Teemu Selanne had no need to go on a rampage against his team after Wednesday night's effort against the Nashville Predators.  Unlike game three, the Ducks were clearly involved in game four, and the 6-3 victory to even up the series at 2-2 was plenty of reward.

Those six goals came from six different players, but none was more important than Corey Perry's short handed marker at 1:17 of the third period.  The eventual game winner was a severe blow to Nashville, who had already come back to tie the game twice.  The Predators were unable to recover from that point and the Ducks made sure there was no comeback.

The Ducks got out to a good start, getting a power play goal from Cam Fowler at 4:41 of the first period.  Saku Koivu made it 2-0 at 5:14.  The Predators, victim of aggressive forechecking by Anaheim, decided to take their time out. 

The quick pause served the Predators well, as Patrick Hornqvist put Nashville on the board at 5:45.  It was Nashville's first shot on goal.

By the end of the first period, it was 2-1, and the Ducks had outshot the Predators 16 - 12.  16 shots is what the Ducks accumulated over the course of the entire game three.

Jarkko Ruutu caught Martin Erat in the middle of the ice and ended up making contact with Erat's head.  It was not a blindside hit, but it clearly knocked Erat for a loop and he did not return to the game.  Ruutu got two minutes for interference and Joel Ward tipped in Cody Franson's power play shot at 5:44 to tie everything up. 

Ward got a high stick on Jason Blake that left him bloodied in the face and down on the ice.  Inexplicably, the Nashville fans saw fit to boo Blake, who clearly did not inflict an open would on his face on his own.   The Ducks took a while, but eventually capitalized on the double minor with Selanne getting a tip in at 11:41. 

That was Selanne's fifth goal of the series, which not only leads all other players, but it also matches the grand total that Boston has scored in three games against Montreal.   Four of the five have come on the power play, but then again, what else would you expect from the Ageless Wonder?

Nashville continued to hang in there and Matt Halischuk evened up the game once more at 14:15.  Halischuk was waiting patiently at the back door of the net and when the puck got to him, he was wide open.

The Predators started the third period with 1:28 left on their fifth power play.  Rather than take the lead for the first time in the game, Brandon McMillan and Corey Perry burned the Predators.  Perry picked up the puck at the blue line and McMillan drove the middle lane, distracting Pekke Rinne.  In went the puck, and that was it for the Predators.

"He created space and made a great move," Perry commended McMillan.

McMillan might have created the space, but Perry did the actual damage, something he did often enough during the regular season to lead the league in goal scoring. 

According to Vince Gill, one of Nashville's intemission entertaibers, Perry is soft.  Clearly Gill does not watch Duck hockey, but he got to see Perry work up close and personal on Wednesday night.  Hope that crow tasted delicious.

"That's a huge goal for them and changed the momentum of the game," Rinne observed. 

Ryan Getzlaf gave the Ducks some breathing room at 4:51 and McMillan got his first playoff goal at 6:46 to finish off the scoring.

The Ducks now head back to Anaheim with the series tied and happy to add Bobby Ryan back into the line-up, after he had served a two game suspension for stepping on Jonathan Blum's skate in game two. 

Anaheim knows that in game five, someone is going to be up 3-2. and they want to be the team with the edge when they head back to Nashville on Easter Sunday.  The only resurrection on Easter should be Jesus Christ, not the Nashville Predators.  Anything less for the Ducks is unacceptable.

Looking back, the 4-3 loss to the Nashville Predators on Sunday still looks pretty ugly for the Ducks.  The loss put them down 2-1 in the series and the Ducks have to find a way to get things tied up again on Wednesday night.

It was a miracle that game three was not a complete blowout.  Ray Emery seemed to be the only goaltender on the ice for most of the game and ended up stopping 33 shots.  Pekke Rinne?  Saw less than half the shots that Emery did, including a measly four in the first period. 

To say the Ducks weren't in the game would have been an understatement.  By the end of the first period, the Predators were up 2-0.   A power play goal by Martin Erat at 15:00 and a goal from fan favorite, Jordin Tootoo, :38 seconds later, gave the already loud crowd more reasons to celebrate.

An unlikely fight late in the second period between Ryan Getzlaf and Mike Fisher, two guys neither team would like to see exchanging fisticuffs, seemed to have woken up Anaheim. 

