Justus Annunen Earns 1st Shutout With Nashville Predators In Victory Over Anaheim Ducks
Annunen ignites Predators' dominant 5-0 shutout victory. Nashville solidifies playoff push with crucial win and stellar goaltending.
Justus Annunen made 43 saves for his first shutout win in a Nashville Predators uniform in a 5-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday at the Honda Center. It is Annunen's third career shutout, the first since March 4, 2024, in a 5-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks when he was with the Colorado Avalanche. It was also the Predators' first shutout win of the season and their widest margin of victory.
The win also puts Nashville ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference with 84 points. The Predators have four games remaining in the regular season. Erik Haula opened the scoring in the second period, picking up a slot-feed from Joakim Kemell and beating Lukas Dostal blocker side.
About four minutes later, on the power play, Filip Forsberg fired a shot from the top of the circles to put Nashville up 2-0. It's his eighth point in the last five games and his 38th goal of the season. In the final minute of the second period, on the penalty kill, Ryan O'Reilly picked off a Ducks player and passed to Nick Perbix, forcing a break the other way.
He'd pass it up to Brady Skjei, who scored on the breakaway for his third goal of the year and the Predators' eighth short-handed goal of the season. In the third period, on an odd-man rush, Zach L'Heuruex capped it off with a goal to give Nashville a wide 4-0 lead. Kemell had the primary assist on the goal for the first multi-point game of his career.