Ducks Even Series in NHL Playoffs

By ESPN

The Anaheim Ducks were down a game in the Western Conference finals and down 2-0 in Game 2 against Pekka Rinne, the most dominant goalie in these Stanley Cup playoffs.

That's when Sami Vatanen got the puck and thought he saw a sliver of room over Rinne's shoulder.

"So I just closed my eyes and shot it in there," Vatanen said with his usual Finnish deadpan delivery.

After every slow start and tight game over their past month, not much can ruffle these Ducks. Once they coolly opened a crack in Rinne and the Nashville Predators, they started a deluge that evened the series.

Nick Ritchie broke a tie late in the second period, and Anaheim roared back from that early two-goal deficit for a 5-3 victory Sunday night.

Just when the Ducks appeared to be in serious danger of losing two straight home games to start their second straight series, they made a thrilling surge of four goals in less than 19 minutes.

"Everybody says we go about it the hard way, but as long as we get the job done," shrugged John Gibson, who stopped 30 shots.

Vatanen, Jakob Silfverberg and Ondrej Kase also scored for the Ducks before Antoine Vermette added an empty-netter. The Predators hadn't allowed four goals in any game during their excellent Stanley Cup playoff run before Anaheim got five in front of its sellout crowd.

"I wish we didn't get down in the first place, but I think we have three or four lines that get going and just keep punching through," Ducks forward Rickard Rakell said. "It's almost like we feel, `Oh, we've got nothing to lose now.' It's almost like that's when we play our best game. Maybe sometimes we shouldn't wait for that to get going."

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Nashville.

Rinne made 22 saves and Ryan Johansen, James Neal and Filip Forsberg scored for the Predators. They faced relatively little adversity while steamrolling Chicago and St. Louis in the first two rounds on the way to the first conference finals in franchise history.

Nashville has a serious challenge now, and adversity has arrived in the form of Ryan Kesler, the Ducks' defense-minded center. Johansen had a goal and an assist, but Kesler's well-known style of physical play already has burrowed under his skin.

"I mean, it just blows my mind watching," Johansen said. "I don't know what's going through his head over there. Like his family and his friends watching him play, I don't know how you cheer for a guy like that. It just doesn't make sense how he plays the game. I'm just trying to go out there and play hockey, and it sucks when you've got to pull a stick out of your groin every shift."

Two days after Nashville's 3-2 overtime victory at Honda Center in the series opener, Johansen and Neal scored in the opening 8:32 of Game 2.

The Ducks eventually got around to replying with high-octane hockey -- and a few fortunate bounces -- that was too much even for Rinne, who hadn't given up four goals in a game since March 13.

"The second (period), they got to control the tempo of the game and had the puck a little bit more, and obviously that plays into their hands," Rinne said. "But we still battled back. Obviously, disappointed personally in that second period."

Ritchie, the power forward making his first career playoff run, scored the winning goal in Game 7 against Edmonton. Four days later, he got his next major goal on an exceptional high shot that appeared to glance off Rinne's mask on the way in.

Anaheim hung on through a frenetic third period, surviving a few mad scrambles before captain Ryan Getzlaf got his third assist of the night on Vermette's empty-netter.

Although Honda Center was much fuller and louder than it was for the traffic-affected series opener, Johansen scored on a breakaway just 4:18 in. Neal doubled the lead on a power play with one of the easiest goals in recent NHL history, escorting the puck unimpeded into the net when Gibson completely lost sight of the play.

After Vatanen ended Anaheim's 0-for-20 slump on the power play, Silfverberg evened it in the opening minute of the second period, cashing in Rakell's pass for his ninth goal.

The Predators took another lead when Forsberg converted a rebound of a breakaway by speedy Viktor Arvidsson, who had two assists.

But the Ducks pulled even again on the first career playoff goal for Kase, the aggressive Czech rookie, who slipped a puck through traffic.

