NHL playoff scores 2017: Ducks even series with Predators after goalie duel of mediocrity

Playoff games that end with eight goals scored usually come down to bad defending.

Especially at this stage of the playoffs.

The Nashville Predators rode through the first round of the playoffs on the back of Pekka Rinne. The Anaheim Ducks don’t make as many comebacks as they did in the second round without big moments from John Gibson.

And yet ... yeah, they both were awful in Game 2.

Sunday evening’s Western Conference final game turned into a barnburner as bad-angle shot after bad-angle shot fooled Rinne, and Gibson scrambled too far out of position one too many times. Both goalies, considered two of the better netminders in the NHL, dealt with traffic at times. But you can’t exhibit poor puck tracking that often without chalking it up to a bad night.

So the Predators, after a strong start, let the Ducks off the hook and return home with a tied series. And now we have no idea what to expect from these two above-average netminders in Game 3. Wonderful!

Ducks 5, Predators 3 (Series tied, 1-1)

Ryan Kesler managed to torment Connor McDavid throughout the second round. Whether that led to McDavid’s quiet last few games is up for debate. But Kesler’s back to work through two games of the conference final, driving Ryan Johansen nuts.

Or is it the other way around?

Beyond that, the game featured its fair share of big hits and chippy play. We head to Nashville tied up in the most thorny way.

Game 2 turned when the Ducks finally got their defense into transition. Andrew Cogliano told NBC this would be key to the Ducks winning; for all the talk of Nashville’s mobile defensemen, the Ducks are loaded with similarly talented players.

Sami Vatanen’s slap shot goal to end the first lit a spark; by the end of the game, the Ducks were starting to strafe runs from their blue line out. Anaheim’s defensemen accounted for Vatanen’s goal and five assists. Only Hampus Lindholm finished without a point.

Gibson should’ve been pulled after this goal:

And Rinne after this.