This was the night the Nashville Predators grew up, the moment they showed enough perseverance and maturity to forever shed their reputation as being a nice little team that always lacked some ingredient necessary for success in the rugged environment of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Stymied time after time by Ducks goaltender John Gibson on Tuesday, denied apparent goals twice when they too enthusiastically crashed into him, the Predators wrested a gutsy 2-1 victory from the Ducks and took a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals. Bridgestone Arena could barely contain the roars of the dancing, gold-shirted fans when Roman Josi buried a rebound with 2 minutes 43 second left in the third period while Ducks forward Chris Wagner was in the penalty box, serving a needless offensive-zone high-sticking penalty.