Saturday's Game

Senators 2, Penguins 1

By his own estimate, it took Ottawa's Bobby Ryan a full 82 games to adjust to first-year coach Guy Boucher's system.

Consider the forward all caught up. The rest of the consistently surprising Senators, too.

Ryan broke in alone on Marc-Andre Fleury and deked the Pittsburgh goalie before flipping a backhand into the open net 4:59 into overtime to give Ottawa a 2-1 victory Saturday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

"I knew at some point those pucks I'd been chasing all year long, they were going to come," Ryan said after picking up his fifth goal of the playoffs. "You just want to redeem yourself. You let your teammates down (during the regular season). Now I'm getting to redeem myself a little bit. That's all I'm trying to do."

The Senators improved to 6-1 when pushed beyond regulation during the postseason to give them early control of the best-of-seven series against the defending Stanley Cup champions, a matchup few outside of the guys in the red, white and black jerseys gave them a shot of winning.

Not that it seems to bother Ottawa. One game in and the Senators have already done to the Penguins what Washington and Columbus could not: grab control of the series.

"There's a lot of things to like but it's just one game," Boucher said. "We won't get too excited."

Boucher hasn't backed away from the underdog role. If anything, he's embraced it. A year ago the Senators missed the playoffs while the Penguins sprinted to the franchise's Cup. Now Ottawa finds itself on equal footing and hardly appeared intimidated by the stage. Ryan assisted on Jean-Gabriel Pageau's first-period goal, Craig Anderson made 27 saves and the Senators turned away five Pittsburgh power plays.

Evgeni Malkin's goal late in the third period forced the extra period, but Pittsburgh struggled to generate any consistent pressure on Anderson. The problem wasn't Ottawa's neutral zone trap designed to slow teams down but a decided lack of aggression once Malkin, captain Sidney Crosby and company crossed the Senators' blue line.

"We're looking for that next play instead of putting pucks at the net," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said.

The Penguins only managed 17 shots in five-on-five situations, compared to 32 by Ottawa. Pittsburgh also gave it away 17 times, two of which led to goals.

"We understand, they wait," Malkin said. "They need one chance, two-on-one or three-on-two to score."

The Penguins only had 72 hours to recharge following a draining seven-game series against Washington. While Pittsburgh insisted it would have no problem hitting reset with a spot in the Stanley Cup finals on the line, there was a dip in intensity both on the ice and in the stands.

For long stretches, it felt like the game could have been played in mid-December instead of mid-May, which was just fine by Ottawa.

The Penguins didn't lack for opportunities to jump on the Senators but four first-period power plays -- including 45 seconds of a 5-on-3 -- went nowhere. Ron Hainsey hit the crossbar early and Patric Hornqvist dinged the left post but that's as close as Pittsburgh would get to slipping one by Anderson.

"There were some good looks there," said Crosby, who had just two shots in 23:32 of ice time. "They're not going to give you anything but we worked hard to get our chances and we've got to bury them when we get them."

The Senators focused not on creating extended pressure on Fleury but instead taking advantage of Pittsburgh's mistakes. The breakthrough came 14:32 into the first when Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin left a blind drop pass behind his net that Ryan intercepted and slipped to Pageau in the right circle. The puck zipped over Fleury's glove and suddenly Ottawa had the lead.

It appeared it would be enough to put Pittsburgh away in regulation until Malkin redirected a Chris Kunitz shot between Anderson's legs with 5:35 left in the third.

No matter. The Senators did what they've done repeatedly during their surprising run to the NHL's final four: they found a way.

"Our players are really good at not fearing the outcome, and we play the way we play," Boucher said. "Whether it's overtime or third period or we're leading or we're trailing. We just really keep the same approach. So it's been healthy for us."

Monday, May 15 Schedule (Time Central)

Ottawa at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.

Game 2 -- Series tied 1-1

Tuesday, May 16 Schedule (Time Central)

Anaheim at Nashville, 7 p.m.

Game 3 -- Series tied 1-1