Nashville Extends Series To Seventh Game with Anaheim

The Nashville Predators will now enter territory they have yet to experience, while the Anaheim Ducks are in a setting they are all too familiar with and want to avoid so badly.

Without any question, the pressure in this first round Stanley Cup playoff series between the Predators and Ducks has shifted. The Predators will play for the first time in a Game 7, while the Ducks are trying to avoid being eliminated again during the first round.

Shea Weber the Predators captain said he was excited to be going to a Game 7, as that is what you play for when growing up skating on a pond.

Weber scored an empty net goal to seal the Predators 3-1 victory on Monday over Anaheim in Game 6. This is the last game to be played in the NHL playoffs first round as the other seven series have already concluded.

The teams will meet in Anaheim on Wednesday with the pressure squarely on the shoulders of the Ducks. Anaheim has played well all season and is one of the favorites with odds makers to win the Stanley Cup.

For the next 36 hours, the talk will be about the Ducks leading Detroit 3-2 and losing in 2013, the Ducks leading 3-2 and losing in 2014 to Los Angeles and the Ducks leading the series and losing to Chicago last season.

In each of those three series, the Ducks played Game 7 at home and lost. Bruce Boudreau the Anaheim coached attempted to deflect some of the attention from his team by saying this team is new and it is another season.

The situation for the Ducks is not ideal, as they would have liked to have been home, resting for San Jose for the second round, but must battle an upstart team that has nothing to lose.

Nashville knows how tough it is to score on Anaheim and must keep the Ducks offense in check early to give their own offense an opportunity to put goals on the board. Nashville will need some big plays once again if they hope to come out on top.

For the Predators to win the series, they will also need excellent goaltending, as Frederik Andersen has played very well for Anaheim, as has Pekka Rinne for Nashville.

However, on Monday Rinne made 26 saves and helped his Predators teammates extend the series to Wednesday’s seventh and final game.

Andersen allowed just 2 goals in Monday’s loss, and has played well the past three games of the series.

All eyes from the NHL will be on Anaheim Wednesday night waiting to see the outcome.