ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jonathan Bernier carried the Maple Leafs early with 18 first-period saves, and he traded blows with Corey Perry in the third.

A busy night for Toronto’s revitalized goalie ended with another encouraging win.

Bernier made 39 saves in his 11th career shutout, and P.A. Parenteau scored two goals in the Maple Leafs’ 4-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.

Nazem Kadri and Brad Boyes also scored for the Leafs, who opened their three-game California road trip with their fourth win in five games overall.

“I think we’re becoming a pretty good team together,” Parenteau said. “We’re having fun on the ice. We knew if we wanted to win, we had to start playing better.”

Bernier did his toughest work in a one-sided first period, and he persevered for his second shutout of a Southern California team this season, following his blanking of Los Angeles last month. He has been increasingly solid since his return from an AHL stint last month, capped by yielding just four goals on 121 shots in his last three starts.

“Bernie was the difference for sure,” Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said. “There’s some consistent play from our group that just seemed to wear on theirs, and we came in with a plan in place and we played it to a ‘T.”‘

Bernier also scuffled with Perry during the third period when the Ducks’ All-Star forward responded to a slash on his legs by cross-checking the Toronto goalie twice, sending Bernier sprawling and leading to a larger fracas.

Perry refused to talk about it afterward, but Bernier thought it was just part of the game.

AP Photo/Mark J. TerrillToronto Maple Leafs' P.A. Parenteau celebrates his goal with defenceman Morgan Rielly during the first period.

“It was a good cross-check,” Bernier said with a grin. “The second one, I kind of went down a little bit to sell it. It was a fun game. Both teams showed up today. Lots of intensity. It was a fun game to be in.”

John Gibson stopped 22 shots, but the Ducks’ All-Star rookie goalie was forced to leave early in the third with a lower-body injury following a collision with Kadri. Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said Gibson has a lower-body injury that will be reevaluated Thursday.

The Ducks had won four of their past five games to move into playoff position, but reverted to their early-season woes while getting shut out for the eighth time already this season.

“We missed open nets in the first period, but (Bernier) was there when he had to make the save and he held the rebounds,” Boudreau said. “So we didn’t get any second chances, and when you don’t get second chances, it’s hard to score.”

Gibson made 22 saves before Kadri knocked out his legs while skidding through the Ducks’ crease following a scoring chance in the opening minute of the third period. After writhing on the ground and consulting with trainers, Gibson skated off and was replaced by Frederik Andersen.

Gibson has played in 16 of the Ducks’ last 18 games, earning his first All-Star selection with stellar play since making his season debut on Nov. 24.

Anaheim took 11 of the game’s first 12 shots, but the Leafs went ahead early when Parenteau scored on a broken play off a faceoff. The veteran forward scored again off a loose puck in the slot early in the second, earning his second multigoal game of the season.

“We had 18 shots and hit a couple of posts,” Perry said. “Things just didn’t go in that first period. We kind of got away from our game plan after that and we stopped playing the way we normally do. It’s all about sticking with the process and sticking with the game plan.”

Kadri then converted a one-timer immediately after breaking his stick on defence and picking up fresh lumber in stride at the Toronto bench. Boyes added a deflection goal early in the third.

NOTES: Josh Manson fought Roman Polak in the first period after Polak crushed Anaheim’s Mike Santorelli into the boards. Manson got a misconduct penalty. … The Ducks failed to get more power plays than their opponent for the 26th consecutive game. … Ducks D Korbinian Holzer suited up against the Maple Leafs, who traded him to Anaheim in March after five seasons in their organization.

ANAHEIM – The last time the Senators were here, they relied on the Hamburglar to shut out the Ducks.

They could have used another goose egg here, as Ottawa managed just one goal in a loss to the Ducks.

Shea Theodore scored his first career goal in the NHL to give the Ducks the win. Theodore scored on the power play at 15:05 of the third period, his shot slipping through Craig Anderson’s right arm and body. Patrick Wiercioch was off the for slashing at the time.

Two minutes later, Carl Hagelin put the game away with a backhand goal on a loose puck. Adding to the insult, former Senators winger Jakob Silfverberg beat Anderson to the stick side to make it a rout. Ottawa was caught in a line change and Silfverberg skated in alone.

Anaheim outshot the Senators 38-25. Frederik Andersen got the win.

As the sands continue to shift in the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division, this was a painful loss by the Senators, who were coming off a 7-1 embarrassment in Washington Sunday.

The Senators have been something of a fragile team over the past few weeks, capable of steps forward, and as many back. The Ducks, expected to contend for the Western Conference title this season, have been equally fragile, unable to score. So this was a huge outburst.

The Ducks opened the scoring in a classic example of chance at one end, goal at the other. During a full scale attack on the Ducks’ net, Senators winger Mark Stone had a clear shot but opted to swing a pass back toward a teammate, only to see the puck deflect clear to Andrew Cogliano for a counter-attack. Cogliano stopped in the Ottawa zone, then fired a wrist shot from a distance through a screen, beating Anderson to the stick side.

This was at 7:06 of the second period.

One giveaway deserves another. The Senators tied the score on an egregious turnover by the Ducks beleaguered captain, Ryan Getzlaf. With a ton of time – too much time? – Getzlaf waited, and waited with the puck, then swept a blind pass right on the stick of Curtis Lazar.

Taking full advantage, Lazar skated in alone and wired a wrist shot under the glove hand of Andersen at 16:12 of the second. Lazar was beaming after he scored, and why not – he just ended a 26-game goal-scoring drought. He last scored on Nov. 10.

A camera caught Getzlaf cursing himself at the Ducks’ bench.

The goal helped change, or at least stall, the momentum when the Ducks had the period in hand.

The shots were 24-18 for Anaheim after two periods.

Lazar nearly scored earlier in the period, narrowly missing on a wild scramble that ensued during an Ottawa power play.

Cameron often says he’s happy if his team is engaged in 50-50 hockey, even-sided play, and that pretty much described the scoreless first period. The faceoffs were exactly that – 50-50, with each team winning nine and losing nine. The Ducks had the better scoring chances while outshooting the visitors 12-9 but overall, Ottawa had a solid road period.

Getzlaf had the period’s best chance, breaking in on Anderson with a backhand shot, but Anderson made the save and Getzlaf dove for the rebound, but couldn’t reach it.

The Senators play in Los Angeles against the Kings on Saturday afternoon.

NEW YORK — Anaheim Ducks forward Shawn Horcoff has been suspended for 20 games for violating the NHL’s performance enhancing substances program.

The suspension is accompanied by mandatory referral to the NHL/NHLPA program for substance abuse and behavioural health for evaluation and possible treatment.

“While recovering from an injury I suffered this past fall, I tried a treatment that I believed would help speed up the healing process,” Horcoff said in a statement.

“Although I was unaware that this treatment was not permitted under NHL rules, that is no excuse whatsoever. I should have done my research and I should have checked with the NHL/NHLPA performance enhancing substances program’s doctors. I accept full responsibility for my actions, and I am sorry.”

Based on his average annual salary, Horcoff will forfeit US$357,526.88. The NHL said it will have no further comment on his suspension.

“This morning we were made aware of the situation regarding Shawn Horcoff. The Anaheim Ducks organization fully supports the NHL/NHLPA performance enhancing substances program,” Ducks general manager Bob Murray said in a statement. “We will also continue to support Shawn as a player and person throughout this process.

“We will have no further comment at this time.”

Horcoff, 37, has six goals and four assists in 45 games with Anaheim this season. He has 186 goals and 320 assists over 15 NHL season with Edmonton, Dallas and Anaheim.

Horcoff is the first NHL player suspended since November 2014, when Toronto Maple Leafs forward Carter Ashton was banned for 20 games by the league after failing a drug test. Ashton said at the time he inadvertently ingested clenbuterol, a prohibited substance, after using another athlete’s inhaler during an asthma attack.