"That was big," said Teemu Selanne. "That changed the momentum. Leaders have to do that sometimes and that gave us a spark. We were back in the game but still a couple back-door plays in the third, empty-nets. Boom … it's two goals in the third. So many mistakes, it's unbelievable."

Selanne took the spark and made it a fire, taking it upon himself to get things going and scored a power play goal and even strength goal at 18:10 and 18:40.  Those two goals were the fastest two goals in the playoffs since Petr Nedved scored two just :11 seconds apart 15 years to the day. 

In the third period, David Legwand put Nashville back in the lead at 5:25, but at 6:48, Matt Beleskey had the puck go in off his skate as he was falling to the ice.  Tied once more, which was miraculous.

Nashville persevered and Fisher gave the Predators the go-ahead goal at 10:22. 

After the game Selanne peeled the paint off the dressing room and reporter's microphones with a tirade against his teammates that was well deserved.

"We had no f-ing business in this game," Selanne aptly observed.  "No business. They wanted it more. They won the battles. We were lucky to even be in the game. Very disappointed."

The day after the loss, Selanne's words were still ringing in the ears of his teammates.

"You guys only heard a little of it," Corey Perry told reporters.  "He said a lot more before that.  His voice carries a long way."

Selanne was much more subdued the day after the game.

"It's a new day and there are new opportunities," Selanne grinned with his usual infectious smile.  "Today's the day for positive."

It is a new day and the Ducks have a new opportunity on Wednesday to tie up the series.  They will have to do it without Bobby Ryan, who will serve the second and final game of his suspension.  However, with Selanne's admonishments still ringing in their ears, you can believe that the Ducks will play a better game.  If not, they deserve to hear every single word, and more, from a teammate who deserves better than this in what could be his final playoff games of his career.

The Ducks will be without Bobby Ryan for games three and four in Nashville as the league suspended Ryan for what was deemed a "reckless and dangerous" stomp on Jonathan Blum in game two. 

Ryan and Blum were behind the net fighting for the puck along the wall.  Ryan was attempting to use his foot to get the puck out and got overzealous, stomping on Blum's skate in the process.

"I tried four or five times to kick the puck loose," said Ryan, describing the incident.  "The last time I raised my foot a little higher and came down right on top of him.  The intent was good.  The result was bad."

Blum was not injured in the play, but gave Ryan a shove after the incident in response.

"It's something definitely you don't do," commented Blum. "Skates are pretty sharp.  Coming down with that much force on any part of someone's body could do damage.  It could cause an injury.  You're taught at a young age not to do that."

Ryan has historically been a clean player and there certainly appeared to be no intent in his actions.  However, the results were the same nonetheless.

Coach Randy Carlyle was not expecting the two game suspension.

"That's not Bobby Ryan's style," Carlyle observed. "This is a first-time offense if anything and that's ... really I'm surprised. I didn't even see it until after the game. I was surprised to see what happened during the game. There's no place in the game for that."

Ryan took exception with league disciplinarian, Colin Campbell, calling the play "reckless and dangerous," but still took the consequences with grace.

"I've never had any kind of intent or reckless behavior on the ice. I think that's a very loose vocabulary to use.  I don't agree with it, but I'll be a good teammate and move forward."

The Ducks are not strangers to stomping suspensions.  Chris Pronger sat out eight games in 2007 after stomping Ryan Kesler's calf.  It was a far more dangerous play and Pronger, who seems to like straddling a fine line between acceptable and unacceptable, was definitely not a first offender and more likely to commit this sort of offense.

Anaheim will need to go forward without Ryan on the top line and see what they can do about taking a lead in the series that is tied at one game each.  Sunday afternoon will be their first test.

After losing the first game of the series, the Ducks regrouped, found their game, and found a way to put pucks past Pekke Rinne.  The 5-3 victory over the Predators evens up the series as the teams head to Nashville for games three and four.

Neither the Ducks nor the Predators have been able to stay out of the penalty box.  Just as Nashville made the Ducks pay early in the first period of the first game, the Ducks made Nashville pay for their sins early on in game two. 

