Recap: Ducks Ride Dominant First Period to 5-3 Victory over Preds

The Ducks kicked off a five-game road trip with one of their best performances of the season tonight, racing out to an early lead to down the Nashville Predators 5-3 at Bridgestone Arena.

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With the win, Anaheim snapped a five-game losing skid and improved to 14-25-1 on the season - with an 8-9-0 mark away from home ice.

Ryan Strome, Frank Vatrano, Mason McTavish, Troy Terry and Radko Gudas scored, helping Anaheim build a 4-0 lead before the midway point of the second period. Alex Killorn, Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov, Adam Henrique and Urho Vaakainen added assists.

With an assist on Terry's second period goal, which put the Ducks ahead 4-0, Henrique recorded his 500th career point in the NHL.

LaCombe's two assists on his 23rd birthday marked his first career NHL multi-point effort.

Lukas Dostal earned the win in net, denying 39-of-42 Nashville shots.

Alexandre Carrier, Philip Tomasino and Denis Gurianov scored the Preds, who fell to 22-18-1 on the season. Juuse Saros made 28 saves in the Preds loss.

Ducks forward Trevor Zegras left the game early in the first period after an awkward collision into the boards. Zegras was helped off the ice and did not return to the game.

From there though, the first period was all Anaheim as the Ducks outshot the Preds 14-11 in the first period and led 3-0 after 20 minutes of play.

Anaheim initially took the lead seconds after killing off a Nashville power play. As Strome exited the box, Killorn lifted a high-arching pass just below the center-ice scoreboard, allowing Strome to skate into the loose puck along for a breakaway, which he tucked on the backhand between Saros' legs for a 1-0 Ducks advantage.

Strome and Killorn each have points in two of their last three games.

With the secondary helper, Lundestrom collected his first point of the season.

Vatrano doubled the lead with just under six minutes to go in the first, finishing off a cleanly executed faceoff set play. After Killorn, LaCombe and Radko Gudas zipped the puck around inside the Nashville blue line, Vatrano got a touch on LaCombe's centering pass, knocking the puck off the skate of defenseman Ryan McDonagh and over the line.

Named an NHL All-Star for the first time last week, Vatrano has scored in five of his last eight games and is now tied for 17th among NHL leaders in goals (18) this season.

Killorn's two assists in the first period marked his fourth multi-point game as a Duck.

McTavish capped the dominant period for Anaheim with a ridiculous power-play goal, taking a cross-ice pass from Terry and somehow burying a wrister short-side into the tiniest of openings above Saros' left shoulder.

The goal, McTavish's 12th of the season, gave the 20-year-old center points in three of his last four games. Now in his second full NHL season, McTavish ranks second among team leaders in points and goals, and fourth in assists.

Mintyukov's assist was his 17th of the season, tied with Minnesota's Brock Faber for the most among rookie defensemen. 

Terry collected his 200th career point with the cross-seam pass to McTavish. 

The fun kept going for Anaheim after the intermission too, and this time with some good fortune, as early in the middle frame a backdoor pass from Terry to Strome in tight hit the stick of defenseman Dante Fabbro and bounced between Saros' legs to put the Ducks up four.

Since Anaheim's 5-1 win in New Jersey on Dec. 17, Terry has totaled nine points in eight games (5-4=9).

Henrique's assist was his 500th career NHL point.

Vaakainen collected the secondary assist, his career-best seventh helper of the season, while skating in his 100th career NHL game.

Gudas pushed the lead to five early in the third with Anaheim's second goal of the night that came immediately after a successful penalty kill. This time, Gudas tracked down a loose puck deep in the Nashville zone and solved Saros with a wraparound, just barely sneaking the puck between the goaltender's skate and the post.

Gudas has scored in both matchups against Nashville this season. His six goals on the season match a career high, set in 2016-17 with Philadelphia.

Carrier, Tomasino and Gurianov each scored in the final 10 minutes to make the Ducks sweat the game's dying moments, but it would be too little, too late for the hosts.

The Ducks continue a five-game road trip Thursday night at Carolina.