Earlier this summer we reviewed the Top 10 Moments of the Regular Season, and now seems a fine time to look back at the team’s playoff run…
The setting was Game 6 of the opening round of the playoffs between the Ducks and Predators, with the Preds looking to close out their first series win in playoff history. Offense was a challenge, however, as Martin Erat was still out of the lineup after taking a shot from Ducks agitator Jarkko Ruutu.
That led to an unusual line cobbled together to provide offensive spark in limited action. The rookie Blake Geoffrion lined up at center between Steve Sullivan, who was still working his way back into game shape after groin surgery, and J.P. Dumont, who was playing only his second game of the playoffs after banishment to Barry Trotz’s doghouse.
Despite getting just four shifts together in the first period, this trio cashed in early in the second, putting Nashville up 2-1 on a dandy play. As the puck got rimmed around the boards in the Preds’ defensive zone, Geoffrion gave a quick look to see where his linemates were going before corralling the puck and playing it into the neutral zone, where Dumont picked it up before crossing into the Anaheim end.
As a second defender started moving over to slow Dumont’s progress, J.P. flipped the puck across to Sully who came storming down the right wing. Sullivan coolly waited for Ray Emery to set himself and lunge for a poke check before pulling the puck to his backhand and tucking it home for a sensational goal, followed up with an outburst of pure joy by the diminutive dynamo.
As important as that goal was in this historic game, it also served as a Nashville swan song for Dumont and Sullivan, two key members of the team for the last several years, who are now moving on. They couldn’t have ended their run on a better note…