ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Nashville Predators are halfway to eliminating the preseason favorite for the Stanley Cup.

Craig Smith and Shea Weber scored in the second period to give the Nashville Predators a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday in the second game of their Western Conference quarterfinal series at the Honda Center.

Mattias Ekholm added a goal, Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi each contributed two assists, and goalie Pekka Rinne stopped 27 shots for the Predators, who took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The third and fourth games will take place at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night and Thursday night, respectively.

"Everybody in this room believes we're capable of doing this," Ekholm said about his teammates eliminating the Pacific Division champions. "The way we're playing right now, we're showing everybody that we can beat any team. But (the Ducks) are going to come out even harder the next game."

The Predators never held a 2-0 lead in any of their previous 11 playoff series dating from 2004. The Ducks have never won a playoff series after losing the first two games.

"They are playing hard," Anaheim center Ryan Getzlaf said about the Predators. "They're getting the puck in our end, and we're not getting in on the forecheck."

Andrew Cogliano and Nate Thompson scored for the Ducks, who killed four of five penalties while receiving 24 saves from goalie John Gibson.

"They get so wound up that they lose track of what's going on around them," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said of his players. "We were playing much harder than in the previous game. We were just dumb."

Smith broke a 1-1 tie at 9:55 of the second period. Josi intercepted a pass from Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm near the right corner and sent the puck to Forsberg behind the net. Forsberg quickly passed to Smith, who dragged a wrist shot into the upper-left corner of the net for his third career playoff goal in his 10th playoff game.

Weber extended the Predators' lead with 38.8 seconds remaining in the period on a power play. With nine seconds left on David Perron's penalty, Weber one-timed a rising slap shot from the left point under the crossbar.

Thompson drew Anaheim within one goal by shoveling in a backhanded shot from the top of the slot with 2:42 to play.

"In the third period," Rinne said, "I don't think they had a lot going."

Before Cogliano began the scoring, Anaheim played short-handed for four minutes in a span of 4 minutes, 30 seconds early in the first period. Corey Perry went to the penalty box for hooking at 7:16, then 30 seconds after his teammates defused that situation, Perry returned to serve an interference penalty at 9:46.

However, Nashville managed only two total shots during the power plays.

Cogliano gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 14:20 of the first period. Weber tried to pass the puck from the left boards in the neutral zone, but Cogliano intercepted the pass, went on a breakaway and deposited the puck between Rinne's legs.

"We knew they were going to come out with some emotion, especially early," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "Our guys did their best to hold up until we could start to play our game, and I thought we did as that period went on."

Nashville responded with 55.4 seconds left in the period, when Ekholm tied the score with his first goal. Colin Wilson dug the puck out from the left corner and passed to Ekholm, whose backhanded shot in front of the crease deflected off Gibson's right forearm.

"We kept calm," Ekholm said. "In the first period, they maybe were a little better than us. To get that goal was huge. We got some energy. In the second period, we outplayed them pretty badly."

NOTES: Nashville scratched RW Gabriel Bourque (upper body), D Petter Granberg, LW Eric Nystrom, C Colton Sissons and LW Austin Watson. ... Predators D Shea Weber tied David Legwand for most career playoff games in team history with 47. ... Anaheim scratched D Josh Manson (head), D Clayton Stoner (hip), LW Brandon Pirri (upper body), D Korbinian Holzer, C Shawn Horcoff, LW Nick Ritchie and C Mike Santorelli. Manson left Friday night's game in the first period after receiving a late hit from Nashville LW Filip Forsberg. ... Ducks D Kevin Bieksa played for the first time since March 24. Bieksa missed 10 games because of an upper-body injury. ... On Friday, the Ducks became the first team since the 1990-91 Montreal Canadiens to start six defensemen age 24 or younger in a playoff game. ... Ducks C Ryan Getzlaf passed D Francois Beauchemin on Friday night to become the team's all-time leader in career playoff games with 98.