Horcoff is the fourth player suspended under the NHL/NHLPA policy, following Ashton, New York Islanders defenceman Sean Hill in 2007 and Buffalo forward Zenon Konopka in 2014.

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — National Hockey League player Clayton Stoner is banned from hunting for three years and must pay $10,000 for killing a grizzly bear on British Columbia’s central coast.

Postmedia NewsThe carcass of the grizzly, shot by Port McNeill-born NHL player Clayton Stoner, was left to rot.

The Anaheim Ducks defenceman admitted through his lawyer on Wednesday that he had breached the provincial Wildlife Act. Marvin Stern said his client mistakenly believed he was qualified to participate.

Stoner wasn’t in the Abbotsford, B.C., court, instead, Stern pleaded guilty on his behalf to hunting without a licence.

In handing down the fine and hunting ban, Provincial court Judge Brent Hoy accepted that Stoner thought he was qualified as a resident, but the law had still been breached.

“If one hunts, then one must do so responsibility,” he said when handing down his sentence.

The Crown dropped four other charges against Stoner, including knowingly making a false statement to obtain a hunting licence, hunting out of season, and unlawfully possessing dead wildlife.

Stoner was charged in connection to the hunt in May 2013.

The case first gained media attention when graphic photos were published of Stoner holding up a bear’s severed head. First Nations and environmentalists claimed the animal was Cheeky, a star tourist attraction in B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest.

Stephen Dunn/Getty ImagesLeafs' Tyler Bozak fights for the puck with Ducks' Clayton Stoner.

But after he was charged, Stoner, 30, requested a DNA test on the bear. The B.C. Conservation Officer Service conducted the tests and determined the animal was 18 years old, not the five-year-old Cheeky, Stern told the court.

Stoner has been vilified in the media in both Canada and the United States, Stern said.

“It clearly wasn’t Cheeky.”

Outside the court, representatives of the area First Nations and a conservation group still maintained that the deceased bear was Cheeky. They said they may have been mistaken on the popular bear’s age, noting guardians had witnessed Stoner interact with Cheeky within hours before the kill.

Stern told the court his client simply made an error and believed he had lawfully obtained the licence. He said the residency requirements are convoluted — to obtain a commercial trophy licence, a hunter must reside in B.C. for at least half of each of six months in the previous year.

Jonathan Hayward / Canadian PressA grizzly bear is seen fishing for a salmon along the Atnarko river in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park near Bella Coola, B.C.

“This is a very unique definition, you won’t find it under the Income Tax Act or other provincial or federal legislation,” Stern told court.

He added that Stoner, who’s originally from Port McNeill on Vancouver Island, owns a home in Langford, B.C., spends weeks during off-season at his family home, does some of his training in Victoria and eventually intends to retire back to Vancouver Island.

“From his perspective, he’s a B.C. guy.”

He said the loss of hunting privileges for Stoner is significant, because the man has been hunting since he was 10 years old.

In the days after Stoner’s picture with the bear’s head surfaced, he defended the hunting trip he took with his father, and uncle and a friend.

B.C.’s Conservation Officer Service announced the charges last September, explaining Stoner did not meet residency requirements when he played for the Minnesota Wild. Stoner had applied for his hunting licence in Port McNeill.

Jonathan Hayward / Canadian PressTwo grizzly bear cubs are seen playing in the Atnarko river in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park near Bella Coola, B.C.

Crown lawyer Jim Cryder told the court there is a very strict definition of resident under the act.

“For an NHL player … they’re going to be out of the province for at least seven months,” Cryder told the court. “He hasn’t in fact qualified as a resident.”

Brian Falconer, with the Raincoast Conservation Fund, read a victim-impact statement in court and said Cheeky was an asset to his group’s work.

“He was comfortable being viewed by humans,” said Falconer.

“His untimely death due to Mr. Stoner’s unlawful actions has caused us significant harm, including financial loss, and has been a significant disappointment to our guides and clients.”

Stern told Hoy that his client wasn’t opposed to turning over the bear’s skull and hide.

The remains are being held by the province. The Crown is not taking a position on the identity of the bear.

William Housty, a spokesman for the Heiltsuk Nation who flew in from Bella Bella, said he was pleased that months of court proceedings had elevated the case to a higher level. He said his Nation felt the consequences for Stoner were fair.

“Rather than put the spotlight on Stoner and Cheeky … the bigger issues of this hunt are still going on,” he said.

Double digits.

No, that’s not the number of goals the Anaheim Ducks scored in Monday’s matinee at the Saddledome, although if you headed for the parking lot or changed channels before the final buzzer, you probably wondered if they’d get close.

After a 6-4 home loss to the Ducks in a rare afternoon affair, double digits describes the Calgary Flames’ deficit in the Pacific Division playoff race.

“I think everyone still believes,” insisted Flames rookie left-winger Sam Bennett. “But it’s frustrating when we’re trying to make a push and then we do that — let them score six goals on us.”

Remember, as Flames fans split for the Family Day long weekend, there had been glimmers of hope for the local hockey heroes.

Thanks to Thursday’s shootout triumph in San Jose, they were suddenly just five points out of the Western Conference wildcard picture.

But after back-to-back losses — Friday in Arizona, Monday at home — to division foes, the Flame are now 10 points back of third place in the plodding Pacific. They’re a wee bit closer in the wildcard, but that won’t add much optimism to Tuesday’s water-cooler talk in offices around Calgary.

“When you fall behind, this is how it is — you lose one or two and it feels like you’re falling way too far behind,” said Flames captain Mark Giordano. “But we’ve got come to the rink positive for the next game …

“The bottom line is we can’t lose many more this season if we want to give ourselves a chance.”

Giordano & Co. will preach the positives. That’s part of the job.

For the 19,289 fans who witnessed Monday’s loss to the Ducks, there weren’t a lot of hints that the Flames can, as head coach Bob Hartley has put it over and over again, “shock the hockey world.”

After all, their penalty-kill is putrid. Ducks defenders Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen and star winger Corey Perry each cashed in on the man-advantage, marking the third straight contest in which the Flames have surrendered a hat-trick of power-play goals. That overshadowed the fact they scored a couple of their own Monday.

After all, they’re are not getting enough secondary scoring. The top trio was on the ice for all four Flames’ goals against the Ducks, combining for three tallies — Johnny Gaudreau struck first and Jiri Hudler potted a pair — and nine points in a losing cause. The rest of Calgary’s forwards? Zero. Zilch. Nothing.

After all, the Saddledome-dwellers once again have a big question mark between the pipes. Karri Ramo is walking with a cane, and there’s not a lot of optimism Tuesday’s MRI on his injured left knee will bring good news. Jonas Hiller was yanked after surrendering four goals on 17 shots against the Ducks, while Joni Ortio stopped nine of 11 attempts in relief duty.

After all, the hard-working crew that became the ‘Find-A-Way Flames’ last season thanks to all those unlikely comebacks simply hasn’t been able to find a way. They trailed 5-4 after 40 minutes Monday, but surrendered a back-breaker — Mike Santorelli’s second goal of the day — just 51 seconds into the final stanza. The Flames are 3-20-1 when falling behind after two periods.

“Our P.K. has to be better. The bottom line is we gave up too many in that area,” said Giordano, offering his assessment of Monday’s loss. “But I think we had chances to grab the momentum back. Especially, at the end of the second, we score one and I thought we were right back in it. And then the first shift in the third, they scored to sort of shut it down.

“We have to clean it up. I think we’re giving up way too many goals lately. For whatever reason, we’re not able to get those pucks out of the front of our net. We have to clear them out and not allow second and third chances. That’s what they’re capitalizing on.”

Rickard Rakell also tickled the twine Monday for the Ducks, beating Ortio on the blocker-side for what would stand as the game-winner.

Defenceman Dougie Hamilton scored once and added a helper for the hosts.

