Predators Beat Ducks 4-2 for Sixth Straight Win

Nashville won its second game in two nights, with Shane Wright scoring his first goal as a Predator and Justus Annunen stopping 27 shots.

Nils Höglander celebrates his fourth goal of the season. | @PredsNHL on Twitter

The Nashville Predators (10-4-5) have the longest active winning streak in the NHL after beating the Anaheim Ducks (10-8-1) at the Honda Center 4-2. The victory snapped the Ducks' five-game win streak and extends the Predators' win streak to six games, shutting down an Anaheim offense that scored five or more goals in eight consecutive games.

Nashville has its first six-game winning streak since March 13-26, 2024, the last time the Predators made the postseason. The victory moves Nashville into second place in the Central Division with 25 points.

"Yeah it was a tough game in this building and with that team," Andrew Brunette said. "They're probably as fast as anybody, especially off the rush and their power play is pretty scary. They're a really good team. So we had our hands full all game. I thought we hung in there exceptionally well. I thought we had spurts of our game that was pretty good, but I really liked our detail in defensive zone coverage, our stick detail in the neutral zone. I thought we slowed them down at times, but for our group it was a really gutsy win. It wasn't pretty, but we kind of knew in these back-to-back situations - we've sort of been built for this all season that we've gone through a bunch of these and we just stacked another one on tonight."

The Anaheim Ducks generated good offense early in the first period, keeping the puck in Nashville's end and pressuring the visitors. That pressure led to the first goal when Beckett Sennecke carried the puck to the net. Nashville's defense stopped Sennecke, but couldn't collect the loose puck in their own zone.

The league's hottest scorer kept his strong start to the season going for Anaheim as Cutter Gauthier flew into the play, collected the loose puck in the Nashville end and fired it past Justus Annunen at 8:08. Nashville didn't waste any time equalizing as Shane Wright notched his first Predators point less than 30 seconds later. Wright hounded the puck through the neutral zone and poked it free to Jayden Struble. Struble's quick wrist shot beat Laurent Brossoit on the far side, tying the game 1-1 at 8:29.

Anaheim nearly retook the lead in the closing minutes of the period. Jeff Malott fired a shot on goal that Annunen stopped, but it ricocheted off the post and bounced out, keeping the game knotted up 1-1 at 17:00. The sides took the tie into the first intermission, giving Nashville a chance to catch its breath against one of the NHL's top-scoring teams after committing 10 giveaways in the opening period.

The game opened up in the second period with both sides generating chance after chance. Annunen, Brossoit, and each team's defense made several plays by the skin of their teeth, preserving the tie through the first 16 minutes of the frame. Nils Höglander broke the tie for Nashville with a gorgeous goal off an assist from Jayden Struble. Struble found Höglander cutting to the net, and the first-year Predator slid the puck between his legs and flipped it past Brossoit, giving Nashville a 2-1 lead at 16:02.

Nashville took its 2-1 lead into the second intermission off Höglander's first goal since Oct. 6. While the Predators outshot the Ducks in the second period 9-6.

Big Juice continued the strong goaltending in the third period, stopping multiple dangerous Duck chances, including a Leo Carlsson shorthanded breakaway in the first minute of the frame. But despite the Ducks' pressure, the Predators extended their lead as Wright scored his first goal in a Nashville uniform. Roman Josi started the play with a shot from deep in the Anaheim zone that Höglander deflected at goal. Brossoit blocked the deflection, but Wright was there for the rebound at 8:05.

The Ducks struck back when Sennecke lazored a pass across the zone to Mikael Granlund, and the former Predator beat Annunen before he could get across the crease, cutting Nashville's lead to 3-2 at 12:11.

Nashville continued weathering the storm and reestablished their two-goal lead on a great breakaway. Josi flipped the puck up the wall, and Mavrik Bourque knocked it down, skated up the wall, and completed a smooth pass across the slot to Steven Stamkos on the back door for his 11th of the season, extending the lead to 4-2 at 16:04.

The Predators killed three Anaheim penalties, Justus Annunen saved 27 shots, and Nashville extended its winning streak to six games, despite being outshot 29-22 and going 0-for-3 on their own power plays.

"Yeah, they're huge. I think we've been playing really well at home," Josi said. "We knew this is a big trip. We know it always is in November and obviously, tonight we played a really good team and it wasn't always pretty. Big Juice was amazing in net. He made some amazing saves, but that's a good team over there. They're fast and they create a lot, but we found a way and that's all that matters."

Nashville continues its West Coast road trip on Friday with a matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights at 9 p.m. CT.

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