May 18, 2017
Corey Perry scored the game-winning goal with 10:25 remaining in OT, and the Ducks defeated the Predators 3-2 in game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. Anaheim has now tied the best-of-seven series at 2-2 after Thursday night’s game at Bridgestone Arena.
Perry sent the puck towards the net, from near the goal line, which initially appeared to bounce off of Nate Thompson and into the net. The goal was initially credited to Thompson. However, upon further review, the puck bounced off of P.K. Subban’s stick and past Pekka Rinne for the game-winning goal.
The Ducks got the win despite a nightmare 3rd period. Trailing 2-1 with 1:51 remaining, Rinne went to the bench in favor of an extra attacker, giving the Predators a 6-on-5 advantage. With 36 seconds left, Filip Forsberg knocked in a rebound past John Gibson to tie the game, ultimately sending the game into OT.
Anaheim began to melt down late in the 3rd period. With a little over 5 minutes left, Kevin Bieska took a high sticking penalty, giving the Predators a power play. With 4:38 left, Josh Manson took a slashing penalty, which gave Nashville a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:31. The Ducks managed to kill off the two-man disadvantage, but they weren’t out of the woods yet.
With 13:33 left Subban drilled a slap shot past Gibson, cutting the Anaheim lead in 2-1. The Ducks had managed to kill off an Ondrej Kase penalty moments earlier, but Nashville continued to gain momentum and eventually tie the game.
Gibson made 32 saves for the Ducks, who snapped the Predators’ 10-game home playoff winning streak.
The Ducks built a 2-0 lead on goals from Rickard Rakell and Nick Ritchie in each of the 1st two periods.
Rakell took a long pass from Cam Fowler while Nashville was in the middle of a line change. Before any of the Predators could get close enough to Rakell, he fired a slap shot by Rinne with 11:30 left in the 1st.
Ritchie beat Rinne with a wrist shot from the right circle that got past the Predators’ goalie, who was screened by his own defender on the play at the 10:22 mark.
With the series tied, this is essentially a best-of-three series. Game 5 will be back at the Honda Center on Saturday afternoon.