Ritchie took a long pass off the boards and his shot glanced off the side of goalie Pekka Rinne’s head into the net in front of a crowd of 17,000 at the Honda Center.

«(Ryan) Getzlaf tipped it and that messed up their defense a bit. I just shot it at the net,» he said.

It was the third goal of the playoffs for Ritchie, and while it allowed Anaheim to overcome another poor start, it wasn’t the biggest one he has scored in this postseason.

Ritchie also scored the winner in game seven against the Edmonton Oilers to advance the Ducks to the NHL semi-finals.

Sweden’s Jakob Silfverberg, Sami Vatanen, Ondrej Kase and Antoine Vermette, into an empty net, also scored for the Ducks, who avoided going into an 0-2 hole for the second straight series with the win.

Filip Forsberg, James Neal and Ryan Johansen scored for the Predators, who continued their Cinderella run through the NHL postseason by winning game one in Anaheim.

Game three of this series is scheduled for Tuesday in Nashville.