Martin Erat was joined in the penalty box by Shane O'Brien, giving Anaheim an early 5 on 3 opportunity.  Corey Perry got the first one at 5:24 and it was followed up by Teemu Selanne at 6:02.  Strike one.  Strike two.  Ducks had a 2-0 lead and a much better start to their hockey game. 

Suddenly Rinne did not look so invulnerable in net.  And the Predators did not look nearly as disciplined as they were during the regular season, with the second fewest penalties in the NHL. 

"It was huge and it set the tone for the game," said Bobby Ryan, who had two goals of his own. "It gave us a little bit of a comfort level to roll with throughout that first period. They came back and threw everything they had at us."

Nashville came close to getting on the board late in the first when the puck got past Ray Emery, who was seeing his first start in net since incurring a "lower body injury" more than a week ago.   The officials ruled that Emery was interfered with and instead of the score being 2-1, the Ducks were on the power play again.

The score did make it to 2-1at 4:29 of the second period with Shea Weber getting the puck up and over Emery on the power play.   Emery had made a great save just prior, but could not stop everything, especially with Perry minus his stick.

Ryan took advantage of a nice fat juicy rebound that Rinne left in the crease and said "thank you very much" as he placed the puck in the net at 7:12 to make it 3-1. 

Emery was called upon shortly thereafter to make what would end up being the save of the game.  After poke checking away Erat's efforts, Emery stopped another shot with his leg pad while sprawled on the ice.  Preventing that goal ended up being the difference maker at the end of the game. 

Ryan Getzlaf added to the big line's night with another rebound goal at 15:54 that made it 4-1.  At that point, Ducks fans felt it necessary to heckle Rinne.

Nashville was motivated to change things around in the third period.  Patrik Hornqvist made it 4-2 at 1:30 of the first period, taking advantage of yet another power play.   Joel Ward brought the Predators within one goal at 10:17, making things nervous for the remainder of regulation.

Rinne vacated the net with a minute to go and Cam Fowler helped seal the deal with a great play to Ryan, who put the puck into the empty net for his second goal of the game.  5-3 Anaheim.  Free chicken wings at Hooters.   With :53 seconds remaining, the game done. 

"(Rinne) is a heck of a goalie," Ryan said. "Game 1 he saved everything we threw at him. Tonight we got some fortunate bounces and we were happy to capitalize. It makes us feel like he’s a little vulnerable back there at least because he has been such a wall for them all season. Hopefully the flood gates are open maybe."

Maybe they are.  Maybe they aren't.  But if the Ducks continue to play their game and get contributions from their big line and specialty teams, the Ducks certainly have a chance of taking back a game in Nashville. 

For now, the series is tied.  One win down.  15 to go.

The Ducks brought up eight more minor league players yesterday to hang out and practice with the team during the playoffs.  The so called "Black Aces" had a chance to watch goaltender Dan Ellis, who earned the third star of the week for his winning efforts against the Kings over weekend.   It was not an inspired performance by either Ellis or the players in front of him in a 4-1 loss to Nashville in the first game of the quarterfinals.

Anaheim came out with a bit too much vim and vigor and found themselves in the penalty box far too often.  When Nashville scored on the first power play opportunity of the evening, thanks to a bomb by Shea Weber from the point at 4:13 of the first period, the Ducks should have figured that they should avoid being down a man.

While Nashville is a team that can absolutely shut you down defensively, it was their last line of defense that did the best job for them.  Pekke Rinne, in all his 6 foot 5 inch Finnish glory, refused to let anything get by him.  An arm here, a flailing leg there, he came up big, literally and figuratively, for the Predators.  Stopping 27 shots, the only one that got by him was a shot from Teemu Selanne at 11:24 of the third period.  And that one occurred when the Predators where short by two skaters. 

By then, the game was already over.  In addition to Weber, Steve Sullivan put one by Ellis at 15:16 of the middle frame.  Two goals from Mike Fisher (also known as Mr. Carrie Underwood) at 18:08 of the second and :56 seconds into the third, sent Ellis to the bench. 

Ray Emery, who has been dealing with the ever nebulous "lower body injury" was good enough to be sent in to play the remainder of the game.  That leaves open the question of who starts on Friday evening for game 2?