The Flames will return to action Wednesday, when they welcome the Minnesota Wild to the Saddledome (8 p.m. MT, Sportsnet One/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).

The Edmonton Oilers might not have much to play for at this point in the season, but you’d never know it from from watching them.

Sometimes.

While they’ve wrestled with inconsistency and have looked at times like they are moving backward, they stepped up in weight class and took the hottest team in the NHL to brink Tuesday at Rexall Place.

“I thought we played that team well tonight,” said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan, after the Anaheim Ducks, now 10-1-1 in their last 12, needed a pair of empty-net goals to put the stubborn Oilers away for good.

“We hung in there and played a pretty good game,” added rookie centre Connor McDavid. “It’s frustrating when you don’t pull out a close one like that.”

On a night that was strange from start to finish, the Ducks made it 4-2 on an empty netter at 18:29, then 5-3 on another empty netter at 19:47, after the Oilers made a final rally.

“If you just count the non empty-net goals, that’s a tie game,” said winger Taylor Hall. “I thought we had a pretty good effort. I thought all our lines contributed, our power play was really good tonight. Definitely some good things against a really good team.”

But they did just enough bad things to lose.

The weirdness started with the first goal of the game, when Anaheim’s David Perron dove into goaltender Cam Talbot and knocked a puck that had been covered, but not whistled dead, into the net.

That prompted a pair of video reviews (one from Toronto and the other an Edmonton coach’s challenge) totalling almost 10 minutes. The delay was so long that players from both teams left their benches to skate laps so their legs wouldn’t seize up.

After all that, it was ruled a good goal and it was 1-0 Ducks at 19:08.

“I don’t really know how to answer that without getting myself in trouble,” said Talbot. “He said it was a good hockey play. I don’t know what kind of hockey play that would be. I thought for sure it was getting waved off. I don’t know what else to say about it.”

Neither did McLellan.

“I completely, completely disagree with it,” he said. “Apparently it wasn’t covered because there was a referee who said the puck was still rattling around and we pushed a player in, so goal.”

All of it was made possible by Benoit Pouliot slashing the stick out of Ryan Kesler’s hand in full view of everyone in the building. Pouliot was bumped off the top line for the indiscretion and was benched in the third period for taking a lazy slashing penalty at centre ice.

“Dumb penalties,” said McLellan. “We just addressed this yesterday. We can’t keep marching to the freaking penalty box time and time again because of those penalties.”

Hall and Leon Draisaitl both ended their scoring slumps in the second period, with Draisaitl’s first goal in six games tying it 1-1 and Hall’s first in 11 games tying it 2-2 after Jakob Silfverberg had re-staked Anaheim to a 2-1 lead.

After the Ducks went up 3-2 in the third, Edmonton had a power play with 3:05 left in the game, but Andrew Cogliano’s empty netter made it 4-2 Ducks.

Pouliot was credited a goal that banked in off a Duck’s head to make it 4-3, but that was as close as they’d get. Corey Perry’s empty netter sealed the result.

There was another bizarre delay in the second period. The referees, after another long discussion, changed the clock from 9:49 to 10:32 because they determined that 43 second had run off after a whistle. Then, after about 10 seconds of play before another stoppage, they ran the clock down to 9:00.

“Longest game I’ve ever been a part of,” said McLellan.

LATE HITS: Defenceman Mark Gryba left the game in the first period, favouring his leg after falling awkwardly into the net, and did not return.

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VANCOUVER — The Anaheim Ducks are the best team in the National Hockey League the last eight weeks and the Vancouver Canucks are not. Thursday’s game was not close, but these days the Canucks seldom are.

The Ducks scored four times in a span of 23 minutes in the middle of the game and endured a late, hopeless surge by the Canucks to win 5-2, extending Vancouver’s losing streak at Rogers Arena to six games.

The Ducks, who started the season 1-7-2 and sputtered through the fall without goals or inspiration, are 18-4-2 since Christmas to lead the NHL. Two months ago, they trailed the Canucks by six points. Only three weeks ago, the teams were still tied in the standings. After Thursday’s loss, the Canucks trail by 12.

The Ducks are going to the playoffs as Stanley Cup contenders. The Canucks, 2-6-1 in their last nine games, are going to the draft lottery.

After getting embarrassingly outplayed in the first period of 5-2 losses last Saturday to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Monday against the Minnesota Wild, the Canucks at least competed in the opening 20 minutes against they Ducks.

They generated next to nothing offensively, but kept the powerful Ducks off the scoresheet and, on a couple of shifts, stuck in their zone.

Former Canuck Kevin Bieksa hit the inside of the post with a screened point shot two minutes into the game and Vancouver goalie Ryan Miller made a terrific point-blank off Mike Santorelli, another ex-Canuck, late in the period. A 0-0 score at the intermission was a moral victory for a Canuck team on its longest home losing streak in seven years.

But any satisfaction (or confidence) was short-lived. At 2:03 of the second period, Anaheim made it 1-0 when Rickard Rakell skated off the bench and on to a pass from Sami Vatanen and blew a near-post slap shot from the top of the circle past a jungle of players and Miller’s catching glove.

When Canuck Adam Cracknell took a penalty for flipping the puck over the glass, Vatanen made it 2-0 on the power play at 10:25, blowing a 35-footer past Miller after three of four penalty-killers were trapped on one side of the ice.

The second period of this game looked a little like the first period of the previous two.

The Ducks invited the Canucks to get back into it by taking a pair of penalties, but the Vancouver power play was dismal. On the second advantage, the Canucks needed 80 seconds to gain the Anaheim blue line – then were able to hold the zone for 12 seconds. No wonder many in the crowd were booing.

The crowd wasn’t a problem in the third period because a lot of Canuck fans headed to the exits when goals 27 seconds apart by Ryan Getzlaf and Josh Manson early in the third period doubled the Vancouver deficit to 0-4.

Getzlaf wired a shot over Miller’s shoulder on a 3-on-1 at 4:14, a few seconds after Anaheim goalie John Gibson stopped Jannik Hansen on a 2-on-1. And Manson scored on a tap-in at 4:41 after Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis lost track of Rakell, then accidentally deflected the centring pass behind Miller.

When the game was lost, the Canucks’ offence came alive.

Hansen broke Gibson’s shutout at 6:18, creating a turnover and making a one-handed redirection on Daniel Sedin’s centring pass for his 17th goal of the season, a new career-high for the eight-year Canuck.

Sven Baertschi’s power-play goal from Henrik Sedin’s pass made it 4-2 at 11:58.

Bieksa scored for Anaheim into an empty net with 2:31 remaining as the Ducks finished their seven-game road trip at 5-1-1.

MONTREAL — It was a night of firsts for Montreal Canadiens newcomers Mike Brown, Lucas Lessio, Joel Hanley and Darren Dietz.

Brown’s goal and the game-winner by Lessio were their first since joining the Canadiens this season, while young defencemen Hanley and Dietz each picked up their first NHL point as the Canadiens downed the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 on Tuesday night.

With 11 players out with injuries, the Canadiens have been calling in reinforcements nearly every game of late, and some chose the game against the high-flying Ducks to make their mark.

“Lucky bounces, but it was a cool feeling,” said Hanley, whose two assists gave him two points from his first two NHL games. “Everyone’s fighting for something, whether it’s next year or a spot on the team.”

Brown was named first star of the game for what he said was the first time in his career as he scored Montreal’s third goal and then did the dirty work to dig out the puck for Lessio’s game-winner at 8:13 of third period. Dietz got the second assist on the goal for his first point in five NHL games.

“We knew it was going to be a hard game to play,” the much-travelled Brown said. “We never expected to be where we were in the third period, so for us it was great.

“We got the two points. I’m happy to be here and to play for these fans. I’ve played here a lot for other teams and it’s nice to be on this side.”

Torrey Mitchell and Alex Galchenyuk also scored for the Canadiens (34-34-6), who ended a two-game losing run.

