Duchene Tallies Twice as Preds Persevere to Beat Ducks

Matt Duchene tallied twice and the Nashville Predators defeated the Anaheim Ducks by a 4-1 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds wins in three-straight outings overall with a perfect 2-for-2 mark on a three-game homestand and a massive week when it comes to the Central Division standings.
Filip Forsberg and Colton Sissons also scored for Nashville on the night, and goaltender Juuse Saros won his third-straight by stopping all but one of the 28 shots he faced.

The Preds had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes courtesy of Duchene finishing off a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play on the man advantage with Forsberg and Mikael Granlund assisting the effort. Nashville then doubled their lead in the second stanza as Duchene found Forsberg across the slot, and No. 9 tapped in his 28th of the season to tie Duchene for the team lead.
Anaheim didn't go away, however, and after Adam Henrique got the visitors on the board late in the third, the Ducks went on the power play. But, a huge shot block from Matt Benning helped the Preds complete the kill, and just moments later, Sissons blasted a shot from the right circle into the left corner to ice the night.
Duchene added another - this time into the empty net - for his 29th of the season, and the Predators found a way once more to reach the 70-point mark and keep pace in the division standings.

Thursday Storyline:

The Predators readily admitted it - Thursday night wasn't their cleanest, sharpest or best effort, but in the end, it didn't matter.
Behind a pair of goals from Duchene and stellar netmiding once more from Saros, Nashville earned two more crucial points in a game that required rising to another level down the stretch in order to avoid disaster.
The Preds did just that, another mark of an excellent team, and on this occasion, they simply finished the job.
"Maybe it wasn't our best effort, but it's a tough game to play," Duchene said. "There's no moral victories in any way this year. I mean, we played a heck of a game against Dallas the other night. If we lose that one, it doesn't matter how well we played, so tonight's kind of the reverse. We were pretty average tonight but found a way to get it done and got some big saves. Special teams were big [as well], and you're not going to get your best every night, but we still found a way."

"I thought it was maybe not our best effort for 60 minutes, but we found a way to win," Forsberg said. "Obviously, we got big goals at the right time, especially [Sissons] there at the end with a great shot. Sometimes it's got to be like that, and we'll take the two points."
Special teams certainly played a role in the ultimate result, and no sequence on Thursday night was more important than a late kill from Nashville with less than five minutes to play in regulation. A huge shot block from Benning helped to seal the kill, and then the blueliner found Sissons, who was almost out of gas, streaking up the right side.
But yet, a heart-and-soul player for the Preds night after night, Sissons found enough umph to fire a shot to the top corner as those inside Bridgestone Arena seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief, another critical contest all but done.
"That was a good one," Preds defenseman Mattias Ekholm said of the sequence. "We got some huge shot blocks, Benny there sacrificing his body… Again, we're at that time of year where we need those. It was a great job on the kill. Obviously, special teams was a big factor tonight and we got one on the power play. As I said earlier, it was a good team effort, and it was good all around. A lot of areas contributed, so that was good to see."

"It certainly was [the biggest sequence of the game]," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "When you look at this time of year, and particularly the last few games, just how important 60 minutes of hockey is, you have to be able to play in certain situations and stay with it. That was another one where we had to kill a pretty big penalty. We do a good job on that, and then we find a way to be able to get a goal again later in the game. But, I do think it's a good experience for our guys."
The Preds knew this would be a big week, and after collecting four out of a possible four points thus far, they've made it to the weekend with a crucial back-to-back set against the two clubs directly above them in the Central Division standings.
Nashville will travel to Minnesota on Sunday, but first up is a Saturday matinee against St. Louis to finish off the three-game homestand - and the Preds can't wait.
"We look at the standings and feel like every team is in a battle with somebody," Forsberg said. "[We know St. Louis is] going to be ready to roll, and it'll be a very, very fun atmosphere - and Bridgestone will be rocking."
"We knew coming into the week that it was going to be a four-game stretch with all teams right in the mix, and that provides challenges in itself," Hynes said. "Now, we've found a way to get four points this week, and you're coming in against two Central Division opponents that are ahead of us in the standings and really good teams that play playoff-style hockey. It's a great opportunity for us to play some real high-stakes games this weekend where we're going to have to be at our best. And if you want to do anything late in the season, you have to play your best against the best in high stakes games, and that's what we have coming up this weekend."

Highlight of the Night:

They Said It:

Matt Duchene on the Preds rising to the occasion this week:
"I just love our focus, our resiliency, our level headedness. I mean, we didn't play a very good game in Seattle. Hynes had to give us a bit of a kick in the butt in San Jose, and we responded well to it. We knew that it was warranted, and we'd gotten away from our game a little bit in February… We needed to ramp our game back up, and I think we've done a lot of good things to get the results we need."

Notes:

Nashville's lineup remained unchanged on Thursday night from the win against Dallas on Tuesday. Defenseman Mark Borowiecki (day-to-day) remained out, and forward Matt Luff, as well as blueliner Philippe Myers, were scratched.
Nashville's three-game homestand concludes on Saturday as the St. Louis Blues come to town for a special 11:30 a.m. CT puck drop. That outing starts a back-to-back for the Preds which will finish in Minnesota on Sunday evening.