Perry, Selanne Score Two, but Ducks' Comeback Bid Falls Short

Anaheim fought to the end again, but this time its comeback bid fell just short in a 5-4 road defeat to the Predators.

Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne each scored two goals to lead the Ducks, who had a chance to move up to as high as fifth in the Western Confernce standings had they won. Instead, the club's four-game winning streak was snapped and the club remained in eighth place with a 41-28-5 record (87 points).

Sergei Kostitsyn scored two goals, both in the first period, to put Nashville in front early. The Predators would not trail on the scoreboard at any point in the game.

Nick Spaling, Jordin Tootoo and David Legwand also scored for Nashville, which has won five straight games.

With 1:40 left in the second period, Tootoo took a shot in the slot that bounced off the leg pads of Dan Ellis and into the net to give the Predators a 4-1 lead.

The Predators stretched the lead to 5-1 in the third period as Legwand scored a short-handed goal that bounced off the far post and in at 9:29.

Anaheim scored 10 seconds later on the power play as Selanne skated in and shot the puck just under the cross bar. At 15:24, Selanne struck again on the power play as the puck bounced off the stick of Nashville's Ryan Suter and into the net.

Perry was credited with his 42nd goal with 27 seconds left as the puck bounced off the skate of Suter and went in under the crossbar.

For the second game in a row, the Predators opened the scoring. At 2:04 of the first period Patric Hornqvist took a shot from the left side of the net. The puck bounced off Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller and bounced around in front of the goal. Kostitsyn tapped it into the open side of the net as Hiller was slow to recover after stopping Hornqvist's shot.

Spaling gave the Predators a 2-0 lead at the 11:18 mark. Jonathon Blum took a shot that went wide to the left of the net and bounced off the back wall. Spaling skated in from the left side and shot the puck under Hiller's outstretched leg pad from close range.

Kostitsyn scored his second goal of the night 19 seconds later. Hornqvist took a shot from inside the right board above the faceoff circle. Kostitsyn, stationed in front of the goal, redirected the puck into the net.

After that goal, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle removed Hiller from the game and replaced him with Ellis, a former Predators goaltender. Hiller faced seven shots.

Perry answered for the Ducks with a goal at 16:01 of the first period. With Nashville's Pekka Rinne moving toward right side of the goal, Bobby Ryan saw Perry standing to the left side of the crease. Perry put the puck in from a couple of feet out before Rinne could recover.

Notes: The Predators scored in the first period for the ninth time in 10 games, holding a 16-6 goals edge against their opponents in the first 20 minutes. ... Hiller was playing his first game since being activated from injured reserve Wednesday after missing 15 games due to vertigo issues. ... It was the 451st NHL career win for Nashville coach Barry Trotz which moved him into the top 20 in all-time coaching victories.