"I didn’t think it really got away from us until about the middle of the second period," said coach Randy Carlyle. "We started to play as individuals. We got frustrated with our lack of execution. They did a very good job of getting inside and making it very difficult to get to the net. The pucks bounced away versus bouncing for us. I don’t think you can say we were happy with too many aspects of our game."

Nashville, who has never won a playoff series, was thrilled to get the first game in their favor.  They also do not expect the Ducks to remain in self-combust mode.

"That's huge -- getting the first one," Fisher said. "It feels good, but that second one is going to be even harder. We know that they're going to adjust and regroup and play real hard here in a couple of nights."

The Ducks certainly have a better idea of what they need to do defeat Nashville.

"They're a very stingy hockey team," said Ellis, a former Predator himself. "They really swarm you. They do a good job of putting pressure on guys. They're out to the points and stuff like that. They don't allow a lot of point shots through, and the ones that do get through, a lot of times they'll block and clear away. We really have to outwork that team."

The Ducks have Thursday to regroup and Friday to redeem themselves in game 2.  Anaheim certainly does not want to head back to Nashville down 2-0 in the series, but you can safely bet the Predators would be ecstatic if that were the case.   There is a reason why these series are seven games.  It is a marathon, not a sprint, but the Ducks will have to get their running shoes on if they want to catch up.

Things looked pretty precarious at the beginning of the season, but somehow everything fell into place for the Ducks.  By defeating the Kings, 3-1, in their final game of the year, the Ducks clinched home ice with fourth place in the Western Conference. 

"I don't think anybody picked us to have home ice advantage at any point," said coach Randy Carlyle. "But it's funny the way things fall into your lap when you win your fair share of games. That's back to our players. They worked extremely hard and stayed committed, and they've earned this."

Rather than letting someone else determine their fate, the Ducks were able to pull off a sweep of the final two games against LA, and Anaheim gave themselves their best chance possible.  Corey Perry did not score, but earned an assist on Saku Koivu's game winning goal.  Perry ended up with 50 goals and 98 points - good enough for the Maurice Richard trophy, but a few shy of the Art Ross. 

Brandon McMillan put the Ducks on the board in the first period and Francois Beauchemin sealed things with a power play goal in the second.   The Kings had their chances all evening, but only Ryan Smyth's goal was able to get behind Dan Ellis.

Ellis, who had not started since March 20, got back to back nods when Ray Emery went down to a lower body injury.  While only having to make 23 saves the night before, Ellis had to stop 43 shots on Saturday.   

"They really brought it tonight," said Ellis about the Kings effort. "It wasn't that the initial shot was dangerous but they had lots of traffic. They're always in front of the net and make it difficult to see. You've just got to try to look around them and make a good block and hope it hits you."

Ellis may very well be in net when the first round of the playoffs begins on Wednesday against the Nashville Predators, his former team.  Emery is still an unknown and Jonas Hiller remains iffy with vertigo. 

Fortunately for the Ducks, they have had good goaltending when they have needed it most, regardless of who is in net.  That should help against the Predators, who are formidable in net with Pekke Rinne looming large between the pipes. 

The Ducks have been in a playoff state of mind for the past few months, just trying to make it to the playoffs, much less have home ice advantage.   Nothing will change heading forward.

Teemu Selanne, if it truly is his last season (sort of like 50 farewell tours for bands that never quite hang it up), gets one more crack at the post season.  He already has a Stanley Cup, but one more would be a nice way to go out.  Then again, the 40 year old still has plenty of life in him and if he does not win the Stanley Cup a second time, he might be more tempted to go just one more year. 

Besides, the Ducks open next season in Helsinki, Finland, and play a pre-season game against Selanne's many years former team, Jokerit.  What's not to like about that?  It will certainly help entice the Finnish Flash to play a few more games and keep climbing up the all-time charts. 

But that is looking too far ahead.  For now, the Ducks have only Nashville to consider and prepare.   Playoffs.  It doesn't get better than this!

Who knows if Teemu Selanne will end his career after this season?  Even Selanne does not seem to know the answer to that, and those around him have long since given up guessing.  One this is sure - as long as he is playing to this caliber, it would be a crying shame to have him retire.

