Telepeer

Ducks shut out by Predators in 6th straight loss

April 8, 2026

ANAHEIM — The fire alarm is ringing loudly at Honda Center.

It blared as the Ducks lost their sixth straight game on Tuesday night, blanked, 5-0, by a Nashville Predators team that had lost in a shootout less than 24 hours earlier.

Where before the Ducks had only to concern themselves with their own play – which has now become quite a concern – they now have to watch the scoreboard. They had a five-point lead in the Pacific Division when they began to sink, but now might have to sweat the wild-card race.

It wasn’t pretty on Tuesday, when the Edmonton Oilers picked up a point with an overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth and the Vegas Golden Knights moved to 4-0-0 under new coach John Tortorella with a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

Edmonton (first in the Pacific), Vegas (a points tie for first in the Pacific) and Utah (the first wild-card in the Western Conference) possess identical 88-point totals, while the Ducks are stuck on 87. That’s just four more than the Kings, who dangle near the bottom of the league in both wins and regulation wins but nevertheless sit one point back of Nashville (84) for the second wild card with a game in hand on the Predators.

Lukáš Dostál stopped 20 shots for the hosts.

Erik Haula, Filip Forsberg, Brady Skjei, Zachary L’Heureux and Fedov Svechkov each scored for Nashville, with Haula adding an assist. Ryan O’Reilly and Joakim Kimmell chipped in two helpers apiece. Backup Justus Annunen recorded his first shutout in over two years behind 43 saves.

After digging themselves a three-goal hole over the course of the second period, the Ducks greased up the sides when Jeffrey Viel took two penalties with 15 seconds left to roll 3:45 of short-handed time into the closing frame.

Though they killed both penalties, they gave up the period’s only two goals, with 10:09 to play and 4:53 remaining.

L’Heureux finished a 4-on-2 opportunity that resulted from three Ducks colliding in front of the Nashville net. Haula occupied the paint and set a screen for L’Heureux to fire through.

The Predators slathered on a fifth goal just after their power play expired, Adam Wilsby’s stretch pass sprung Tyson Jost. He dipped behind the net and found Svechkov in front for a redirect.

The Ducks were out-shooting Nashville 20-9 in a scoreless game, but the visitors’ 10th shot was the game’s first goal with its midway mark looming. They scored again, at 11:26, and again, with a minute left in the period.

Kimmell gained the Ducks’ zone, faking a slap shot and then curling back toward the blue line to find a trailing Haula. He hammered a shot from between the circles at 7:07.

The Ducks went 0 for 2 on the power play in the first period, and had to kill their first penalty 10:01 into the second. Their special-teams woes persisted.

A slow but decisive build on the Nashville power play got the puck back to Forsberg above the right circle. He adjusted his angle and rifled home his 38th goal through an O’Reilly screen.

During their slump, the Ducks have killed just 12 of 18 penalties (they also gave up a goal just after a power play on Tuesday) and have cashed in only two of 24 power plays.

Having already ceded an even-strength tally and a man-advantage marker, the Ducks collected the entire set of goals against by allowing one shorthanded.

Jackson LaCombe activated, only to have the puck stolen by O’Reilly. He got the puck ahead to Nick Perbix, who found himself on a 2-on-0 break with his defense partner, Skjei, who finished from between the hashmarks.

The Ducks square off with San Jose on Thursday, which has won five of six to prolong its postseason hopes.

More to come on this story.

Orange County Register

News Details

Ducks shut out by Predators in 6th straight loss

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS