Filip Forsberg hits Ducks where it hurts, delivering big hit and game-winning goal for Predators
Predators right wing James Neal reacts after scoring against Ducks goalie John Gibson and left wing Andrew Cogliano only 35 seconds into the game Friday night.
The Ducks can safely add Filip Forsberg to their list of nemeses even though their Western Conference first-round playoff series is only one game old.
Forsberg delivered a hit that knocked out Ducks defenseman Josh Manson in the first period, then got the game-winning goal on a pass that went in off Ducks defenseman Shea Theodore’s skate with 9 minutes 35 seconds remaining.
Nashville held on for a 3-2 win Friday at the Honda Center in a terrifically even opening game that showed how close a series this can be.
Forsberg grabbed the puck from pinching Ducks defenseman Simon Despres and rushed down the left side to set up the goal. It was a hard-earned but somewhat fluky ending that fell the wrong way for the Ducks, who returned forwards David Perron and Rickard Rakell to the lineup but lost Manson to an upper-body injury.
“We’re 2-2 in the third, and we need to manage the puck better,” Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano said. “We need to get pucks in deep. It sounds cliche, but just do simple things because the first mistake is usually a goal, and that’s what happened. It’s 1-0 [in the series]. We’ll re-group. We’ll figure out what we need to do better and get ready for [Game 2] on Sunday.”
Manson was hit high by Forsberg in the closing seconds of the first period and did not return in his playoff debut. One of the Ducks’ remaining five defensemen, Theodore, 20, also made his playoff debut as veteran Kevin Bieksa was scratched with a lingering upper-body injury.
Still, Ryan Kesler put the Ducks ahead, 2-1, on a wrist shot through traffic 48 seconds into the second period. But Nashville tied it on a deft poke play by Colin Wilson that just slipped by Ducks goalie John Gibson.
Ryan Getzlaf took pressure out of a pent-up arena with the Ducks’ first goal, on a conversion of Cam Fowler’s shot off the post on a two-man advantage with 2:11 left in the first period.
Both teams started uneven and anxious and the Ducks paid for it 35 seconds into the game on a defensive breakdown that led to a soft goal allowed by Gibson, who had James Neal’s shot sneak through his left side from the slot.
Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau tabbed Gibson as the starter after long deliberation and based it on Gibson’s workload down the stretch when Frederik Andersen suffered a concussion March 30.
“[It was] just because he was playing all the games,” Boudreau said. “If you look at it, Freddie’s played one game in three weeks right now.”
The plan can change in a heartbeat, of course, and Boudreau acknowledged that “I’ve got to figure if we go any distance, that both of them are going to play.”
Andersen said it was important to play the regular-season finale after he missed five games.
“You want to try and play that game, so you have that in your back pocket that I can go ahead and play,” Andersen said. “I haven’t sat for that long. Hopefully I can be a part of this series. Like in every series, you want to make sure you’re ready for whatever happens.”
Before the game, the Ducks assigned left wing Nick Ritchie to San Diego.
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