Justus Annunen turned away all 43 shots he faced in a statement shutout as the Nashville Predators rolled past the Anaheim Ducks 5-0 on Tuesday night at Honda Center, muscling their way into a Western Conference wild-card spot and leaping over the Los Angeles Kings in the standings. It was Nashville’s first shutout of the season and snapped a 120-game franchise stretch without holding an opponent scoreless.
Erik Haula led the charge with a goal and an assist, while Filip Forsberg, Brady Skjei, Zachary L'Heureux and Fedor Svechkov each found the back of the net in a spread-the-wealth offensive showing, according to Field Level Media. Joakim Kemell and Ryan O’Reilly chipped in two assists apiece as Nashville improved to 37-31-10 with four regular-season games left. Anaheim, meanwhile, came up empty on the scoreboard and slid to its sixth straight defeat.
Annunen Steals The Spotlight
Annunen’s 43-save performance, his third career shutout, was the foundation of the win, helping Nashville survive a heavy early shot barrage, as detailed by NHL.com. “They weren’t going to let this one go for ‘Big Juice,’” coach Andrew Brunette said afterward, tipping his cap to the group in front of the young netminder. Nashville’s penalty kill did its share of heavy lifting too, going a perfect 6-for-6 and snuffing out a late 5-on-3 to lock down the clean sheet.
Stretch Run Gets Even Tighter
With four games remaining, Nashville heads to Utah on Thursday before returning home for a three-game set that ends with another meeting against Anaheim, per WSMV. The outlet also highlighted how the shutout snapped a lengthy run without a blanking, underscoring how rare complete defensive efforts have been for the Predators this year. Every remaining point figures to loom large as the Western Conference wild-card picture tightens.
For the Ducks, the defeat stretched a rough skid that has left Anaheim scrambling in the Pacific Division, a downward trend reflected in national recaps. Both teams now hit the final week of the regular season with almost no room for mistakes as playoff seeding remains in flux, according to Sportsnet.