Jakob Silfverberg scored a pair while Corey Perry notched a single for the Ducks (40-23-9), who wasted a chance to clinch a Western Conference playoff spot.

“I don’t think that was even mentioned in the room,” said Silfverberg, whose team gets another chance Thursday night in Toronto. “Our focus now is to get ahead of the (Pacific Division-leading) L.A. Kings and we’re only looking up in the standings, not behind.

“It’s a matter of winning games and tonight we didn’t do it.”

Silfverberg has six goals and two assists in his last five games.

“I’m just trying to shoot the puck more,” he said. “I’m skating more and getting more opportunities.”

Anaheim outshot Montreal 34-23.

Mitchell tipped a Tomas Plekanec point shot just under the crossbar 8:28 into the game.

Silfverberg scored on a rush at 14:30 with a wrist shot that went straight through Mike Condon’s pads.

Perry banged in a rebound 1:55 into the second frame for his 30th of the season. It is the sixth season in his career that Perry has scored 30 or more goals and the third in a row.

Montreal struck back with two, as Galchenyuk one-timed a Max Pacioretty pass into an open side at 8:58 and Brown went in alone after Anaheim failed to clear its zone and beat John Gibson at 10:14.

A similar play at the opposite end of the ice put Silfverberg in for his second of the game.

TORONTO — On the same day it was announced Auston Matthews would be getting a further chance to shoot for No. 1 status at the draft, the Leafs rolled out some anti-tank guns.

Tyler Bozak returned from nearly two months off to score twice, Nazem Kadri added two after weeks in the red, including the overtime winner in his four-point night, and the first Leaf goals by Connor Brown and Frank Corrado powered the Leafs to an improbable 6-5 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Those on hand at the Air Canada Centre got their money’s worth after the home side turned a 4-1 lead into a late game deficit, but a large demographic of Leaf Nation is apoplectic with the team now threatening to escape 30th place, the perceived best opportunity to grab Matthews in June.

With interest in Matthews heightened by his selection to the U.S. team for the world championship in May, the Leafs have put together points in seven of their past nine games with a trio of triumphs matching their longest streak in three months. Could they pass Edmonton and perhaps others with nine games remaining?

“We’re athletes. we want to win, we’re not wired for draft position,” said Corrado. “From the top down, we want to do our best.

“Some teams maybe don’t come back (from a goal three minutes into the game by the intimidating Ducks and four more in less than 10 minutes to re-take the lead), but we stuck to our plan even when things were going bad. This team is playing well, it’s an exciting room to be in right now.”

Over in another corner, fellow Toronto resident Brown was recounting his first NHL goal that forced overtime. He got in behind two Anaheim defenders to take a Milan Michalek pass and backhand it past Frederik Andersen for his third point in two games. Brown earlier assisted on Kadri’s power play goal, one of three the Leafs put past the NHL’s best penalty killing unit.

“This is something I’ll remember the rest of my life, especially being at home at the ACC. It’s nice to have my first goal mean something big.”

Kadri, who can be a loose cannon on the ice sometimes, was a total irritant to the Ducks. His group was going against their best line much of the night (though Anaheim was missing NHL faceoff leader Ryan Kesler), setting up Bozak’s second goal with a great pass, getting in on the Brown marker and then burying Zach Hyman’s pass during 3-on-3.

Though he took a late boarding call, it also resulted in Ducks’ defenceman Josh Manson (son of ex-Leaf Dave) getting tossed for a rude gesture of some sort.

“That’s what’s getting better, our ability to be resilient,” Kadri said as he re-took sole possession of the team scoring lead, clearing 40 points. “I’m sure Babs (coach Mike Babcock) doesn’t want those kinds of games, but just to stay in contention with a team such as Anaheim is big.”

The Leafs completed their season’s series with the superior Western Conference at .500 (14-13-1), two of those wins at Anaheim’s expense.

“Tonight Naz was rewarded with points,” Babcock said. “(A slump) doesn’t necessarily bother the coach, but it bothers (him). I’m glad to see him get some tonight. Naz is a brave guy, he’s nasty to play against.”

Anaheim used its worker bees to spearhead the comeback: two power play goals by Jamie McGinn, then Ryan Garbutt’s short-handed goal, stripping Jake Gardiner to tie it in the third followed by Brandon Pirri completing a takedown of William Nylander’s line. Nervous newcomers on Toronto showed their age and inexperience including goalie Garret Sparks, before he rallied for big late third period saves on Corey Perry and Rickard Rakell.

Centre Bozak, who was having a heck of a season under Babcock before an early February concussion, twice came close to a hat trick. His injury came back on Feb. 6, the same night against Ottawa that Joffrey Lupul was knocked from the lineup and the Leafs began a long drop in the East.

“I felt my timing was off, which was obvious with a couple of open nets,” Bozak said. “But I’ve played with Josh Leivo before (the Marlie call-up screening on his first goal) and with Brownie in training camp. I think (Babcock) will keep  us together.”

The night also saw Corrado collect his first as a Leaf in spectacular fashion, a spinerama backhand from in tight that looked to be the winning goal at one stage.

Right after a Rob Ford tribute, with the late mayor’s love of Toronto sports highlighted followed by a spontaneous standing ovation, the Leafs came up with their first power play goal. It was a nicely engineered goal with Michalek ending Kadri’s 12-game goal slump.

The one who badly wanted to score on Thursday was Leaf winger P.A. Parenteau, who marked his 32nd birthday in pursuit of his 100th career goal.

LHornby@postmedia.com

OTTAWA — First came the ugliness of yet another atrocious collapse in the Ottawa Senators’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Then came the storm of disgust from Senators alternate captain Chris Neil.

In his mind, blowing a third-period 3-0 lead was “unacceptable,” the product of players being “selfish” while trying to pad their stats instead of trying to lock down a victory.

“We’re up 3-0 and guys are cheating to make it 4-0, 5-0, instead of just holding the lead,” said Neil, who had given the Senators their three-goal edge late in the second period. “We left our goalie hung out to dry.”

Neil wasn’t finished there.

“If you’re cheating for goals, you’re not helping your team. It’s not great. It really isn’t. Guys aren’t trying to be selfish, but it is a selfish play.”

Taken all together, Saturday’s actions and words pretty much sum up the Senators’ lost season in a nutshell, don’t they?

Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell finished it off, scoring on a power play 2:38 into overtime, with Bobby Ryan serving a four-minute penalty for high sticking.

Hampus Lindholm tied the game 3-3, capping the Ducks’ wild comeback from a 3-0 deficit, scoring with only 57.2 seconds remaining in regulation.

Only seconds before Lindholm’s tying goal, Ryan missed a shot at an empty net after Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen was pulled for an extra attacker.

Ryan Getzlaf and former Senator Jakob Silfverberg also took advantage of odd man rushes against the Senators to begin the rally against Senators goaltender Craig Anderson.

In case fans at Canadian Tire Centre needed yet another reminder, nothing ever comes simple for the 2015-16 version of the Senators.

The Senators appeared to be on easy street, leading 3-0 heading into the third period on goals from Mike Hoffman, Erik Karlsson and Neil. Hoffman had a chance to pad the lead to 4-0 earlier in the third period, but fanned on a penalty shot attempt against Andersen.

Then the Ducks woke up. And how.

All of the positives the Senators had establishing in building up their 3-0 lead disappeared in the colossal collapse.

Senators coach Dave Cameron didn’t agree with Neil’s post-game assessment.

“I disagree that there’s too many (guys cheating),” he said. “I thought for the most part we were real solid, but when you give up goals, obviously guys are on the wrong side of the puck, but that’s the game, too.”

But the positives of the opening two periods will be largely forgotten after the latest meltdown.

