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NHL playoffs first look: No. 4 Ducks vs. No. 5 Nashville

By Helene Elliott
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No. 4 DUCKS VS. NO. 5 NASHVILLE

The Ducks faced the Nashville Predators four times this season. The Ducks won only the second game, 5-4, Nov. 7 at Anaheim. The Predators won, 4-1, at home Oct. 9, and by the same score at Anaheim on Jan. 5. The Predators won the teams’ final meeting, 5-4, at Nashville on March 24. Goaltender Jonas Hiller started for the Ducks but couldn’t finish and hasn’t played since then.

REGULAR-SEASON RECORDS

DUCKS: 47-30-5

PREDATORS: 44-27-11

TOP SCORERS

DUCKS: Corey Perry 50 goals (1st in NHL), 98 points (third in NHL); Teemu Selanne 31 goals, 80 points; Ryan Getzlaf 19 goals, 76 points.

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NASHVILLE: Martin Erat 17 goals, 50 points; Sergei Kostitsyn 23 goals, 50 points; Shea Weber 16 goals, 48 points.

WORTH NOTING

DUCKS: Saku Koivu scored four goals against the Predators in four games and Selanne had three, two on the power play. The Ducks had five players with more points than Predators’ co-scoring leaders Erat and Kostitsyn.

PREDATORS: Rookie defenseman Jonathon Blum grew up in Rancho Santa Margarita. He has two exceptional tutors in Weber, a member of Canada’s Olympic gold medal team last year, and Ryan Suter, a member of the silver medal-winning U.S. Olympic team.

GOALTENDERS

DUCKS: Ray Emery missed the last two games of the season because of a lower-body injury but is expected to be ready for the playoffs. He was 7-2-0 with a 2.28 goals-against average and .926 save percentage in 10 games. Dan Ellis, who played two seasons for the Predators, merits consideration for his 8-3-1 record and strong finish. Hiller, still overcoming vertigo, might be the odd man out.

PREDATORS: Pekka Rinne was 33-22-9 with a 2.12 goals-against average (third in the NHL) and .930 save percentage (second). He’s their most valuable player.

PENALTY KILL

DUCKS 81.3% (19th)

PREDATORS 84.9% (fifth).

POWER PLAY

DUCKS: 23.5% (third).

PREDATORS 15.2% (25th).

LAST TIME IN THE PLAYOFFS

DUCKS: 2009. They upset top-seeded San Jose before losing to Detroit in seven games.

PREDATORS: 2010. They had series leads of 1-0 and 2-1 over the Chicago Blackhawks but lost in six games.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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