Ducks determined to capitalize on chance to clinch

Reporting from Nashville —  There is one way, the Ducks agreed, to avoid squandering a 3-2 playoff series lead for the fourth time in four postseason runs: Convince themselves that they can’t afford to lose to the Nashville Predators on Monday night and allow this first-round series to go the limit.

“This is our Game 7 now,” center Ryan Kesler said after the Ducks’ morning skate Monday at Bridgestone Arena. “We’re taking this as a Game 7 and we have to put our best foot forward because we’re going to get their best foot.”

The Ducks had a 3-2 series lead over Detroit in the first round in 2013 but lost Game 6, at Detroit, and returned home to lose Game 7. They beat the Dallas Stars in six games in the first round in 2014 but fell in the second round to the Kings after they lost Game 6 at Staples Center and were blown out of the finale at Honda Center. Last season, the Ducks lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 6 of the Western Conference final and then lost again in Game 7, at Honda Center.

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A seventh game in this series, if necessary, would be played Wednesday at Honda Center. The winner will face the San Jose Sharks. The Predators have won only two playoff series in franchise history — they beat the Ducks in 2011 and the Detroit Red Wings in 2012 -- and they’ve never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs.

Ending this on Monday in Nashville, where the Ducks won Games 3 and 4 last week, was uppermost in their minds. They don’t want to give the Predators any life and they know the sooner they can advance, the less wear-and-tear they’ll endure.

“We’re not thinking that we’ve got something in the back of our mind that we can give one up,” Coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We’re going to go at it and hopefully the best thing will happen for us.”

But it won’t be easy. The Predators likely will regain right wing Craig Smith, who missed the last two games because of an undisclosed injury. He had a goal and an assist in the first three games, two of them wins by the Predators.

“Any time you have the opportunity to put a team down and out it’s always the hardest one. Especially doing it on the road,” Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said. “We have to have that mentality like there’s no tomorrow because if you go in thinking, ‘Oh, we’ve still got one left in Anaheim,’ you’re going to let a good opportunity slip through your fingers.”

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The way to do that, he said, is simply for them to play their signature style. That means being determined and cohesive defensively, killing penalties well — they’ve killed 21 of 22 so far — and getting a strong enough start to silence the lively Nashville crowd.

“We did a good job to put ourselves in this situation right now after the first two games, and definitely something we have to think about is to finish it off tonight,” David Perron said. “We’ve got to put our best effort out there and see what happens. They’ve been really tough to deal with. They’ve done a lot of good things over the course of the series so far. They’re going to give their best effort also, and that’s why we have to be ready.

“I think the first 10 minutes are going to be huge. This crowd was really loud in the last game. They really got them going …. We’re going to try and keep the game simple early on and play with a lot of structure, the way that Ducks hockey plays.”

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