Los Angeles: The Nashville Predators defeated the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 to confirm their place in the next round of the Stanley Cup play-offs on Wednesday with a 4-3 series victory.
Colin Wilson and Paul Gaustad scored the goals for the Predators with Ryan Kesler netting the only goal for the Ducks in front of a sellout 17,407 crowd at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne was in inspired form for the visitors, stopping 36 shots as the Predators set up a meeting with the San Jose Sharks on Friday in the Western Conference semi-finals.
Rinne had made a crucial early stop to prevent Anaheim taking the lead after four minutes, doing the splits to catch Cam Fowler’s slap shot.
Wilson put Nashville 1-0 up after 6:19, stealing from defenseman Simon Despres and whipping a backhand inside the right post.
The second play-off goal of Gaustad’s career made it 2-0 at 15:53. Gaustad diverted the puck in after deflecting Shea Weber’s slap shot and despite a challenge from Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, the score stood.
Nashville lived dangerously and Anaheim were unlucky not to score when Jamie McGinn’s shot hit the crossbar about five minutes into the period.
Kesler ended Rinne’s hopes of a clean sheet after scoring on a power play in the third period.
Anaheim might have leveled with seven minutes left but Rinne did just enough to keep out Hampus Lindholm’s shot from the blue line and Nashville advanced.
