Ducks close out the year with another dismal defeat, losing to Predators
Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists in his 600th career game and Colton Sissons contributed a goal and an assist in the Nashville Predators’ 6-1 victory over the Ducks on Friday at Honda Center.
Yakov Trenin, Thomas Novak, Roman Josi and Nino Niederreiter also scored in the Predators’ third win in 11 games. Juuse Saros made 26 saves as Nashville (15-14-5) opened a quick two-game West Coast trip by ending a two-game skid.
“We’re almost halfway through the season, and I don’t think we’ve played our best hockey yet, but this is a step in the right direction,” said Forsberg, who produced his sixth multipoint performance in 21 career games against the Ducks. “Our offensive zone work was good, especially in the second period. There’s been something missing there this season, so it was good to get that going.”
After his three-point performance, Forsberg is just two points shy of becoming the third player in Predators history to score 500 points. His goal on the doorstep off a defensive misplay put Nashville up 3-1 in the second period, blowing open a previously tight game with his 11th goal of the season.
Adam Henrique had two goals, John Gibson made 49 saves in his return and the Ducks defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in a shootout on Wednesday.
Sam Carrick scored and John Gibson stopped 37 shots in another dismal effort by the Ducks (10-23-4), who have lost four of five.
The Ducks dropped to 1-2-1 on their franchise-record, 10-game homestand, and the beleaguered club finished the 2022 calendar year with a dismal record of 24-51-11.
“It’s no secret that we’re in a rebuild,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “We’re trying to develop players on the fly. We’re doing our best to compete every night, and when you are a team like that, you can’t make mistakes and you certainly cannot do things by yourself. We can’t have guys being single contractors. You need your teammates, and you have to play the system so we can have some success. That’s where it got away from us [today].”
Sissons put the Predators ahead in the first period when he was left unmarked in the right circle and whistled a wrist shot past Gibson for his fifth goal in 17 career regular-season games against the Ducks.
“We made it hard on them,” Sissons said. “They could barely catch their breath for a while there while we rolled [lines] on them.”
Sissons has been an unlikely offensive threat against the Ducks for most of his career. The depth-line grinder with just one 10-goal season during his decade in Nashville had the greatest game of his NHL life against the Ducks, posting a hat trick in the Predators’ clinching Game 6 victory in the 2017 Western Conference finals.
Goalie Lukas Dostal made 42 saves for the Ducks, but they lost 3-2 to the Calgary Flames when Rasmus Andersson scored 2:24 into overtime Friday night.
Carrick got credit for tying the score early in the second period when Urho Vaakanainen’s shot into traffic ricocheted sharply off Carrick’s hip, resulting in only his second goal of the season.
But Nashville reclaimed the lead when Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler’s giveaway set up a quick shot by Trenin for a goal in his second consecutive game.
“Nashville has an excellent team,” Eakins said. “I’m not sure their record shows exactly what they have there. The one thing I do think Nashville does very well is they play with each other. They play a very good team game, and every shift is almost the same.”
Novak recorded his second goal of the season — the third of his NHL career — early in the third period. Josi then scored on a long shot during a power play, and Niederreiter tacked on his 12th goal with 13 seconds to play.
Up next
Predators: At Vegas on Saturday.
Ducks: Host Philadelphia on Monday.
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