Selanne scored both of Anaheim's goals in a 2-1 victory of the Los Angeles Kings.  Selanne seems to enjoy playing against  the Kings, having scored 50 goals against them during his career.  The Kings would probably prefer to see the 40 year old ageless wonder just retire and be done with it.  

The Kings had already clinched a playoff berth, but the Ducks were still needing two points to get in.  Ryan Smyth scored first for the Kings at 11:22 of the first period.  Smyth put a puck behind Dan Ellis, who continued in net after Ray Emery pulled himself out of the previous game with a lower body injury. 

Emery deemed himself not even available as a back up, so Jonas Hiller sat on the bench with his perpetual vertigo, likely praying he did not have to go into the game.   Fortunately, he did not have to, with Ellis making 23 saves for the win.

Selanne tied up the game at 9:55 of the second period and then put the Ducks ahead at 5:54 of the third.  The game winning goal came from a phenomenal pass from Saku Koivu, who placed the puck perfectly on Teemu's stick, even though Koivu was off balance and falling to the ice.   The standing room only crowd there for fan appreciation night erupted as the Ducks went ahead.

Selanne's 30th and 31st goals give him a total of 1,340 career points, putting him at 27th on the all time list.  It is now his 10th career 30 goal plus season. 

The Kings were unable to tie up the game, even after pulling Jonathan Quick from the net.  They could have pulled him earlier, because the Ducks could not hit the wide open net if they tried (and they tried at least three times and failed miserably on each one).

The Ducks got two points and clinched a playoff berth for the fifth time in the past six seasons. 

"We believed it could happen,” Selanne said.  “And good things happen when you believe.  It has been a grind for the last three months. I really believed that this team deserved to be in the playoffs. This was a big step forward. Now we can breathe a little bit."

Only a little bit.  Less than 24 hours later, the Ducks get to repeat this all over again with the Kings, this time at Staples Center.  At stake is the possibility of a home ice advantage at least in the first round.  A second victory in a row would at minimum put them ahead of the Kings in the standings.  Depending upon what Nashville and Phoenix do in their Saturday games will determine if the Ducks can secure 4th place in the conference.

For now, the Ducks are in the playoffs, and that is a huge step from where they were last season.

How do you follow up two losses in a row, the first losing streak in over a month?  For the Ducks, they followed it up with a 6-2 defeat of the San Jose Sharks.   Five or more goals = go to Hooters for five free chicken wings.

Corey Perry deserves at least 10 wings for his third hat trick of the year.   Perry's hat trick midway through the second period was goal #50 for the season.  No Duck has scored more than 52 in a season, and there are still two games left to be played. 

Who scored 52 goals?  None other than Teemu Selanne in 1997-1998.  Selanne also had three hat tricks that season.  How fitting that Selanne was the guy who passed the puck to Perry for goal #50. 

Perry, who was named the player of the month for March, and earned his third player of the week honors in the past month.  All of a sudden, people are talking about the Western Conference and uttering things like "Hart" and "MVP."  Daniel Sedin who?   Perry is only three points behind Sedin and at the rate he is scoring, he'll overtake him for scoring leader by the end of the season.  Perry has already blown Steven Stamkos out of the water for the Maurice Richard Trophy. 

"It's pretty exciting," said Perry after the game.   "You think back to the whole season and what you have accomplished and all the help you get from teammates. To do it in front of your own fans and family in town for the game, it's nice to get that done.  Fifty is a huge number. Everybody talks about it. There's not a whole lot of people that get to do that and be in that category. It hasn't really sunk in. I don't think it will until it's all said and done and summertime comes."

In addition to Perry's three goals, Cam Fowler, Selanne and Jason Blake all contributed on the power play that was 4 for 6 on the evening.  Selanne's power play goal was #236 of his career, which ties him with Mario Lemieux for 5th overall.  

Dan Boyle and Ben Eager made sure it was not a shut out, but the Sharks never seemed to be in the game.  Their inability to learn that taking penalties was a bad idea certainly did not help their cause.

"Usually, we're pretty disciplined all of the time, but tonight was kind of uncharacteristic of us," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton.  "Sometimes you just lose focus a little bit."