The Ducks arrived in Ottawa having already clinched a playoff spot, leading the league on both the power play and in penalty killing. At the same time, there are also mild concerns about them dropping down a gear, of letting games slip away, while perhaps looking ahead at the bigger battles of the post-season that lie ahead.

After rolling to a 20-2-1 stretch from late January through early March, their game has dipped.

Before facing the Senators, the Ducks had yielded 10 goals in consecutive losses to Montreal and Toronto — including a 6-5 overtime defeat to the Maple Leafs on Thursday. Coach Bruce Boudreau has also opted not to push key players to play through nagging injuries. Kevin Bieksa and Ryan Kesler sat out Saturday.

Still, the Senators were trying to find motivation in calling the contest a “measuring stick” against one of the legitimate contenders to win the Stanley Cup.

There was no shortage of spirit at the outset.

The first period featured good pace, a pair of fights — Neil against Clayton Stoner and Curtis Lazar versus Corey Perry — and an exchange of stops between Anderson and Andersen.

Hoffman broke the ice with only 48 seconds left in the opening period. The play was set up by Ryan, who appeared to have new life with old linemates Hoffman and Mika Zibanejad. The trio combined for six of the Senators’ 10 first period shots. Ryan also hit the post in the first period.

Ryan’s night didn’t end so well, however, sitting in the penalty box when Rakell put the finishing touches on yet another thoroughly disappointing night for the Senators and their fans.

kwarren@postmedia.com

ANAHEIM — When a team begins its season by tumbling into last place, then storming back to finish first in its division with 103 points, it’s safe to say it knows how to deal with adversity.

That’s good, because the Anaheim Ducks will have to do it again after crawling out of the blocks to start the post-season, too.

Only they won’t have the luxury of three months to get their act together. In the playoffs, you don’t even get three games to recover from a bad start.

And there’s no other way to describe this one.

The Ducks were favoured to win this series after going on a 34-10-5 tear to finish the season, but if they’re going to get past the pesky Nashville Predators they’ll have to come from behind to do it after dropping Game 1 on home ice.

“They’re a good hockey club and they outplayed us tonight,” said Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau, after the Predators rolled into a building where the Ducks were 25-10-6 this season and calmly stole a 3-2 decision. “I don’t know if we didn’t think they are as good as they are because we haven’t played them in such a long time (since November), but we know they’re a good hockey club.”

They do now, anyway. And so do the Predators, who absolutely gained strength and confidence with this result.

“Whether they’re favoured or we’re favoured (doesn’t matter),” said Preds defenceman Ryan Ellis. “They’re a good hockey team, we know we’re a good hockey team and it’s going to be a war out there.”

The winning goal wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty, unless you were watching it from the Predators bench. It came at 10:35 of the third period when Filip Forsberg banked a centering pass off of Ducks defenceman Shea Theodore’s skate, sending the puck in slow motion past a helpless John Gibson.

That’s kind of the way it went for Anaheim, and it started rather early as the Predators took a 1-0 lead before the anthem singer in Anaheim had even left the ice. James Neal found a soft spot between three Ducks defenders and put a one-timer through Gibson just 35 seconds after the opening faceoff.

So much for catching the Predators, who hadn’t played in six days, flat-footed.

“Good first shift,” grinned Neal.

“We knew they were going to be jacked up in their own barn,” Neal said. “It was a great atmosphere, so if you can quiet that crowd with an early goal you feed off that.

“I like the way our team played tonight. We were a little undisciplined early one, but as we got our legs going we played a very solid game.”

That lack of discipline set the table for Anaheim’s tying goal. The Predators took back-to-back penalties (Anthony Bitetto for holding the stick at 16:15 and Shea Weber for cross-checking at 16:50), to give the No. 1 power play in the NHL a two-man advantage for 1:26.

Needless to say it was 1-1 a short time later, with Ryan Getzlaf tapping in the equalizer from Pekka Rinne’s doorstep.

Ryan Kelser gave Anaheim its first lead 48 seconds into the second period, but Nashville wouldn’t buckle. Colin Wilson tied it back up on a nifty re-direction seven minutes later.

“They took it to us pretty good for about 10 minutes,” said Boudreau. “And that changed the momentum all the way around.”

Given a chance to settle down in the second intermission, it looked like the Ducks would reset and find a way to win at home, but that didn’t happen. Nashville pressed the best defensive team in the NHL hard, finally breaking them with Forsberg’s winner.

“We know how it feels with Chicago coming in and beating us in Game 1 last year,” said Ellis. “So this feels good. We can enjoy it for a couple of minutes, but we have a lot of hockey left in front of us.”

And the Ducks have to figure some things out.

“We didn’t play as well as we need to play if we want to be successful, there’s no doubt,” said Boudreau, adding he hopes their ability to recover from adversity and bad starts will pass this latest test.

“I guess we’ll find out. I don’t think anyone on our team is saying ‘Oh wow, the series is over.’ There are a lot of teams who lose the first game and then win the next one and then keep going on after that.”

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Craig Smith had a goal and an assist, Pekka Rinne made 27 saves and the Nashville Predators confidently claimed their second straight road victory to open their first-round series, 3-2 over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 2 on Sunday night.

Shea Weber and Mattias Ekholm also scored as the Predators took a 2-0 playoff series lead for the first time in franchise history with another win over the Pacific Division champions.

Smith got the tiebreaking goal midway through the second period on a slick setup from Forsberg, and Weber’s booming shot put the Predators up 3-1 during a power play.

Nate Thompson cut into the lead with 2:42 to play, but Nashville closed out just its second road playoff victory since 2012.

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Nashville.

NASHVILLE — Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau had one thought when he saw goaltender Frederik Andersen take a slap shot from Nashville captain Shea Weber off the head.

Ouch.

“Those things hurt,” Boudreau said.

A trainer came out to check on Andersen, who missed seven games because of a concussion in March.

Andersen stayed in the game and made 27 saves as the Ducks shut out the Nashville Predators 3-0 Tuesday night to pull within 2-1 in their first-round playoff series.

“I think it bounced off the top of my head instead of square in the forehead, so I think that was pretty lucky,” said Andersen, who has 16 post-season wins since 2014. “The buckle came off, so I wanted to make sure to get that back on so it was safe to play again.”

The Ducks have not lost three straight to open a post-season series since the 2006 Western Conference final, and they didn’t come close to dropping a third straight this year.

Andersen, who started in net after John Gibson took the first two losses in Anaheim, posted his second playoff shutout despite the slap shot from Weber, who won the hardest shot competition at the NHL All-Star Game in January, during a power play in the second period.

Chris Stewart had a goal and an assist, and Jamie McGinn and Rickard Rakell each scored their first goals of the series.

“We didn’t make it easy on us,” Stewart said. “But at the end of the day, it is a race to four and it’s 2-1 now and we have one more to play before we go home.”

Game 4 is Thursday night in Nashville.

The Predators returned home with their first 2-0 lead in the post-season. The Predators lost centre Craig Smith to a lower-body injury after he played only 65 seconds over two shifts, leaving coach Peter Laviolette mixing up his lines.

“It’s not an excuse for the way we played, but certainly we’d rather have guys in there and lines rolling over as opposed to patching them together as we moved though the periods,” Laviolette said.

Boudreau called out his Ducks after a 3-2 loss in Game 2 for taking too many penalties and talking too much to the officials. Boudreau also switched back to Andersen and played Shawn Horcoff for the first time in this series looking for a spark.

Even though the Ducks took five penalties, they still showed much more discipline once the whistle blew.

“We did control our emotions,” Boudreau said. “The penalties we got, other than the too many men on the ice, they were earned. We’ll take them. We are really proud of our penalty killers. We don’t like them to do it too much, we’d like to keep it to two or three a game, but they did a great job tonight.”

They also took very good care of the puck with no turnovers in the first 20 minutes, and the combination helped them lead at the end of a period for the first time in this series.

McGinn scored on a wrister from the right circle off a pass from Horcoff after he skated up the slot midway through the first.

