Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm worked together to help Ducks get back in series

Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen couldn’t hold back his natural reaction when he discovered that he was going to be paired with Hampus Lindholm.

Vatanen is from Finland and Lindholm from Sweden. Those countries are noted rivals in international competition and have a healthy disdain for each other.

“[I thought], ‘Oh my God,’” Vatanen said. “Maybe I’ll turn him into a Finnish [player].”

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Vatanen was partly joking. He has come up in the organization with Lindholm, but the two have not been regular defenseman partners until this first-round playoff series against the Nashville Predators. Paired since Josh Manson went down with an injury in Game 1, Vatanen and Lindholm have helped the Ducks climb back to tie the series, 2-2, going into Game 5 on Saturday at Honda Center.

Vatanen and Lindholm are a combined plus-seven with four assists in four games and have averaged the second- and third-most minutes, behind leader Cam Fowler.

“He’s a great player and you know he’s been playing really good in these playoffs,” Vatanen said of Lindholm. “Of course it was a pleasant surprise.”

It was assistant coach Trent Yawney’s idea to put Vatanen and Lindholm together. Both are quick puck-movers who play in all situations. Lindholm is a left-handed shot and Vatanen right-handed.

“I think he [Yawney] always knew he could put us together,” Lindholm said. “I think we’re similar. We want to make plays with the puck every time. We want to be creative offensively, too ... I think both of us can play good defense, too.”

Lindholm smiled when asked about the Swedish-Finnish dynamic.

“It’s all good,” Lindholm said. “He’s one of my favorite Finnish guys. I like Sami.”

It’s been good for the Ducks since they’ve gotten back to their defensive foundation. They have allowed one goal since the second period of Game 2. Goaltender Frederik Andersen is a major part of that equation since Coach Bruce Boudreau made him the starter after a 0-2 series deficit.

Andersen is 19-1-2 in his last 24 appearances, dating to Jan. 13, and the Ducks average more goals per game when Andersen is in net as opposed to John Gibson. Ryan Getzlaf didn’t have an explanation for that, nor did he for the home-ice disadvantage in a series in which the road team has won every game.

That was a focal point for Boudreau when the Ducks gathered for an off-ice workout Friday. Boudreau didn’t have a firm theory as to why home teams have stumbled.

“Sometimes you get too ramped up at home because you get so into it,” Boudreau said. “I have no idea. If I could bottle that answer up, we’d win a lot of Stanley Cups.”

Boudreau and the Ducks weren’t patting themselves on the back, either, after re-securing home-ice advantage. They’ve given Nashville 19 power plays in four games. Although they’ve killed 18 of those, it’s not how they want their best two-way players such as Ryan Kesler to spend their energy.

Boudreau said they have a lot more work.

“We haven’t completed our task,” Boudreau said. “We haven’t done what we want to do. If we end up losing it in six or seven [games], people are going to still think that we didn’t dig ourselves out of a hole. We’re still in it, as far as I’m concerned.”

Said Andrew Cogliano: “We clawed our way back, and now we can’t let anything slip.”

Clayton Stoner and Brandon Pirri skated Friday. Both have upper-body injuries. Manson remains out because of a head and upper-body injury.

Follow Curtis Zupke on Twitter @CurtisZupke