NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Next stop: Edmonton.
Troy Terry drew a high-sticking penalty then scored the go-ahead goal on the ensuing power play with 2:54 left, as the Ducks rallied to beat the Nashville Predators, 5-4, on Thursday night in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The Ducks finished as the third seed in the Pacific Division and will face the second-place Edmonton Oilers in a best-of-seven first-round series that begins Monday night in Edmonton (7 p.m. PT).
“This is all new for me so I’m just excited,” Terry told NHL.com. “I’m excited for our fan base. I’m excited for a lot of people in this organization and just around Orange County. It is nice to be set and know where we’re going. Obviously (Edmonton) has two of the best players in the world so they create their own challenges, and I’m excited. I think it’ll be a good series.”
The Ducks, in the playoffs for the first time since 2018, came into the finale in third in the division but with five different scenarios still possible to determine the final playoff positions. Their win, combined with Edmonton’s 6-1 rout of Vancouver, made the Kings’ result in Calgary irrelevant and locked in the final seedings for the Ducks, Kings and Oilers.
Cutter Gauthier, Jackson LaCombe, Alex Killorn and Tristan Luneau also scored for the Ducks (43-33-6, 92 points). Mikael Granlund had three assists, John Carlon added two assists and Ville Husso made 17 saves.
Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist for Nashville (38-34-10, 86 points), giving him 42 goals this season. Filip Forsberg also scored twice, giving him 40, and the Predators a pair of 40-goal scorers. Luke Evangelista and Ryan Ufko each added two assists, and Juuse Saros stopped 35 shots.
Nashville forward Tyson Jost was called for a 4-minute high-sticking penalty on Terry with 3:57 to go, and Terry scored on a rebound during the first half of the penalty to give the Ducks a 5-4 lead, lifting the puck over the left pad of Saros from in front.
The Ducks go into the postseason having gone 2-6-2 over their final 10 games.
“It’s nice to win a game,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville told NHL.com. “I know we’ve lost a couple close ones here in the last little bit here, and we had a little tough stretch going into the playoffs. It’s nice having some positivity entering a real tough series ahead of us. Hey, we’re excited to be playing playoff hockey. I think in the last period we got ignited there. Let’s get excited about these playoffs and let’s don’t think it’s going to be an on-off switch come playoff time.”
Gauthier scored 96 seconds into the game, recording his team-best 41st goal of the season with a one-timer from the right faceoff circle off a rush to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead.
The Predators, eliminated from contention Monday night, answered when Stamkos scored his 41st on a wrist shot from the right circle midway through the first off an assist from rookie Cole O’Hara, who was making his NHL debut.
Forsberg scored on a tip-in on a power play at 15:54 for a 2-1 lead.
LaCombe scored his 10th goal of the season, a wrist shot through traffic from just inside the blue line that tied it at 2-2 with 20.8 seconds left in the first period.
The Ducks moved back in front, 3-2, when Killorn scored on a one-timer from just above the right circle at 4:33 of the second period.
“It was just nice to see maybe a little more of an offensive explosion tonight,” Terry told NHL.com. “Even selfishly for myself and just some of the other guys because I think we’ve been generating a lot the last week or so and just maybe not finishing. It was good to kind of get that rolling going into the playoffs.”
Forsberg tied it at 14:37 of the second with a snap shot from the slot, then Stamkos gave Nashville a 4-3 lead just 46 seconds later when he scored on a wrist shot off a cross-ice feed from Ryan O’Reilly while on a power play.
Luneau tied it at 4:17 of the third, following up a play and scoring off the rebound of Granlund’s shot. Luneau was playing his first game of the season for the Ducks after he was recalled from the AHL’s San Diego Gulls on Wednesday.
The Ducks outshot the Predators 30-12 over the final two periods in their 26th comeback win of the season, matching a franchise record achieved in 2013-14.
DUCKS VS. OILERS SCHEDULE
All times are PT
Game 1 – at Oilers, Monday, 7 p.m., ESPN
Game 2 – at Oilers, Wednesday, 7 p.m., TBS
Game 3 – at Ducks, Fri., April 24, 7 p.m., TNT, truTV
Game 4 – at Ducks, Sun., April 26, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
x-Game 5 – at Oilers, Tues., April 28, TBA
x-Game 6 – at Ducks, Thurs., April 30, TBA
x-Game 7 – at Oilers, Sat., May 2, TBA
x – If necessary