For Nashville, Monday’s Game 6 is a do-or-fly affair

For the Ducks, who are facing elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs, Monday’s sixth game of the Western Conference finals is do or die.

For the Nashville Predators, who lead the series three games to two, the scenario is a bit more complicated. For them, it’s do or fly four hours back to California to try again less than 48 hours later. And that’s something they’d just as soon avoid.

“The travel is a lot,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “When you can limit it, it always can work to an advantage. Nobody wants to travel — we had to travel a lot last year, making both trips to California in the first and second round and it was substantial.

“Not having to do any more travel immediately would be … a benefit for our team.”

However Laviolette’s players are making sure they keep the focus on Tuesday rather than thinking too far ahead.

“We know it starts on Monday, the next series, if we make it through,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “It doesn’t matter if we win today or if we win on Wednesday. It really doesn’t. We get the rest anyways.

“We just focus on this game. One game at a time.”

Added forward Filip Forsberg: “It’s only one game. Obviously the Western Conference title is something that we want to achieve along the way. But at the same time, it’s only Game 6.”

The Predators do have added incentive to end the series early. Nashville’s rabid fans have turned the Bridgestone Arena into one of the most difficult places in the NHL for visiting teams to play. And for a franchise that has never even won a division title, clinching a conference championship on home ice would be a fitting reward for the fans, who turned out en masse at the Nashville airport Sunday to welcome the team back from Anaheim.

“It’s a crazy atmosphere every time you come into this rink,” Forsberg said. “Just showing up at the airport. You almost couldn’t get to your car because of all the people. It was pretty amazing.”

Ducks’ forward Nick Ritchie has a plan to take the home-ice advantage away from Nashville, though.

“You just want to think that they’re cheering for you. And sometimes it works in your favor,” he said.

“We just take it piece by piece and shift by shirt,” he continued. “Yeah we know it’s elimination but we’re obviously looking at the bright side and looking to win the game. We’re worried about winning the game and not [worried about] losing the game. So we’re confident.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

Twitter: @kbaxter11