Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Pontus Aberg ‘face planted ... and lost my tooth’ before scoring winning goal for Predators

MoR3hbLK00V3
The Predators moved to within a win of the Stanley Cup Final as they held on in Game 5 to beat the Anaheim Ducks on the road and take a 3-2 series lead.

Pontus Aberg scored his first career Stanley Cup playoff goal on Saturday, and then he was removed from the game and put through concussion protocol.

In his ninth career postseason game, Aberg scored what turned out to be the winning goal for the Nashville Predators versus the Anaheim Ducks in Game 5.

He was in the right spot to collect a rebound from a Filip Forsberg shot, diving around Jonathan Bernier to slide the puck into the net just past the midway point of the third period.

Prior to that, however, Aberg was hit to the ice -- an incident that didn’t go unnoticed.

Aberg was eventually removed from the Predators bench to undergo protocol. According to NHL.com, he didn’t play another shift after his goal -- even though he said the incident that forced him from the game occurred before he scored.

“They called me off of there, after I scored that goal,” he said. “So I didn’t expect that. It didn’t hurt me at all. But the league called it in, so I had to. But I’m feeling good.

“I kind of face planted there and lost my tooth, but it didn’t hurt my head.”

The Predators now have a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference Final. Game 6 of the series goes Monday in Nashville, as the Predators will look to secure a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, which would be another first for this franchise.