A sold-out crowd tried to give the Predators a boost, but some sloppy play with too many turnovers and missed opportunities on the man advantage led to a smattering of boos starting late in the second.

“We just weren’t good enough in all areas,” Predators centre Ryan Johansen said. “We weren’t quick, we weren’t fast, we didn’t use our legs, and we didn’t use our brains as fast as we needed to. That’s why it looked easy out there for them.”

When Filip Forsberg helped kill off a big chunk of an Anaheim power play, fans gave him a standing ovation. Nashville took the first few shots of the second period and even got its second man advantage when McGinn tripped Forsberg after the Predators forward beat two Ducks for the puck.

Rakell, who returned for this series after a ruptured appendix, finally got his first goal of the series at 11:33 of the second. He redirected a shot from Sami Vatanen to give Anaheim its biggest lead in this series. Then Stewart padded the lead, putting a backhand top shelf off his own miss at 17:06 of the second.

NASHVILLE — The Anaheim Ducks keep traipsing to the penalty box over and over against the Nashville Predators.

Thanks to the NHL’s best penalty killers, it hasn’t hurt them yet, and now the Ducks head home having dug themselves out of an 0-2 series hole

Nate Thompson and Jamie McGinn scored nearly two minutes apart late in the second period, and the Ducks beat the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Thursday night to even the first-round series 2-2.

“We’re playing with fire,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We’ve got to keep them to two or three minors a game, or it gets too hard on all your players that kill the penalties, like (Ryan) Getzlaf, (Jakob) Silfverberg, (Corey) Perry and (Andrew) Cogliano. They’re playing a lot more than you’d like them to play because they’re killing so many penalties.”

Getzlaf and Cogliano also scored as the road team stayed perfect in the best-of-seven series.

Goalie Frederik Andersen picked up his second straight win by making 30 saves and setting a career shutout streak of 91 minutes, 26 seconds.

“It was a great team effort tonight,” Thompson said. “I can’t say enough about Freddie. He stood tall for us all night.”

Nashville’s Mike Fisher scored his first goal of the series.

Nashville lost a 2-0 series lead despite outshooting the Ducks for a second straight game, this time with a 31-25 edge in shots. But the Predators went 0 of 6 with the man advantage and are 1 of 19 on the power play in this series against the NHL’s best penalty killers in the regular season.

“We don’t want to keep doing that to ourselves,” Getzlaf said of the penalties. “It’s good that they are able to do what they are doing. Their power play isn’t getting it done either. I thought it showed great poise by our team.”

Game 5 is Saturday in Anaheim.

The Predators, who use country star Tim McGraw’s hit “I Like It, I Love It” as their goal song, brought McGraw before the puck dropped to wave a towel and rile up the home crowd. The Predators certainly started playing with more energy than in Game 3.

But Anaheim just missed out on the Stanley Cup final last spring after losing Game 7 on its own ice, and these Ducks have been through plenty of adversity this season after being 16 points back in the Pacific before rallying to win the division.

Getzlaf put the Ducks up 1-0 just 62 seconds into the game when he poked the puck past Rinne off a shot from David Perron. Coming off his 3-0 shutout in Game 3, Andersen stopped the seven shots the Ducks didn’t block in the first period. That gave him a career-high 80-minute shutout streak in the post-season and Anaheim a 1-0 lead after the first period.

The Predators dominated in the second, pressuring Andersen with shot after shot. Finally, Fisher scored his first goal of the series on a snap shot from the right side off a pass from Colin Wilson, beating Andersen to the far side of the net at 11:26 to tie it up.

At that point, Nashville outshot Anaheim 12-1 only to see the Ducks close out the period.

The Ducks took the lead for good during a 4-on-4 when Viktor Arvidsson was called for embellishment when slashed by Ducks defenceman Simon Despres at 15:55 of the second. Stopped twice earlier in the period by Rinne, Thompson put a wrister past the Nashville goalie to put Anaheim up 2-1 at 17:04 for his second goal of the series.

“We’ve got to respond better to that,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “Even when the goal goes in and they get that, we need to somehow generate the momentum back in our direction and swing it our way and we didn’t do that for the rest of the period. They were able to get another one, so it was a big turning point in the game.”

Then McGinn tapped in a rebound off Chris Stewart’s shot at 18:56 for a 3-1 lead.

The Ducks killed off two more penalties in the third, helping Andersen by blocking more shots and flooding the slot in front of their goalie. Then Cogliano sealed the win with his second goal of the series at 16:52.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Anaheim Ducks believed that if they could rescue an entire season from the flames of a miserable start, going from worst in the NHL to first in the Pacific, they could surely resurrect a playoff series.

So that’s exactly what they’re doing.

After falling behind 2-0 to the Nashville Predators, laying the foundation for their own stunning upset, the Ducks have climbed up off the canvas to win three straight games and push the Predators 60 minutes away from elimination.

In a series where the visiting team won the first four games, Anaheim finally turned home ice into an advantage, edging the Predators 5-2 on Saturday at the Honda Center.

“We kind of joke around in here that we certainly don’t make it easy on ourselves with how we do things,” said defenceman Cam Fowler. “But I’ve been saying all along, the things that we had to go through at the beginning of the season, being able to come out on the other side after Christmas and have one of the best records in the NHL, we did that together. We didn’t start pointing fingers, we all got through it together.

“So any tough times that happen in the playoffs now, we feel like we can handle anything. Losing the first two at home isn’t how you want to start a series, but I’m proud of our group and how we’ve battled back.”

Ducks winger Ryan Garbutt, who came over from Chicago in mid-season, had little doubt when the Ducks fell behind 2-0 in the series that they’d be able to recover.

“I was watching from afar at the start of the year when they had the tough start and when I got traded here I saw the character they have in this room to be able to come out of it,” he said. “This series was a bit of a replication of that; losing the first two games at home really felt like rock bottom for us. Our ability to recover early in the year definitely helped us in this situation.”

They didn’t start all that great in Game 5, either. After 34 scoreless minutes, Nashville struck first on a Ryan Johansen goal at 14:13.

“I think we came out with a lot of energy, but sometimes it can be directed in the wrong way and we were out of position a little bit and back on our heels in the first period,” said Fowler. “But from that point on, even after the Johansen goal we were able to settle in a little bit and do a lot of the things we talked about before the game.”

Just 22 seconds later, David Perron tied it up on a fluke and two minutes after that Garbutt gave Anaheim a lead it would never relinquish.

Sami Vatanen, Fowler and Ryan Kesler into an empty net scored in the third period as Anaheim pulled away for good.

Nashville can feel the momentum slipping away, but also know this one was closer than 5-2 and fully expect to be back here for a Game 7.

“We’re going to take the good things from this game, we’re going to go home, regroup and be ready to play,” said Preds coach Peter Laviolette. “I have no question our guys will be ready.”

The Ducks, who’ve never won a playoff series when trailing 0-2, are now one win away from a California championship series with the San Jose Sharks. They can now close things out Monday in Nashville, where they are 2-0 in the series.

“We’re still a long way from finishing the series,” said goalie Frederik Andersen. “We can’t worry about what game number it is, we have to do bring the same mindset to Nashville. If we do, I’m confident we can win the series.”

rtychkowski@postmedia.com

NASHVILLE — By treating their elimination game like a Game 7, the Nashville Predators finally have pushed a playoff series to a seventh game.

Now they want to go back to Anaheim and finish off the Ducks.

James Neal scored the winning goal late in the second period, and the Predators beat Anaheim 3-1 on Monday night to force the second Game 7 in the first round of this post-season.

“Anything can happen,” Nashville captain Shea Weber said. “It’s obviously two good teams that are pretty equal and it is going to come down to the last game, and we’ll see how it goes.”

