Ducks’ Ryan Kesler now knows he’s rattled Preds’ Johansen

If anything, he is just getting started.

“There’s not a lot of room for your own personal assault on somebody because you don’t like the way you got played”, Laviolette warned even before game two. It was another display of heart and determination from the “Men in Black” to tie the best-of-seven series at one win each.

The Nashville Predators bench celebrates their go-ahead goal during the third period in Game 3 of the Western Conference final against the Anaheim Ducks in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Tuesday, May 16, 2017, in Nashvill.

The two players have jawed constantly and both have tried to land knockout hits.

Not that it bothers Kesler.

In 13 games, 15 different players have scored at least one goal and 19 have at least one point.

Love him or hate him, you probably have an opinion. It means I’m doing my job. “Watching, I don’t know what’s going through his head over there”. It’s that aggression which Kesler has tried to feed off of.

“I don’t know if we’ve had (a team) as good”. “He likes to use his stick a little bit”.

“I think Ryan has been completely composed”.

“I know he doesn’t like it now”.

Nashville also fell behind 1-0 in the series opener with the Ducks.

It’s the chance to lay a pounding on the orange-and-blue vehicle in front of Bridgestone Arena.

The Ducks took advantage of their first power play to score with 4:25 left in the second period.

While the strategy proved unsuccessful, Kesler did bring Toews to do something you rarely see from Captain Serious – drop the gloves. The money raised goes to a cancer charity.

Carlyle said the promotion is befitting of a team that has a workmanlike approach. They were never swayed by the crowd’s pleas to shoot during power plays until they had the shot they wanted, and they maintained their structure instead of breaking down into a bunch of individuals. When he puts his skates on, he goes out to play, he plays hard and he plays to win.

Take whatever side you want.

Even his other two goals have been significant.

“I think it’s safe to say that our team and this organization, we built this team as a playoff team”. “I found my size now”.

Single handily responsible for the Predators tying goal; he turned the puck over twice on that shift and then left Forsberg do what he wanted in front of the net and subsequently tip that goal in.

It’s no surprise that top-four defensemen have a major impact on a team’s fortunes, given the amount of ice time they generally log, but if there were any holdover, old-school doubters that still believe shot-blocking, hard-defending defensemen are still critical building blocks for a championship team, this postseason has blown that theory out of the water. Johansen has a point on four of the Predators’ six goals in this series, and Nashville’s first line has been involved in five of six.

The snarling canine, whose name is Stanley, was coach Peter Laviolette’s idea.

“We’re not talking about a project”.

This was Smashville with an increased energy that comes with playoff hockey.

At some point, though, your best players have to be your best players.

Most teams could play this way if they really wanted to.