Ray Emery left midway through the second period and was announced as having a "minor" injury.  He spent the remainder of the game on the bench after going to the dressing room for what was initially thought to be an equipment problem.  Emery stopped 22 shots before turning over duties to Dan Ellis, who also held his own with 14 saves. 

Considering that the Sharks have been on a nice winning streak and have only lost in regulation five times since January 13, makes the Anaheim victory that much sweeter.

"We were able to play with one of the best teams in the league and that is great,"  Ryan Getzlaf observed. "We have a big two games here to win and make sure we’re in the playoffs."

The Ducks still need two points to clinch a playoff spot, and hope to earn them either Friday at home or Saturday in LA against the  Kings. 

At this time last year, tee times were already set.  What a difference a year makes!

April has arrived and there are very few games left in the regular season.  X's are starting to appear as teams begin to clinch playoff spots.  There are fewer teams that have clinched in the West than the East, but one of those teams, the Sharks, continued their push to winning another Pacific Division title by defeating the Ducks 4-2. 

Things started off well for Anaheim, with a two goal lead at the end of the first.  Bobby Ryan got a perfect pass from Corey Perry to make it 1-0 at 3:21 of the first period.  Perry, who was the NHL player of the month in March, had no shots on goal the entire game, but did have two assists.

Lubomir Visnovsky added to the total at 11:15 on the power play.  His goal gave him 17 on the year and the most goals scored by any defensemen in a single season in Ducks history. 

After the first period, the Sharks regrouped and the controlled the play for much of the remaining time. 

Dany Heatley started the second period off well.  He got San Jose on the board at 2:01 and gave the Sharks fans, who had been silenced in the first, something to shout about.  Patrick Marleau tied up the game at 12:45 on a strange play.  A 3 on 2 rush towards the Ducks net had a puck rebound off the face of Ryan, who went down, but the Sharks were able to finish things off behind Ray Emery.

The game looked like it had the potential for overtime, with every bit of space being battled for.  Then the Sharks got their sole power play of the game and Devin Setoguchi gave San Jose their first lead of the game at 14:39 of the third period.

"I was going to shoot the first one from Patty," Setoguchi said. "I didn't think he was going to pass it to me and I wasn't ready for it. I knew Dan would pump and give it back to me. I had a chance earlier where I had a miss-hit and it went off the pad. I knew I had to try to get it upstairs, and I got one."

Coach Randy Carlyle was not pleased with either the penalty call or a non-call a couple minutes earlier on Douglas Murray, who took a run at Visnovsky. 

"(Jason) Blake has no helmet on, and (Ryane) Clowe hits him in the head with his stick. That's what starts it," said Carlyle, clearly upset.  "Two players are kind of mugging one another and we come out of it with a disadvantage. So I felt it's a chicken call in a tight hockey game. ... And then Doug Murray takes a run at Visnovsky from halfway across the ice. I counted the steps, he took five steps, I just watched it. He comes halfway across the rink to run at the guy. But that's OK."

Visnovsky left with what appeared to be a shoulder injury, the body part that hit the boards first thanks to the hard nosed Swedish defenseman.  The Ducks had a tough time coming back to tie things up with Visnovsky's absence.   An empty net goal by Marleau at 19:19 sealed the deal for San Jose.

Emery, who made 29 saves, saw his first loss of the season after seven wins in net.  The netminder, who continues to amaze since coming back from hip surgery a year ago, was also nominated by the Ducks for the Masterton Trophy this season. 

The Ducks have nothing but Pacific Division rivals the rest of the way, starting with Dallas on Sunday at home.  A defeat of Dallas would give the Ducks a coveted "x" by their name in the standings, meaning they would have a playoff spot this year, a vast improvement over missing the post season last year. 

To get that x they will have to work a bit harder than they did tonight.  60 minutes of hockey would be a good start.

On the Duck Pond is taking a brief hiatus through this weekend.  Yes, there are plenty of Ducks games and an exciting and nerve-wracking fight for the playoffs going on currently.    However, this author's mother suffered a stroke on March 20 and a second stroke on Thursday, March 24.   Other priorities are pressing right now. 

Writing will resume next week, probably after the Colorado game.  Hockey is a nice diversion to have, but it is also a good thing to have the perspective that no matter how important each game seems to be, it really is just a game. 

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and  GO DUCKS!!

Karen Francis