Ducks 3, Predators 2, SO
Associated Press

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Nashville Predators made Anaheim goaltender Viktor Fasth work hard to continue the perfect start to his NHL career.

Nick Bonino and Corey Perry scored in the shootout and the Ducks beat the Predators 3-2 on Saturday night to earn their fourth straight victory and eighth in their last nine games.

In the tiebreaker, Fasth allowed just one of three Nashville shooters to score. The 30-year-old improved to 8-0-0 on the season, with four of those victories coming in shootouts.

"We weren't on it right from the start, but we battled our way into the game," Fasth said. "I'm glad that we got away with a win today."

It was the second time in as many games this season that the teams went to a shootout. The first came Jan. 26 in Anaheim in Fasth's NHL debut.

"We played a pretty good game against a pretty good team," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "Both times we have played them, it has gone to a shootout. Unfortunately, we haven't been on the positive side yet on that shootout, but did we play well? Yeah, absolutely."

Pekka Rinne stopped one of Anaheim's three shootout attempts. The loss halted Nashville's three-game winning streak.

David Legwand scored the game's first goal at 13:31 of the opening period when he popped in the rebound of defenseman Jonathon Blum's shot from the point.

"Just having that 5-on-5 mentality where you just want to be greasy and get pucks to the net and have people there," Blum said. "Leggy was in the right spot, and I had a good play."

Matt Beleskey evened the score at 1 at 17:25 of the first.

As Beleskey was skating through the slot, Perry hit him with a pass, and Beleskey beat Rinne high for his third goal of the season.

The goal was the first puck to get by Rinne in his last 155:06 of action, a personal best.

Nashville regained the lead at 9:31 when Shea Weber beat Fasth with a wrist shot from the right point.

The Nashville captain's goal was his first of the season and 100th of his NHL career.

Weber's goal came just after Nashville killed off an Anaheim two-man advantage of 1:54 following successive delay-of-game penalties assessed to Rinne and defenseman Hal Gill.

"Usually when you don't score on a 5-on-3, it comes back to haunt you in the end," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "This one haunted us right away and they scored. The one thing that our group has been able to do so far is keep their cool and play the way they are supposed to and just keep going and eventually something goes in. Today it was a guy who got his first goal."

Anaheim drew even again at 16:08 of the second on Patrick Maroon's first career goal.

Kyle Palmieri had the puck on the left boards and threw it in front, where Maroon was able to tip the puck past Rinne.

"We were down 2-1, so we knew what we had to do," Maroon said. "We had to create some energy and create offense and throw pucks at the net and go to the net. Obviously, it is really emotional. It is great to get the first one out of the way."

Anaheim concluded its season-long six-game road trip 5-1-0.

NOTES: Nashville C Colin Wilson played in his 200th career NHL game. He has points in three consecutive games. ... Predators LW Sergei Kostitsyn recorded his 100th career assist. ... After allowing at least one power-play goal against in its last four games, Anaheim did not allow one in Nashville's five opportunities with the man advantage.


Three star selections
1st:   SHEA WEBER
2nd:   PATRICK MAROON
3rd:   VIKTOR FASTH
Winning Goaltender
Viktor Fasth

Losing Goaltender
Pekka Rinne

SCHEDULE

HOME
AWAY
PROMOTIONAL

STANDINGS

WESTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 p - CHI 48 36 7 5 155 102 77
2 y - ANA 48 30 12 6 140 118 66
3 y - VAN 48 26 15 7 127 121 59
4 x - STL 48 29 17 2 129 115 60
5 x - LAK 48 27 16 5 133 118 59
6 x - SJS 48 25 16 7 124 116 57
7 x - DET 48 24 16 8 124 115 56
8 x - MIN 48 26 19 3 122 127 55
9 CBJ 48 24 17 7 120 119 55
10 PHX 48 21 18 9 125 131 51
11 DAL 48 22 22 4 130 142 48
12 EDM 48 19 22 7 125 134 45
13 CGY 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 NSH 48 16 23 9 111 139 41
15 COL 48 16 25 7 116 152 39

STATS

2012-2013 REGULAR SEASON
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
S. Weber 48 9 19 -2 28
D. Legwand 48 12 13 -6 25
M. Fisher 38 10 11 6 21
C. Wilson 25 7 12 1 19
R. Josi 48 5 13 -7 18
G. Bourque 34 11 5 6 16
S. Kostitsyn 46 3 12 -5 15
P. Hornqvist 24 4 10 -1 14
K. Klein 47 3 11 -1 14
N. Spaling 47 9 4 -10 13
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
P. Rinne 15 16 8 .910 2.43
C. Mason 1 7 1 .873 3.73

 


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