first round. In Game one against the Anaheim Ducks, the Predators begin their quest to finally get over the first round hump.
Predators Vs. Ducks, Game 1: Nashville Looks To Get Over The First Round Hump
The Preds feel confident in this series and it all starts with goaltending, as the Anaheim Ducks have had some issues there in the last few months. They'll start Dan Ellis in the first game against the Predators. Ellis has played in 13 games for the Ducks and has a 2.39 goals against average and .917 save percentage. The Predators will have Pekka Rinne in net, a goaltender that should be under consideration for the Vezina this season.
With Rinne in net, the Predators feel that is going to be their advantage over the Ducks:
“We don’t rack up six or seven goals a night,” Coach Barry Trotz said. “We try to get around that three mark, and obviously goaltending is a big part of not giving them four.”
For the Ducks, its going to take offense to defeat the Predators, led by Rocket Richard winner Corey Perry. Perry was the only 50 goal scorer in the league this season, but he isn't alone in the Ducks scoring department. They had three players in the top 20 in scoring: Perry third overall in points, Teemu Selanne eighth overall, and Ryan Getzlaf fourteenth overall.
While all three of those players are dangerous offensively, Selanne is still the leader of the pack among the three players:
Perry, Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf are the spotlight trio who pushed the Ducks into the Stanley Cup playoffs. Selanne claims, “They don’t need any help from me.” Ryan disagrees, saying, “We all pick his brain.”
While the Ducks have players that the Predators are going to watch out for, they aren’t very potent as a team offense. They scored 2.87 goals/game, which is only good for 12th in the regular season. The Predators as a team allowed only 2.32 goals/game in the regular season, good for 3rd in the league.
Game time is at 10:30 p.m. and can be seen on TSN in Canada or locally in Nashville and Anaheim. For more on this series, please visit our Ducks blog, Anaheim Calling, our Predators blog, On The Forecheck, and our full coverage here at SBNation.com.
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