The Predators had lost the previous five Game 6s when needing a win to stay alive in the playoffs, and they snapped a three-game skid to the Ducks to force this series back to Anaheim for the deciding game Wednesday night.

“For our group to come together like that with the way we played at home, we really wanted to make sure we left it all on the ice tonight because it would have been really disappointing if we lost every game at home,” Predators centre Ryan Johansen said.

Weber sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 10 seconds left off an assist by Neal. Mattias Ekholm also scored a goal, and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves for the win.

“I don’t think there’s anything better in the Stanley Cup (playoffs) than a Game 7 when everything means something,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “It’s a big game, our guys will be excited.”

Ryan Kesler scored a power-play goal for the Ducks, who now are 8-6 in Game 6s. They return to Anaheim where they lost their last three last spring in the Western Conference finals to eventual Stanley Cup champ Chicago. They also lost Game 7 on home ice to the Kings in 2014 and Detroit in 2013.

“It’s a new team, new time,” Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Every year is different. Every day is different. We’re looking forward to the game.”

This will be the first Game 7 with Anaheim for players such as left wing David Perron. The Ducks did become the first to win on home ice in this series in Game 5.

“We are going to have to rely on guys who have been there before and we are going to throw our everything at them, play our best game and find a way to move on to that second round,” Perron said. “I’m excited for our next game already.”

Rinne, who had been struggling in this series, came up big late. He stopped Corey Perry on a point-blank shot from in front with 6:40 left and turned away Perron’s wrister with less than 3 minutes to go.

Nashville brought out Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker to wave a towel and charge up the sellout crowd. Fans just needed something to cheer after watching the Predators get outscored 12-3 in losing the last three games. They also got right wing Craig Smith back on the ice after he missed most of the last three games with a lower-body injury.

Ekholm put the Predators up 1-0 at 8:10 of the second period, beating Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen with a wrister from the top of the right circle off a pass from Calle Jarnkrok. That made the defenceman Nashville’s top goal scorer with his second in this series. Fans rewarded the Predators with not one, but two standing ovations in the period.

The Predators took a 2-0 lead when Johansen brought the puck up the right side and passed to Neal at the left post who tapped the puck into the net behind Andersen at 17:45.

“They’re fighting for their lives, and we knew that we were going to get their best,” Ducks centre Ryan Getzlaf said.

The Ducks got a power play with 42.8 seconds left in the period when officials penalized Ekholm for holding Hampus Lindolm after the Anaheim defenceman jumped onto Ekholm’s back at the end boards. Kesler tapped the puck into the net behind Rinne who had just stopped a tip-in attempt by Perry.

Fans still furious at the penalty tossed a handful of the towels given away by the Predators onto the ice and booed as the period ended.

NOTES: The only other Game 6 Nashville won came in 2011 when clinching the franchise’s first post-season series win over Anaheim. … Andersen passed Jonas Hiller (26) for second for most post-season games played by an Anaheim goalie with his 27th playoff appearance. … Predators centre Cody Bass played only 1 minute, 17 seconds and three shifts before leaving the game with a lower-body injury. … Nashville had a 21-11 edge in blocked shots.

ANAHEIM – The last thing the Anaheim Ducks want to be doing Wednesday night is playing Game 7.

Not when they had a chance to close out Nashville in Game 6.

Not when their recent history in do or die games is mostly die.

The Predators, on the other hand, after winning Game 6 on Monday, can’t think of anywhere else they’d rather be.

So one would think Nashville has a psychological edge going into the deciding game in Anaheim, given that they are facing an opponent forced into this situation against its will.

“I completely disagree with that,” Anaheim veteran Andrew Cogliano said. “We were down 2-0, so to say there’s no pressure on them … I don’t agree with that. Like any Game 7, there’s pressure on both teams.

“We’re excited. It’s one game for the series. We fought our way back from 0-2 and we fought for home ice all season. We’re going to use that advantage now.”

That’s the angle Anaheim is working for this game.

“If you told us after the first couple of games that we’d have an opportunity to play Game 7 in our home building I think we’d have taken it,” said defenceman Cam Fowler, pointing out that momentum should be with the team that’s 3-1 in the last four games of the series.

“We’ll make sure that we’re ready. The main thing is just to embrace it. It’s an exciting time. I think this is my fourth or fifth Game 7 and I’m just as excited as I was about the first one. I think we’re all looking forward to it.”

Chris Carlson / The Associated PressA member of the Anaheim Ducks staff charges the number after the Ducks' 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators in Game 5 of their series.

Anaheim, considered a Cup favourite by many when the playoffs began, never expected to be pushed to the brink this early, but now that they’re here they have two options: Respond, or live with the fact their championship drive lasted all of three wins.

“I don’t think you can ever block out the stakes, we all understand what’s on the line,” Fowler said. “But you have to prepare like you have all season long. You can’t just block out that it’s Game 7, but you have to focus on the simple things that got you to that point.”

While this is the first ever Game 7 in Predators history, Anaheim has played a few of them before, most recently in 2015 when they blew a 3-2 series lead against Chicago and lost Game 7. In 2014, they blew a 3-2 series lead over Los Angeles and lost in Game 7.

Head coach Bruce Boudreau is 1-6 in career Game 7s.

So the Ducks aren’t just facing a feisty Predators team that posted the fourth best record in the NHL over the final 28 games of the season (16-6-6), they’re facing two years’ worth of demons.

But Boudreau doesn’t want his team to play scared.

“You don’t get anywhere by playing not to lose, you have to play to win,” he said. “That’s what (Nashville) did the last couple of games. They’ve out-competed us the last couple of games. We’ve won one of them, but we’ve got to get back to where we can out compete the other team.”

“Safe is going to get you nowhere,” Cogliano said. “Being timid or hoping for something is going to get you where it’s gotten us … where we’ve lost the last couple of years.”

Cogliano says the baggage from 2014 and 2015 isn’t an issue. Instead, they view this Game 7 as a chance to slay a nemesis, like St. Louis just did against Chicago and San Jose just did against the Kings.

“We have some older guys who’ve been in situations like this that we can use,” he said, when asked why this year’s team is better prepared to break through its glass ceiling. “And we’ve been through adversity this year, we’ve experienced some tough times and we’ve battled back and I think we can use that to our advantage.

“We all know what we need to do to play well. We’ve had really strong games this year where we’ve played really good teams and gave them nothing.”

They’ll need another one of those games against a Predators team that can’t be any more excited about forcing this thing to a Game 7 stage.

“It’s a great feeling. I’ve never experienced Game 7, not even in the minors or anywhere,” said Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne. “It’s something new, and I’m just really stoked about it.”

ANAHEIM — Score one for the demons.

In a year in which the San Jose Sharks finally beat the Los Angeles Kings and the St. Louis Blues finally got over on the Chicago Blackhawks, the Anaheim Ducks could not survive another visit from their own personal nemesis: Game 7.

For the fourth year in a row their season comes to an end in Game 7 at home, this time in a devastating 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators.

“I’m not ready to have my season end,” said Anaheim’s Jamie McGinn. “I came here to go deep in the playoffs and hopefully win a Cup.”

It’s not happening. The Cup favourites are done.

For the fourth year in a row they had a 3-2 series lead and lost Game 6, then lost Game 7 at home.

To Detroit in 2013, to Los Angeles in 2014, to Chicago in 2015 and now this.

The Ducks were hoping their experience in this situation, even though it was all bad, might help them against team playing its first ever Game 7.

It didn’t.

“Experience in playoffs is definitely important,” said the Preds Mike Fisher. “But desperation might be more important than experience. A lot of it comes down to will and who wants it more.”

He said the Predators had a dress rehearsal two days earlier and it served them well in this one.

“We feel like we already played a Game 7 in Game 6,” said Fisher. “It was do or die at home.”

While storyline will be that the Ducks were beaten by another Game 7 – their fourth in a row – but the Predators see it a little differently.

