Nashville Predators beat Anaheim Ducks 3-1 in Game 5 of series

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Pontus Aberg spent most of the season in the minors, and he had a part-time depth role for the Nashville Predators in these Stanley Cup playoffs until injuries thrust him into a key role in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.

And now the unassuming Swede has another new role for Nashville: He's the hero of the latest clutch victory in the Predators' Stanley Cup push.

Aberg scored his first career playoff goal with 8:59 to play, and the Predators moved to the brink of their first Stanley Cup Final with a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, taking a 3-2 series lead Saturday night.

Aberg had to send himself flying across the crease to swat home a rebound of Filip Forsberg's shot, epitomizing Nashville's persistent effort through a defensive victory.

A moment before he scored the biggest goal of his life, Aberg was upended during a scramble. He had to be taken off the ice for medical evaluation immediately after his celebration, but his teammates hung on from there.

"I face-planted there and lost my tooth, but it didn't hurt my head," Aberg said with a smile.

Not much seems to wound these Predators, who overcame the injury absence of top scorer Ryan Johansen and captain Mike Fisher. Nashville leaned heavily on goalie Pekka Rinne and got barely enough offense to survive, with Colin Wilson scoring the tying goal late in the second period and Austin Watson adding an empty-netter.

Chris Wagner scored on a frustrating day for the Ducks, who began the game without injured 30-goal scorers Rickard Rakell and Patrick Eaves before losing starting goalie John Gibson to a lower-body injury during the first intermission.

Anaheim will have to win back-to-back elimination games to avoid crashing out in the conference finals for the second time in three years.

"We have a lot of areas of concern off our performance tonight," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We're not going to hang our head with doom and gloom. We'll get ourselves ready. We'll re-energize our group, and we'll look forward to playing a better game."