What a difference 48 hours made for Ryan Getzlaf.
He was far from singularly responsible for the Ducks’ loss Wednesday in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series with Nashville. But as the captain went — three giveaways, only one shot, and a minus-1 rating — so went the team, whose home-ice advantage was squandered only one game into the series.
Perhaps Getzlaf was merely stating the obvious on Friday morning when he said “we worked so hard for a month, month and a half just to get in – you always run that risk of a little bit of a letdown when you feel that you accomplished something.”
Consider it a lesson learned.
Getzlaf and linemate Corey Perry had a goal and two assists, Bobby Ryan had a pair of goals, and the Ducks evened the best-of-seven series at one game apiece with a 5-3 win over the Predators in Game 3. The series resumes Sunday in Nashville.
Goaltender Pekka Rinne, who was so masterful as to silence the home crowd at times in Game 1, heard 17,174 at Honda Center chanting his name in mock derision at one point Friday.
Game details in tomorrow’s editions. A few more notes:
The “Kid Line” of Matt Beleskey, Nick Bonino and Brandon McMillan played well enough to stick together the entire game. They had a strong shift against the Martin Erat-David Legwand-Joel Ward line, holding the zone through persistent forechecking, that preceded Bobby Ryan’s first goal of the game at 7:12 of the second period.
Ryan Getzlaf lost the opening draw against Legwand, but won 13 of his 21 draws the rest of the game. Nick Bonino went 3-0, and the Ducks finished 29-28 as a team on draws.
Francois Beauchemin had a strong game, with two assists, four blocked shots and a plus-4 rating.
Cam Fowler had a team-high four hits and picked up his first two postseason assists. The second was critical. He got to a 50-50 puck ahead of the Predators in the defensive zone, then made an accurate pass up the ice to Bobby Ryan, who scored the empty-net goal to seal the win in the final minute. That Fowler was on the ice at all in that situation was impressive to begin with; he certainly made a case to be there again next time.