The Nashville Predators have some additional inspiration for Game 6 against the Anaheim Ducks.

Injured forwards Kevin Fiala and Ryan Johansen joined the Predators faithful to cheer on their teammates at the elimination game Monday night.

Johansen was ruled out for the playoffs Friday afternoon with a left thigh injury that was later confirmed to be acute compartment syndrome. Fiala broke his femur on an awkward fall into the boards in Game 1 of Nashville's second-round series against the St. Louis Blues.

The pair watched Game 5 of the Western Conference Final together from a local hospital Saturday night.

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The Anaheim Ducks' early two-goal deficit to the Nashville Predators in Game 6 was quickly made worse when forward Nick Ritchie was given a five minute major and a game misconduct for boarding Viktor Arvidsson.

Here's the play:

Already missing Rickard Rakell due to injury, losing Ritchie is a tough blow to the Ducks' offensive depth.

Arvidsson was bloodied, but looks to have avoided serious injury. Amazingly, the letter "R" was captured on his forehead in some sort of Ritchie-led wizardry.

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The Nashville Predators will be without captain Mike Fisher for Monday's Game 6 versus the Anaheim Ducks.

Fisher missed Game 5 with an undisclosed injury suffered in Game 4, which the club has yet to elaborate on.

The 36-year-old has yet to record a point in the postseason, but his absence at center with Ryan Johansen out of the line up as well surely hurts the Predators, as they look to advance to their first-ever Stanley Cup Final.

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It's Jonathan Bernier, not John Gibson, in the Anaheim Ducks' crease for Game 6 of the Western Conference Final against the Nashville Predators.

Bernier is making the first playoff start of his career in place of the injured Gibson, who was forced to leave Game 5 after the opening period Saturday night with what the Ducks would only call a "lower-body" ailment.

Jhonas Enroth is serving as Bernier's backup Monday night, meaning Gibson isn't even dressed for the contest.

Gibson took part in Monday's morning skate and was a game-time decision.

Bernier stopped 16-of-18 shots in relief on Saturday, in what was only his third appearance of these playoffs and fourth career playoff game.

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Nolan Patrick, the consensus top prospect on the NHL's Central Scouting final rankings, isn't going to let an injury-riddled draft year ruin his focus on transitioning to the pros.

Patrick only played in 33 games for the Brandon Wheat Kings this season - scoring 46 points - as sports hernia surgery and a leg injury limited the spotlight of his presumed final junior campaign.

Some scouts believe the emergence of Swiss pivot Nico Hischier could knock Patrick off his perch at the top of draft boards, but the Winnipeg native isn't letting doubts over his fitness get to him.

"If someone doesn't want to take me because of my injuries this year, so be it," Patrick told Dave Isaac of The Courier Post. "I'll be happy to go anywhere."

The New Jersey Devils surprisingly won the lottery, with the Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars rounding out the top three.

Patrick admitted he struggled to discover his game after surgery, which kept him out of the world juniors on top of the majority of the Wheat Kings season.

"Not nearly as effective as I wanted to be," Patrick said. "For me coming back I didn't skate for two months just healing. It's tough to get your legs back. Quite a few of the games I wasn't in good enough shape to be as effective as I wanted to be out there. I think in the second half I put together a few good games there. It wasn't the ideal year, but it is what it is."

Patrick, however, did state earlier in the month that he feels 100 percent healthy. The draft is scheduled for June 23-24 at the United Center in Chicago.

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Sidney Crosby was the playoff MVP a year ago on the back of six goals and 13 assists in 24 games.

Flip the calendar a year later and the Pittsburgh Penguins captain has already scored seven times this postseason, doing so in eight fewer games as he picked up the elusive tally Sunday against the Ottawa Senators.

The goal was one of two points Crosby recorded in Game 5, bringing his total to 19 in the playoffs, tying last year's output. It also marks the third-highest playoff production of Crosby's career, after he scored 27 and 31 points in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

This spring, Crosby is the playoffs leading scorer behind only teammate Evgeni Malkin, which bodes well for possible back-to-back MVP honors. He finished tied for sixth in scoring en route to the Conn Smythe last year.

Now one win away from his fourth trip to the Stanley Cup Final, Crosby has saved his best goal-scoring performance for the Senators:

In Game 4 against Ottawa, and down 2-1 in the series, Crosby first set up Olli Maatta for the game-opening goal before putting the Penguins ahead by a pair midway through the second period. Pittsburgh went on to win 3-2, and Crosby's performance wasn't lost on his coach.

"(Crosby) was really inspired, and when he plays that way he's tough to handle and he inspires our group as well," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told reporters. "For him to continue to play the inspirational game that he plays, I think is indicative of how badly he wants to win.

"He's probably the fiercest competitor that I've been associated with in the game ... He's got an insatiable appetite to be the best."

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The crease belongs to Matt Murray.

After stepping into Game 3 against the Ottawa Senators in relief of Marc-Andre Fleury - who allowed four goals on nine shots - the Pittsburgh Penguins youngster has taken the puck and run with it.

Now with three appearances this spring, Murray is once again the man between the pipes in Pittsburgh after his postseason debut was delayed by a groin injury.

That left Fleury to carry the load early on, and he emerged as one of the Penguins' top performers as they knocked off the Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals en route to their fifth trip to the conference finals in 10 seasons.

Through the first two rounds, Fleury was sensational, owning a .927 save percentage to push the Penguins halfway to Lord Stanley.

