Predators Beat Blues, Oilers Claim Win Over Ducks, NHL Playoffs

By ESPN

One nifty little flip by Vernon Fiddler provided a big lift for the Nashville Predators on a rough night.

Fiddler scored with 5:05 left and P.K. Subban had a goal and two assists, powering Nashville to a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Wednesday.

The Predators lost Kevin Fiala to an ugly leg injury in the second period and blew a 3-1 lead before Fiddler poked a loose puck by Jake Allen in the third.

"They had a little push there," Fiddler said. "We got 3-2 and then 3-3 and the building's rocking. You have to give our guys credit. We just regrouped and went back at them and found a way to get the two points."

It was the fifth goal in 43 career playoff games for the 36-year-old Fiddler, who did not play in the Predators' first-round series sweep against the Blackhawks.

"He's a veteran guy so he's been in these situations before and he stepped up and got us a big goal," Subban said. "That was the toughest game of the season for us and they fought so hard and had so many chances, but we found a way to get it done."

Colin Wilson and Filip Forsberg also scored for Nashville, and Pekka Rinne made 27 saves.

Game 2 is Friday night.

"I thought we got tested tonight in different ways and really responded well to all of it," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said.

Colton Parayko, Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Sobotka scored for St. Louis. Allen finished with 28 stops, but lamented the one he didn't make. He tried to poke check the puck away from Fiddler and instead it ended up getting past him.

"Guys fought back great," Allen said. "A little mistake by me cost us."

The Predators jumped in front when Wilson redirected a slap shot from Subban past Allen for a power-play goal at 11:24 of the first. It was Wilson's first playoff game this year after he missed the first round because of a lower-body injury.

It was still 1-0 when Fiala was hit by Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo and went hard into the boards behind the St. Louis net at 1:46 of the second. He left the ice on a stretcher and was taken to a hospital for further evaluation.

After the delay for Fiala's injury and the arrival of a second ambulance at the arena, Subban drove a shot by Allen from the right circle for his first of the playoffs at 2:22. Ryan Johansen picked up the assist after the Blues were unable to clear the puck from the defensive zone.

"I don't think anybody could have thought or planned for an incident like that with Kevin," said Laviolette, who did not provide an update on Fiala after the game. "Yet, our guys you could hear them on the bench when it happened and making sure their next shift was going to be a good one for Kevin."

St. Louis pulled within one when Parayko slipped a shot through Rinne's legs with 11:56 remaining in the second.

Subban then set up another power-play goal for the Predators. The defenseman's shot from the left circle bounced away from Allen, and then ricocheted off Forsberg's skate and into the net for a 3-1 lead at 12:11.

The Blues rallied in the third. Schwartz scored his third of the playoffs, off a pass from Paul Stastny, at 6:48, and Sobotka tied it with a wrist shot from the right circle with 10:38 remaining.

"We dug ourselves a hole in the second period and I liked the push back and the fact we came out the way we did (in the third period)," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "There are some things we can learn from that but the reality is the second period was not good enough and ultimately it cost us the game."

Oilers 5, Ducks 3

For the first 45 minutes of their second-round series opener, the Edmonton Oilers showed they can match the Anaheim Ducks in a tight-checking, low-scoring grind of a playoff hockey game.

When things got wild and frantic in the final minutes, the upstart Oilers showed they can hang with the best in the West in that sort of game, too.

Defenseman Adam Larsson scored his second goal of the third period with 4:40 to play, and the Oilers blew a two-goal lead before beating the Ducks 5-3 on Wednesday night.

Mark Letestu scored two power-play goals and Cam Talbot made 33 saves as Edmonton seized home-ice advantage from the Ducks with a four-goal final period. Two of those goals came from Larsson, the stay-at-home blueliner who scored only four goals in the Oilers' first 85 games this season.

"It's really nice to see him get rewarded and get a couple of goals," Letestu said of Larsson, acquired by Edmonton in the trade of former No. 1 draft pick Taylor Hall to New Jersey. "That's not normally what he does for us."

Leon Draisaitl had two third-period assists and an empty-net goal for the Oilers, who don't appear to be feeling an ounce of intimidation in their first playoff appearance since 2006. Connor McDavid's club followed its ousting of the defending conference champion San Jose Sharks by sending the five-time division champion Ducks to their first loss of the playoffs.

"At times, our maturity has been underestimated," Letestu said. "This group has been through a lot this year, and it's starting to show."

Game 2 is Friday night in Anaheim.

The most shocking development in the opener was the star turn by Larsson, who improbably poured in two goals in 7 1/2 minutes. After skating freely into the slot and converting a pass from Draisaitl with 11:57 left, he added the winner seven minutes later when he skated behind the net and cleverly threw it in front. The puck banked off Anaheim defenseman Josh Manson's skate and pinballed underneath John Gibson, who stopped 27 shots.

"You can see on the bench, we didn't panic" after Anaheim tied it, Larsson said. "We kept it going. We learned a lot during the last series, and we carried it over to this series."

Jakob Silfverberg scored the tying goal with 9:13 to play, but the Ducks lost in regulation for the first time in 19 games since March 10.

Patrick Eaves and Ryan Getzlaf also scored for Anaheim, which had won eight straight games. The Ducks didn't give up a third-period goal during their entire first-round sweep of Calgary before getting shredded by the Oilers.

"It's a good test," said Getzlaf, who has seven points in five playoff games. "We've dealt with it properly in the last little while here, and we expect nothing less out of our group. We're going to come to work tomorrow and be ready for the next one."

A sold-out Honda Center could barely keep up when a tense 1-1 game morphed into a free-for-all as each team scored two goals apiece in a 4:24 span midway through the third.

"I think the first two periods were more of a checking game," Draisaitl said. "And then both teams had a few breakdowns, and I think both teams capitalized on them."

Letestu scored his second power-play goal with 13:37 to play before Larsson put the Oilers up 3-1. The Ducks promptly sprung to life and attacked the net, with Eaves flipping home a rebound 85 seconds before Silfverberg tied it with his own rebound goal.

"We're going to learn from it," Silverberg said. "We know we're not going to win every series 4-0. We know that now."

The Ducks had the past week off after sweeping the Flames, but both teams came out with a mid-series physical approach in the scoreless first period. All-Star center Ryan Kesler immediately gave McDavid a taste of what's ahead when he skated alongside the Edmonton captain in the neutral zone, randomly whacking McDavid with his stick while the puck was nowhere close.

All-Star defenseman Cam Fowler returned to the Ducks' lineup after missing six games over the previous three weeks due to an unpenalized knee-on-knee hit by Calgary captain Mark Giordano.

Wednesday, April 26 Scoreboard

Nashville 4, St. Louis 3

Game 1 -- Predators lead 1-0

Edmonton 5, Anaheim 3

Game 1 -- Oilers lead 1-0

Thursday, April 27 Schedule (All Times Central)

New York Rangers at Ottawa, 6 p.m.

Game 1 -- Series tied 0-0

Pittsburgh at Washington, 6:30 p.m.

Game 1 -- Series tied 0-0

Friday, April 28 Schedule (All Times Central)

Nashville at St. Louis, 7 p.m.

Game 2 -- Predators lead 1-0

Edmonton at Anaheim, 9:30 p.m.

Game 2-- Oilers lead 1-0

Saturday, April 29 Schedule (All Times Central)

New York Rangers at Ottawa, 2 p.m.

Game 2

Pittsburgh at Washington, 7 p.m.

Game 2

Sunday, April 30 Schedule (All Times Central)

St. Louis at Nashville, 2 p.m.

Game 3

Anaheim at Edmonton, 6 p.m.

Game 3