They don’t think this was about a curse, or a choke, or because of what happened in each of the last three seasons.

They simply think they’re a better team – a tough and battle-tested Central Division force that might not be done cutting a swath through California, with the San Jose Sharks next on the docket. That second-round series begins Friday in San Jose, who eliminated the Kings in five games.

Mind you, it was the play of goaltender Pekka Rinne who played the biggest role in this one with 36 saves, many of them of the spectacular fashion.

The Predators showed they are for real, withstanding everything the Ducks threw at them in Games 6 and 7.

“Anytime it’s situation where your season is on the line it usually brings out the best in your team and the character comes out in your group,” said Nashville’ Ryan Johansen.

“I think everyone in our group saw the way we came out and executed in Game 6 and there was another boost of confidence for us. Now to be able to come together and do it in Anaheim… could be huge for us moving forward in the next series.”

The Ducks, who gave up the first goal early in their previous three Game 7 losses, did it again in this one.

Colin Wilson scored for Nashville at 6:19, which, incredibly, is the longest it’s taken the other team to go up 1-0.

After a couple of great kills on overlapping penalties to Sami Vatanen and Kevin Bieska that gave Nashville a 5-on-3 for 30 seconds, Anaheim goaltender Frederik Andersen surrendered the 2-0 goal on a harmless looking point shot that Paul Gaustad deflected in at 15:53.

That was to be the extent of the Preds offensively on this night. They managed 10 shots in that opening frame and then just 10 the rest of the way against Andersen.

The Ducks have been notoriously slow starters in deciding games. They fell behind 2-0 in the first 16:37 against Detroit, fell behind 2-0 in the first 8:48 of against Los Angeles, fell behind 2-0 in the first 11:55 against Chicago and were down 2-0 again on Wednesday night.

And another Game 7 was slipping out of their grasp.

Hard to imagine what was said in the Anaheim dressing room between periods, but the Ducks responded with a vengeance in the second period. But not with any goals.

They swarmed Nashville’s end the whole period, outshooting them 13-6, but the closest they came to scoring was Jamie McGinn hitting the crossbar.

And it was 2-0 with 20 minutes to go.

The Ducks, who came back from last place in the NHL to win the Pacific Division and came back from 0-2 in the series, needed to climb off the canvas one more time.

Ryan Kesler scored on a power play 1:45 into the period and the Ducks turned the energy even higher. They hit another post.

In the end, when they needed it most in Games 6 and 7, the Ducks scored one goal in each game.

“Every team that’s in this situation needs their best players to be their best players,” said Ducks’ coach Bruce Boudreau, who is now 1-7 in career Game 7s. “This is why they are called the best players.”

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Anaheim Ducks fired coach Bruce Boudreau on Friday, two days after their disappointing first-round exit from the playoffs.

Ducks general manager Bob Murray announced the decision to fire Boudreau, who hasn’t been able to pair post-season success with steady excellence in his two NHL coaching jobs in Anaheim and Washington. The Ducks have lost a Game 7 on home ice in four consecutive playoff years, culminating in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Nashville in the first round.

“This was a very difficult decision to make,” Murray said in a statement. “Bruce is a good coach and character person, and we wish him the best of luck in the future.”

Boudreau had spectacular regular-season success with the Ducks, leading them to four consecutive Pacific Division titles while going 208-104-40 in nearly five seasons in charge.

But the Ducks’ last four seasons have ended in pain. Anaheim blew a 3-2 series lead in each of those seasons, including the loss to the Predators.

Chris Carlson/The Associated PressBruce Boudreau is the second coach to fail to coax post-season poise out of Anaheim teams led by Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, the two fixtures on Anaheim's roster since its only Stanley Cup title run in 2007.

Anaheim was eliminated Wednesday night in a gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to Nashville in Game 7 of the first round. Anaheim outshot the Predators 28-10 over the final two periods, but couldn’t overcome two early goals.

Anaheim reached the Western Conference finals last season, losing in seven games to Chicago. That was the second straight year the Ducks were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, following their 2014 loss to Los Angeles in the second round.

The Ducks won three playoff rounds in four seasons under Boudreau, but couldn’t reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Boudreau is the second coach to fail to coax post-season poise out of Anaheim teams led by Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, the two fixtures on Anaheim’s roster since its only Stanley Cup title run in 2007. Perry didn’t score a goal in the entire seven-game series against Nashville, while Getzlaf failed to inspire his teammates to success as their captain.

Randy Carlyle, who led the Ducks to the title, was fired by Murray in November 2011. Boudreau took over and immediately sparked the franchise.

Boudreau then won the next four division titles, and this season was perhaps his most impressive. Anaheim got off to a 1-7-2 start and struggled all the way to Christmas, but responded with a 34-10-5 performance after the Christmas break to steal the division title on the final day of the season.

Murray showed patience with Boudreau and the Ducks during the start of the year. When it wasn’t rewarded with post-season success, he fired Boudreau.

“We would like to express our appreciation to Bruce and his wife Crystal for their commitment to our community,” Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli said. “Bruce led us to four division titles with tremendous passion and pride, and we will always be grateful for his contributions both on and off the ice.”

TORONTO — Three years ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs swung a trade with a southern California foe for a player they hoped would be their goaltender of the future.

Jonathan Bernier never met that expectation though and was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday for a conditional pick in the 2017 NHL draft.

The deal concluded a mostly turbulent tenure with the Leafs for the 27-year-old, one that saw him unable to fully ascend to the No. 1 role and meet the expectations Toronto had in dealing for the former first round pick.

Pat Brisson, Bernier’s agent, said the goaltender did not request a trade from the Leafs, but was pleased for the opportunity to start fresh elsewhere.

The 11th overall pick of the 2006 draft, Bernier compiled a respectable .915 save percentage over three seasons in Toronto, his finest points coming in the first half of his first season as a Leaf.

His term was complicated by the struggles of the Leafs more generally. Formerly a homegrown member of the stingy Los Angeles Kings, Bernier was often weighed down by the poor defensive teams he played behind in Toronto.

The Leafs surrendered 36 shots per game in Bernier’s first season with the club, the worst mark in the league, and nearly 34 per game a year later, the second worst tally overall.

Toronto improved last season under Mike Babcock, but Bernier failed to follow suit, quickly losing the trust of the new head coach. Bernier started the season with an ugly 0-8-1 record, finally winning his first game on Dec. 19.

That followed a brief and humbling demotion to the American Hockey League. He rebounded some in the second half with a .915 save percentage.

“It was very painful,” Bernier said in April of his poor start to the season. “You come to the rink and you don’t feel (like) yourself. But I worked really hard to come out of it. I didn’t want to be the guy that just tosses in the towel and doesn’t work at it.

“I really (wanted) to prove to myself that I can come back from things like that. It definitely makes you a stronger player and stronger person, that’s for sure.”

He had hoped to be “the guy” for the Leafs next season.

Bernier had one year remaining on a two-year deal signed last summer and was presumably set to serve as the backup to new Leafs No. 1 Frederik Andersen. Bernier’s deal called for a US$2-million bonus, which the Leafs paid on July 1. The Ducks now take the full cap hit of $4.15 million for Bernier but are only on the hook for the remaining $2.15 million.

The Leafs gambled large on the 26-year-old Andersen, not only acquiring the Dane for a pair of draft picks from the Ducks, but signing him to rich five-year deal. The club is betting that he can be the long-term answer in goal, a design he never fully realized in his first three NHL seasons with Anaheim.

Where Toronto turns for the backup role is the next question for the club. Garret Sparks and Antoine Bibeau are internal options, but both are young, inexperienced and likely not ready to play 20-30 games in a secondary NHL role. Sparks, too, struggled mightily in his first NHL stint last season, posting a .893 save percentage.

Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello told reporters at the club’s development camp that a backup will be acquired.

For Anaheim, Bernier will serve as an experienced backup to 22-year-old rising star John Gibson.