Ellis' injury unites Predators ahead of Ducks game

Rallying around the recent head injury to defenseman Ryan Ellis, the Nashville Predators will arrive in Anaheim to play the Ducks on Sunday with at least a little something to feel good about.

The Predators are coming off a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday one day after Ellis was placed on injured reserve. Nashville's alternate captain was injured when he took an elbow from the Dallas Stars' Corey Perry in the outdoor Winter Classic on New Year's Day.

Perry was suspended five games, while the Predators are unsure how long Ellis will be out.

"He's having such a strong year for us, and we count on him in so many situations," Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said, according to the team's official website. "We'll need other guys to step up and fill minutes and take on some of that responsibility."

Mission accomplished for at least one game. Captain Roman Josi, who partners with Ellis on defense, saw time with Yannick Weber on Saturday.

Without Ellis for all but the first three minutes against the Stars, Nashville blew a two-goal lead and fell 4-2. They were able to make amends Saturday, taking a 2-0 lead on the Kings in the first period before earning the victory.

"Losing Ryan Ellis at any point, whether you're in first place or last place or somewhere in the middle, you take a player like that out of your lineup, it's difficult," Laviolette said. "But injuries happen, and we need to move forward from that."

Rocco Grimaldi and Ryan Johansen scored the first-period goals for Nashville at Los Angeles. Josi had an assist on each goal. Nashville sealed it with two goals in the third period.

The Ducks have been unable to rally around anything of late. They will enter on a three-game losing streak, while also dropping four of their last five games and six of their last eight.

In a season full of tough losses, Thursday's 4-2 defeat on the road to the Arizona Coyotes came when they gave up three third-period goals. Jakob Silfverberg and Max Jones scored goals for the Ducks, but the Coyotes rallied with their three goals in the opening 7:49 of the final period.

"You need to have a little bit more of a complete game," Ducks defenseman Josh Manson said, according to NHL.com. "... Every losing game is an opportunity to learn. There were some good things we did tonight, but we need to be more consistent."

Except the education never seems to have any staying power for the Ducks, who have been without left wing Rickard Rakell for the past five games because of an upper-body injury.

At 16-20-5 (37 points), the Ducks are the worst team in the Western Conference at the midway point of their season. Their minus-23 goal differential is third worst in the conference to the minus-26 of the Kings and the minus-28 of the San Jose Sharks.

"I think a fair assessment would be that we've shot ourselves in the foot a few times for a few different reasons," Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins said, according to the Orange County Register. "I do think our standings, and maybe that's me being more positive than I should be, but with my expectations, I do think we should be at least a couple of games over .500."

--Field Level Media