from Joe Rexrode of The Tennessean,

It was better this way, even if it didn't seem like it at the time.

The Nashville Predators will play in a Game 7 for the first time in franchise history, because they won a playoff game while trailing 3-2 in a series for the first time in franchise history, because they were flat-out better than the Anaheim Ducks on Monday at Bridgestone Arena.

And because their goaltender, Pekka Rinne, was flat-out clinical in the 3-1 win, rising for the first time in this series to the level of counterpart Frederik Andersen.

But the best part of this whole thing for the Predators was the worst part. A few lost seconds at the end of the second period, the kind of sequence that had shaken them in recent days and turned their eye-opening 2-0 series advantage into an eye-rolling 3-2 deficit.

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Highlights from game 6 are below...