Depth a key factor now for Ducks, Predators in West finals

Greetings from Bridgestone Arena, where the Predators and Ducks held their morning skates Monday in advance of Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. A victory by the Predators will put them in the Stanley Cup final for the first time; a victory by the Ducks will result in a Game 7 being played Wednesday at Honda Center.

At this point of the playoffs, both teams are dealing with significant injuries, including some that are not made public. The Predators lost top-line center Ryan Johansen to a thigh injury that required surgery after Game 4 and center Mike Fisher to an apparent eye injury during Game 4. The team has said Johansen won’t return during the playoffs but hasn’t been definitive about Fisher. However, Fisher didn’t skate Monday morning.

The Ducks will be without Patrick Eaves (foot) and Rickard Rakell (lower-body) in Game 6. Neither forward made the trip to Nashville. Goaltender John Gibson, who left Saturday’s game after one period because of a lower-body injury, skated Monday morning, but coach Randy Carlyle said he hadn’t gotten a chance to confer with the goalie and with the team’s training staff regarding Gibson’s chances of playing Monday night.

The Predators’ injury woes have led them to use 18 forwards during postseason play, which the NHL has said is a record. (The Ducks have used 15, and defenseman Korbinian Holzer took a few shifts up front in one game.) Nashville’s depth was especially crucial in Game 5, when rookie Frederick Gaudreau won 10 of 14 faceoffs in his NHL playoff debut, rookie Pontus Aberg scored the winner and depth center Colton Sissons did a good job after being moved up to the top six because of the injuries to Fisher and Johansen.

Coach Peter Laviolette said Monday that he felt comfortable using Gaudreau at center even though Gaudreau mostly played on the wing for the Predators’ American Hockey League farm team in Milwaukee. “We’ve seen Freddy a couple times. Just with regard to where we were at last game, we needed a centerman. And there weren’t a lot of options left at that natural position,” Laviolette said.

“He’s come up here and played [center] in training camp for us, a real smart player. … And he did an excellent job in the faceoffs in that particular game.”

Laviolette also praised Sissons’ ability to respond and establish himself in the lineup. “If you think about Colton’s season and how he’s grown as a player, from the beginning of the year and finding himself on the fourth line, sometimes on the third line, sometimes out of the lineup, and for us really looking for him to define himself as a player. And there was a point a couple months ago where he came back in and he really started to pick up his game,” Laviolette said. “He’s a good two-way centerman. He’s smart. He’s strong. And not knowing how he would handle that responsibility that he got the other night, we think he did a terrific job.”

Predators winger Filip Forsberg appreciated the lift from Gaudreau and Sissons. “It’s huge,” said Forsberg, who has scored points in six straight games and has a series-leading four goals and five points. “We’ve been counting on everyone on this team, almost 30 guys that have been playing this season. Two key guys missed the last game but at the same time a lot of guys stepped up. It’s been great.”