NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The postseason can be exhausting, and playing four games in seven nights going from an emotional Game 7 to wrap up one series to the Western Conference finals is starting to take a toll on the Anaheim Ducks.
Playing the Nashville Predators inside the NHL’s toughest arena in nearly 20 years sure isn’t helping.
Coach Randy Carlyle said Wednesday that his Ducks just ran out of gas after taking a 1-0 lead Tuesday night in Game 3. The Predators scored twice in the third, not counting two goals waved off for goalie interference, and pulled out a 2-1 victory for a 2-1 lead in the Western finals.
Carlyle said he thought his Ducks were flat with emotion and credited the Predators for taking that out of them. A schedule that had Anaheim starting this series less than 48 hours after ousting Edmonton in a deciding seventh game doesn’t help either.
“You look back and you say, ‘Hey, we played Game 7 a week ago today,'” Carlyle said Wednesday. “You know, so that’s four games in six nights or seven nights. And then you get more of an understanding of the intensity and the drainage that does take place on your people.”