But the veteran netminder hasn't seen as much success in Round 3 against the Senators. After respectable showings through the first two games, it all fell apart for Fleury in Game 3, with Murray coming in midway through the first period and not looking back. Murray has since picked up two victories and allowed just a pair of goals through two starts.

In all, Murray hasn't missed a beat since coming on to the playoff scene a year ago, owning a 17-6 spring record to go with a .927 save percentage over two postseasons.

That performance not only guided the Penguins to the Stanley Cup a year ago, but it had Murray's name bandied about for Conn Smythe honors. This season, while the 22-year-old wasn't nominated for the Calder Trophy, he was the top freshman goalie, carrying a 32-10-4 record.

That all bodes well for Murray's future, while only further cementing Fleury's impending exit from Pittsburgh. The veteran is nevertheless in good spirits despite being back on the bench.

"I don't want to make this about me," Fleury told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette following Game 3. "Last playoff, this season, it's about the team."

The coming expansion draft will play a big part in determining Fleury's fate. The rules allow teams to protect one goaltender, meaning another must be exposed to the Vegas Golden Knights. The catch is that Fleury holds a no-movement clause that restricts his availability.

But unless Pittsburgh wants to leave Murray free for the taking, or offer up a prime piece to persuade the Golden Knights to pluck another Penguin besides a goaltender, Fleury will ultimately be on the move this offseason, whether to Las Vegas or elsewhere.

Fleury's time as the starter in Pittsburgh may have come to a close, but he could be home to a new team and its top job as soon as next month.

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It hasn't been easy to back the Nashville Predators into a corner.

Of the four teams remaining in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Predators are the only one that hasn't faced elimination this spring. Nashville owns a 11-4 record in the postseason, having not lost more than twice in a series so far.

That hasn't been the case for the still-standing Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, and Ottawa Senators.

The Penguins already staved off elimination once, emerging victorious in their Game 7 contest against the Washington Capitals. Pittsburgh took the second round series with a 2-0 win on goals from Bryan Rust and Patric Hornqvist.

Like Pittsburgh, Anaheim made quick work in the opening round but took seven games to defeat the Edmonton Oilers in Round 2. Now down 3-2 to the Predators, the Ducks must win their next two matches to mark their first trip to the finals since 2007.

Meanwhile in Ottawa, after knocking off the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers in six-game sets, the Senators are down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Final after being shellacked 7-0 by the Penguins in Game 5. It was the first time this postseason Ottawa has dropped three games in a series. The Senators will play for their playoff lives Tuesday on home ice.

As for the Predators, a win Monday will close out their series against the Ducks and mark the franchise's first-ever trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Nashville joined the NHL in 1998.

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It was a season of stalled progress for the St. Louis Blues.

After advancing to the Conference Final a year ago, the Blues were ousted in the second round of this year's playoffs. But there was still plenty to be happy about in the Gateway City.

"When you consider everything that was done and the decisions that were made, that's a pretty darn good performance," Blues co-owner Tom Stillman told Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Like (general manager) Doug (Armstrong) said at the time, maybe we're going to take a half step back to take some big strides forward in the future."

Slumping to a 24-21-5 midseason showing, the Blues fired former bench boss Ken Hitchcock on Feb. 1, replacing him with associate coach Mike Yeo. Under his guidance, the club went 22-8-2 to finish third in the Central.

Hired last offseason as the heir apparent to 65-year-old Hitchcock, the transition to Yeo came sooner than scheduled.

"Every major company in America wants to have a succession plan for their leadership and be grooming somebody to take over. It was interesting to me that it got criticized so much," Stillman said. "I thought it was good to be transitioning somebody and have him ready when the time comes. The idea was next season."

As for Armstrong, he's been focused on the future since the beginning. After spending 16 years with the Dallas Stars, Armstrong joined the Blues in 2008 and was named GM two years later.

From Day 1, the goal has been to build from the ground up, where his tenure reveals keen draft choices like Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Colton Parayko, and Robby Fabbri, among others.

That focus on the future was most apparent at this year's trade deadline. Despite his team sitting in the playoff picture, Armstrong dealt Kevin Shattenkirk, cashing in on his top-scoring defenseman's pending free agency after key assets like Troy Brouwer and former captain David Backes walked away the previous summer.

"I think Doug is unusual in that he was so focused on the long term," Stillman said. "A lot of GMs, I think, are inclined to be focused on what's going to keep my job next year and the year after."

Today, Armstrong sits among the NHL's top 10 of tenured GMs. And while he only has one year left on his contract, according to the Post-Dispatch, an extension in St. Louis appears to be all but a formality.

Blues' ownership surely seems happy with the season that was.

"Some would perceive it as taking a risk to be looking farther down the road even though it might not lead to as many wins in the current year," Stillman added. "That's an important quality, looking long-term for the organization and not looking at your short-term survival. I think Doug knows that I am in tune with looking at things in that longer-term way."

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The Chicago Blackhawks may have found their man.

Ulf Samuelsson is the leading candidate to join Joel Quenneville's coaching staff, according to Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.

The Blackhawks fired former assistant coach Mike Kitchen following the team's first-round sweep to the Nashville Predators. Kitchen had been a longtime member of Quenneville's staff, coming to Chicago in 2010. The two also coached together for six seasons with the St. Louis Blues.

Related - Report: Quenneville upset by Kitchen's firing

Samuelsson, 53, is a familiar name to Quenneville. The two were former teammates with the Hartford Whalers for five seasons up until 1990.

Currently head coach of the Charlotte Checkers, the AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes, Samuelsson previously spent three seasons as assistant coach with the New York Rangers and five seasons as associate coach of the Arizona Coyotes.

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