Annunen makes 43 saves, Predators shut out Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Justus Annunen made 43 saves for the Nashville Predators in a 5-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Tuesday.

It was the first shutout of the season for the Predators, the third in Annunen's NHL career and his first in 84 starts since he recorded back-to-back 5-0 wins against the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 29 and March 4, 2024, while playing for the Colorado Avalanche.

"I was happy for the boys," Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. "They weren't going to let this one go for 'Big Juice.’ He's been put in real tough situations. We haven't, at times, played our best in front of him and, tonight, I think we all wanted to give him a shutout."

Erik Haula had a goal and an assist, and Ryan O'Reilly and Joakim Kemell each had two assists for Nashville (37-31-10), which was coming off a 3-2 shootout loss at the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.

With the win, the Predators moved one point ahead of the Kings for the second wild-card spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

"Every game is like a playoff game for us right now," Kemell said. "You're not thinking (about the standings) when you go on the ice."

Lukas Dostal made 20 saves for the Ducks (41-32-5), who have lost six in a row (0-5-1). Anaheim dropped to third place in the Pacific Division, a point behind the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights, who each have 88 points.

“It’s not the optimal time to be losing games in the season," Ducks forward Alex Killorn said. "Put ourselves in a pretty good spot and kind of throwing it away a little bit here at the end. But still, plenty of games left to get those points back."

Nashville was getting outshot 20-9 when Kemell faked a shot before pulling up above the right circle. He fed Haula cutting down the middle and he scored with a wrist shot over Dostal's blocker for a 1-0 lead at 7:07 of the second period.

"In a lot of those games where we came back, we had really bad starts," Killorn said. "Seems to be the opposite now. I feel like we start the games really well and then when something goes wrong, we don't rebound like we used to."

The Predators were on their first power play when Filip Forsberg scored with a wrist shot from above the circle with O'Reilly providing a screen to make it 2-0 at 11:26.

The Predators killed a 22-second 5-on-3 power play late in the second period and then scored short-handed on the second penalty when Brady Skjei finished a 2-on-0 breakaway for a 3-0 lead at 19:00.

Zachary L'Heureux scored from in front of the crease to finish off a rush and extend the lead to 4-0 at 9:51 of the third period.

“We’ve got to stop giving them odd-man rushes," Killorn said. "We give them a short-handed goal. Just a lot of breakaways and stuff like that. Shot-wise, I feel like we're doing a good job producing shot volume, but we haven't been able to score.”

Fedor Svechkov redirected a centering pass from in front of the crease to make it 5-0 at 15:07.

Nashville killed another 5-on-3 that lasted 1:26 late in the third period and finished 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.

"We hung in there," Brunette said. "I thought 'Big Juice' was outstanding, especially early in the first. Back-to-back (games), we had a little trouble getting going a little bit. Didn't think we found our game until the second (period). That and the penalty killing kind of won us the game tonight."

The Ducks had the only two power plays of the scoreless first period and outshot the Predators 12-5.

Anaheim's best scoring chance in the opening period came on a breakaway by Troy Terry, but Annunen made the save with six seconds left.

"It's always easier when you get shots early and get a lot of shots," said Annunen, who finished one save short of his NHL career high.

NOTES: Forsberg extended his point streak to five games (five goals, three assists). ... Anaheim used 10 forwards and eight defensemen. ... Ducks forward Mason McTavish played in his 300th NHL game. ... Anaheim defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, who missed the previous three games with a lower-body injury, played in his 200th NHL game.