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Amazing that the 8th seeded Nashville Predators were able to welcome their first NHL Stanley Cup finals after downing the visiting Anaheim Ducks in the Monday night Western Conference finals
Top-seeded Chicago Blackhawks, 4th seeded St. Louis Blues also fall to the “Music City” Predators
By Arnie Leshin
After an impressive run through the first two rounds and up 3-2 in games of the Western Conference semifinals, it looked to be coming apart for these 8th seeded Nashville Predators Monday night.
Yes, they struck quickly, opening up a 2-0 lead after the first period. Even when the stunned Anaheim Ducks cut the gap to 2-1, back came the Predators to up the lead to 3-1, but somehow it appeared to be a late rush by the 2nd seeded Ducks was going to end the dreams and the celebration for the Nashville faithful on its home ice.
Just like that, it was 3-3. The Predators were without injured team captain Mike Fisher and star center Ryan Johansen, losing both in this round. They had been outshot 34-13 at that point, and with 8:52 remaining in the third period, Anaheim was easily getting the puck down the ice and setting up shots.
Now it was the Ducks rallying for the fifth time this NHL season when trailing by multiple goals. Predator goalkeeper, 34-year-old Pekka Rinne, who had never been to the Stanley Cup finals, had made save after save, but at this point it didn’t look like his team was going to make it, as in losing this game and than the deciding one 3,000 miles away in Anaheim.
Not so fast, for all of a sudden, it was forget this domination that the Ducks had put forth this game, get back in gear, play better defense, score and forget game seven.
This is what Nashville did, getting a tiebreaking goal from Colton Sissons with six minutes left, giving him the “hat trick” and the crowd responded as it had done from the outset.
But one goal is not that tough to overcome, so after the Ducks sent goalie Jonathan Bernier to the sidelines with two minutes left and added an extra attacker, the Predators’ Austin Watson aimed the puck into the empty net and it was 5-3. Not long after, it was Filip Forsberg doing the same, and it was all over but the massive celebration for the final team picked in the playoff field.
From 3-3 to the final score of 6-3, it was music to the ears of these supporters in the Music City, the home of country music, honky-tonk, fiddle music, buck dancing, the Grand Ole Opry, Vanderbilt University, and the Bridgestone Arena.
As has been the norm since sweeping the top-seeded Chicago Blackhawks in the opening round, the arena was standing room only, many disappointed fans were left outside due to the fire regulations, and alongside the other historics of this city was their men on ice.
The 16,000-seat arena was finished just in time for the franchise’s first game in 1998. Yet, it had never won a division title, came into the playoffs with the fewer points of any team in the playoffs, and finished fourth in its Central Division won by the Blackhawks.
But all of a sudden, there was a wake-up call, that this could be the Predator team that excels like never before. So after stunning Chicago, it made 4th seeded St. Louis sing the blues, taking them out in six games, and followed by doing the same to the Ducks.
Now Nashville has until Monday night when it again hits the road for game one. It will play the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins-Ottawa Senators Eastern Conference winner. And Anaheim, the only (Pacific) division winner to gain the semis, lost in the conference finals for the second time in three years.
“Our effort was there and we were a desperate hockey club right from the opening face-off, and we didn’t quit until they scored the second empty-net goal,” said Ducks’ head coach Randy Carlye.
For Sessions, it was a big night. Acquired early in the season as a fourth-line forward, he put together his best performance, scoring the initial goal on the third shot of the contest, and scoring twice in the wild third period. Before Fowler tied it at 3-3, Sessions made it 3-2, and then 4-3 not long after.
“I don’t think I even dreamt of this moment,” he said. “Amazing to score a hat trick in the conference clinching game, but I can’t speak enough for just our whole group. We’ve been through some challenges together and we stuck together no matter what, just always believed, and here we are.”
As for Rinne, the older keeper in the NHL who had never made an appearance in the Cup finals, was exceptional. He made some brilliant saves, four-straight on a Ducks’ power play, and stopped 38 of 41 shots. His team took only 18 shots and made six against goalie Jonathan Bernier.
Outshot but not outscored counts. But this was also the first time in this round that the Predators were outshot. They outshot the Blues every game and did the same versus the high-scoring Blackhawks, who they held to four goals in four games.
Rinne, a 3-time Vezina Trophy, is having by far his best post-season. The Ducks, who came in 2-1 when facing elimination, peppered him with a parade of pucks. And Anaheim had Bernier making his first career playoff start after John Gibson was scratched with a hamstring injury.
Except that it didn’t look good for the home team after the injuries to Johansen and Fisher. But it made up four lines with what it had left, and when both Johansen, on crutches, and Fisher, made it to the celebration photo with the conference trophy, the crowd erupted for quite some time.
It was a night that wouldn’t have been expected when the campaign began. A night when the 8th seed put the Tennessee city on the ice hockey map. A night when the Stanley Cup finals would welcome Nashville for the first time in its 19 years in the league.
And a night for the supportive, loud, chanting fans who didn’t leave their seats until well after the trophy presentation and the photos and the interviews.
As for the conference trophy, none of the players touched it, doing the same as other conference champions do, and that’s in quest of only hoisting the Stanley Cup. Now Nashville has to deliver one more time to realize this.
