3 Predators who came up big in pivotal Game 5 win over Ducks

The Nashville Predators were forced to dig deep in Game 5.

Playing without their top two centers in Ryan Johansen and Mike Fisher, a full team effort was needed to beat the Ducks in Anaheim on Saturday, with three players in particular stepping up to do the most damage.

Colin Wilson

Facing a 1-0 deficit late in the second period, the Predators tied things up thanks to Wilson's second goal of the postseason.

After a 20-goal season in 2014-15, Wilson registered only 18 goals in his subsequent 134 regular-season appearances, but has shown a knack for big playoff goals over the past two springs.

Here, he added another notch in his belt.

Pontus Aberg

With less than 10 minutes remaining in the final frame, rookie forward Aberg netted his first career playoff goal with a sensational effort in front of the net.

Aberg also lost a tooth and was forced to temporarily leave the game in order to be checked for a possible concussion following an incident that took place prior to his goal.

Aberg, a second-round pick in 2012, had failed to hit the back of the net in eight previous playoff games, and scored only once in 15 appearances in the regular season.

He did, however, score nine game-winning goals for the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals this season, so coming up big is nothing new to this Swede.

Pekka Rinne

As Nasvhille's last line of defense, Rinne posted his best performance of the series, stopping 32 of 33 shots against for a save percentage of .971.

Rinne made a couple huge stops right before Aberg's winner, and took his team's injury issues right in stride.

An honorable mention goes to Frederick Gaudreau, who was appearing in his first career playoff game and helped to stabilize things at the center position with a 71 percent success rate in the faceoff circle.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)