Oh yeah. This is still happening. I, the most useless hockey commentator on planet Earth, will continue offering my invaluable hockey commentary. Like a champion. This is Game Two of a possible seven-game Stanley Cup series between the favored Pittsburgh Penguins and “my” Nashville Predators.
As always, scroll on down for the live blog. Keep reading for the press release from the NHL.
The Stanley Cup Final continues tonight as the Nashville Predators look for their first Cup Final victory when they face the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Two from PPG Paints Arena.
Nashville staged a three-goal comeback in Game One when they tied the score at 3-3 in the third period. But moments after James Neal hit the crossbar, Jake Guentzel scored the game-winner for Pittsburgh to help them to a 5-3 win and a 1-0 series lead.
The Predators now turn their attention to building off of what they say was a solid effort in Game One, holding Pittsburgh to just 12 shots on goal – including zero in the second period – as they try to reverse their fortunes tonight.
“For the most part, we did a lot of good things,” Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis said of Game One. “If we play that way every night, we’ll hopefully like the result at the end. Each game we need to keep getting better and better.”
Filip Forsberg saw his seven-game point streak come to an end in Game One of the Final, but continues to lead the club in scoring with eight goals and 15 points in the postseason. He’s followed by Ellis with 12 points, and then Roman Josi, P.K. Subban and Colton Sissons who have recorded 11 points apiece. Sissons scored his sixth goal of the playoffs in Game One, while Ellis, who also tallied in Game One, and Neal have five goals each. Captain Mike Fisher recorded his first two points of the postseason with a pair of assists in Game One. Goaltender Pekka Rinne suffered his fifth loss of the playoffs and owns a .934 save percentage through 17 games.
Evgeni Malkin scored a power-play goal in Game One and leads the Pens with 25 points. Sidney Crosby follows with 22 points and Phil Kessel has 19. Guentzel scored his 10th goal of the playoffs in Game One; Malkin has eight goals, while Crosby and Kessel have seven each. Goaltender Matt Murray earned his fourth win in five starts and has a .936 save percentage.
As the Predators look to even the Stanley Cup Final before heading back to Nashville, here are three things to watch for:
Shot Counter:
The Predators only allowed 12 shots on goal in Game One, including zero for Pittsburgh in the second period. In fact, Nashville became the first team to hold an opponent to zero shots on goal in one period of a Stanley Cup Final game since the NHL began tracking that statistic in 1957-58.
The game is on NBC Sports Network at 8 p.m. EST There will be three periods for some reason and probably a dead fish thrown at some point. Let’s watch it all go down together.
