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NASHVILLE 2 ANAHEIM 1 (Predators lead 2-1)
With Nashville pressing, having already tied the game and getting two goals disallowed over the span of 30 seconds, you knew that any kind of a mistake by the Anaheim Ducks would be costly. Hello, Chris Wagner. Welcome to the hall of stupid penalties. Wagner's high stick in the offensive zone gave the Predators exactly what they were looking for, as Roman Josi would score the winner a short time later and give Nashville the win, and the series lead.
One thing was obvious last night: A concerted effort by Nashville to get into John Gibson's face. The Anaheim goalie got bumped and downright run over a few times last night. Also, what the hell was Randy Carlyle going on about in regards to the shot clock after the game? If he's worried about Nashville's off ice officials padding the shot stats and not what's actually happening in this series, these Ducks are already done.
The big story in this series is how banged up the Penguins are getting. Patrik Honrnqvist, Justin Schultz and Bryan Rust are all possibly out tonight, and the loss of Schultz, who has been pretty damn solid for the Pens D is pretty significant. Ottawa meanwhile needs to get some players not named Pageau, Karlsson or Ryan scoring some goals if they want to get out of this series alive.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
One of my favorite Kreator songs, going way back to the Terrible Certainty album.