Joe Rexrode

USA TODAY NETWORK -- Tennessee

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Rarely do they disappoint, these 150-minute escapes from reality that should be appointment viewing for anyone who has ever followed a sports team.

This one did not. It even gave us an extra four minutes of thrills, from the puck drop at 7:10 p.m. local time Wednesday to the mobbing of one Pekka Rinne at 9:44.

When a typically tense, thoroughly entertaining, completely exhausting Stanley Cup playoffs Game 7 was done at Honda Center, the Nashville Predators had their first win in their first try. The Anaheim Ducks had their fourth straight Game 7 loss, all at home, all after leading a series 3-2.

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We had another hockey Game 7 to thank — there’s nothing in sport that carries such suspense, for such extended stretches — and reason to ask: Are the Predators done making history?

“We haven’t done what we want to accomplish,” Predators forward Colin Wilson said after scoring the first goal in the 2-1 win, the first Game 7 opportunity for a franchise that started in 1998, against one of the favorites of these playoffs.

San Jose is the next challenge. A big one. But Anaheim looked like a Cup contender for the last three months of the regular season and just lost three of four games at home to the Predators.

That will be the national takeaway from Honda Center, where 17,407 weary souls watched their team again fail in a decisive game. In falling behind 2-0 in the first 16 minutes, the Ducks looked like a bunch of guys skating around in Donald Duck costumes.

That’s not to say cartoonish — that would be mean, and they’ve been through quite enough. It is to say, slowed by some obvious, excess weight. The pressure of failing in this situation again was apparent.

But they responded in the final two periods with a 28-10 advantage in shots, mounting attack after attack on Rinne — who outdueled counterpart Frederik Andersen just a few days after admittedly not playing to his level. Putting too much of this outcome on the Ducks’ demons takes too much away from the Predators’ revelations.

And those start with Rinne, the key to an opportunity for the first advance past the second round in franchise history.

“He was in a zone,” Predators center Mike Fisher said of Rinne, who gave up two goals combined in Games 6 and 7 after yielding 11 in Games 3-5.

“He made some incredible saves tonight,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said after improving to 5-1 in Game 7s. “He was just spectacular in there.”

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He was aided by superb defense, the only Ducks goal coming from Ryan Kesler on perfect power-play execution early in the third period. Roman Josi blocked five shots, Barret Jackman blocked four and captain Shea Weber spearheaded the effort to deny space. Rinne got a clean look at most of those shots.

But they came in bunches after that first period. Wilson turned a fluttering puck into a slick backhand past Andersen; Paul Gaustad stationed himself in front of Andersen and redirected a Weber blast to make it 2-0; and then it was time to run and hide.

After the crafty killing of more than a minute on a delayed penalty, the final three were full of drives and dives.

“Just scramble mode, to be honest,” Fisher said.

And Rinne didn’t flinch on a 36-save night. This was the first Game 7 for all but six Predators, and only center Mike Ribeiro had experienced a win. They came off looking like a bunch of Game 7 graybeards.

They even celebrated like older folks, blasting Nelly’s 2002 rap hit “Hot in Herre” after their own series of bellows in the locker room. Apparently, Nelly has been the thing all year.

Looking like a contender has not been the thing all year. But after Rinne spoke with the Finnish press, hugged general manager David Poile and switched back to English, he said of a milestone achievement and the opportunity it creates: “I think it means a lot. It shows a lot of character. As a group, we can learn from this series.”

Reach Joe Rexrode on Twitter @JoeRexrode.