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Carlyle on Predators crashing Ducks’ net, big shots difference in Game 3

Rather than balking at the challenge, the Nashville Predators responded to a 1-0 deficit and a great John Gibson performance by just imposing their will in an eventual 2-1 Game 3 win.

The Predators overcame back-to-back canceled-out goals in that rush to succeed, and there are at least some who wonder if they were crashing Gibson’s net in a way that wasn’t quite innocent.

(Granted, every team kind of sort of goes for that ... just some tend to collide with netminders more than others. And sometimes it seems a little more intentional than others.)

You can watch the two negated goals in the video above.

Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle didn’t provide bulletin board material on the subject like Ryan Johansen did regarding Ryan Kesler, but his comments were still interesting:

Again, intriguing, but not sassy. Carlyle was far sassier in disputing the Predators’ mammoth shot differential in Game 3, which was listed as a 40-20 shot edge in Nashville’s favor.

Carlyle thought the shot counter might need glasses, prompting onlookers to make less-than-flattering comparisons to his days with the Toronto Maple Leafs. To Carlyle’s credit, he still admitted that the game was pretty lopsided at times.

One would expect a more aggressive Anaheim attack in Game 4, even with that contest in Nashville. Considering Corey Perry’s notorious crease-crashing tendencies, Pekka Rinne may also want to be alert.

You can watch Game 4 on NBCSN at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday. You can watch online and via the NBC Sports App (Click here for the livestream).