NHL Betting Preview: Nashville Predators vs. Anaheim Ducks Game 7 Odds

The Nashville Predators will be playing their first-ever Game 7 on Wednesday when they visit the Anaheim Ducks, who have melted under pressure like this before.

Still, the Ducks are consensus -160 betting favorites (bet $160 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark despite losing a Game 7 at home in each of the last three postseasons.

Last year, Anaheim fell to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 in Game 7 of the Western Conference Final after leading that series 3-2. The Ducks find themselves in a similar position this time around, although they lost the first two games at home to Nashville before winning three straight.

The Predators won Game 6 by a score of 3-1 on Monday to send the series back to the Honda Center and pay off on the betting lines at the sportsbooks.

Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne made 26 saves at home to help his team avoid elimination and will try to play like he did in the first two games at Anaheim when he stopped 27 of 29 shots in each 3-2 win.

The third game there saw the Ducks win 5-2—one of three consecutive they won by exactly three goals in the series to take a brief lead. Frederik Andersen has taken over in net for Anaheim the last four games after John Gibson took losses in the first two.

Andersen lost Game 7 to the Blackhawks last May 30 and also did not perform as well as Gibson this past regular season.

For the Ducks to exorcise their Game 7 demons, Andersen must come through or risk getting an early hook, plus top scorers Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry cannot disappear in the spotlight again. Getzlaf leads the team with five points in the series on two goals and three assists, while Perry has just four assists after tallying a team-high 34 goals during the regular season.

The Predators are counting on a balanced scoring attack to continue to produce, as three players have two goals, and six others have scored once. Center Colin Wilson (one goal and three assists) and defenseman Shea Weber (two goals and two assists) lead Nashville so far with four points apiece.