The Stanley Cup Finals are back even after the Nashville Predators dominated on home ice. Can the Penguins recalibrate in Pittsburgh? It’s time for Game 5!
| Predators vs Penguins ML +140 / -155 O/U 5.5 |
Here are tonight’s starting goaltenders, courtesy of LeftWingLock.
They liked it, they loved it, they got some more of it.
The Nashville Predators evened up the series in commanding fashion in Game 4, topping the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1.
Calle Jarnkrok got the ball rolling by knocking in a rebound goal late in the first period. Jarnkrok made a good initial play to keep the puck in the Pittsburgh zone and fed Austin Watson. Watson fired a shot on net and Jarnkrok never broke stride on his way to the net. He cleaned up the trash and got the Preds on the board.
Pittsburgh, at this point used to responding swiftly in this postseason, answered back with a Sidney Crosby goal just a minute later. Crosby waltzed into the zone all alone and dangled Pekka Rinne out of his jock.
Save this GIF for when you're having a bad day. pic.twitter.com/C3ferZxqtj
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) June 6, 2017
Sweet lord that is pretty.
The first period would end with only 13 shots in total between the two teams. There were many hits to go around, however.
After killing off a James Neal penalty which carried over into the second period, the Preds went to work. Rinne stopped a Chris Kunitz breakaway, allowing the Preds to come back down the other end of the ice and score not 20 seconds later.
Frederick Gaudreau (seriously, where did this guy come from?) tried a desperation wraparound after a scramble in front. Matt Murray made a diving effort with the paddle of his stick and appeared to have gotten to it in the nick of time. Play continued. The horn would sound moments later, however, and the officials would award Gaudreau with his rightful goal.
Upon scrutiny of the replay, it’s easy to see how the referee might have missed the call on the ice, but the puck clearly crossed the goal line.
See for yourself.
Freddy Hockey wraparound makes it 2-1 Preds pic.twitter.com/5zLVYTAaGW
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) June 6, 2017
Later in the period, Crosby broke in on his second breakaway of the game. This time with Filip Forsberg racing after him on the backcheck, Crosby was forced to the backhand where Rinne made a timely save. A rebound was forced and as Jake Guentzel arrived to the puck, Rinne dove headlong and batted the chance away.
Just to further emphasize that fortune shone brightly on Nashville that night, the Predators would score once again shortly after a huge Rinne save- again. This time, Mike Fisher’s diving one-handed pass to Viktor Arvidsson allowed Arvidsson clean entry into the zone. In stride he fielded the puck and with only Murray to beat snapped a wrister past his glove.
Filip Forsberg would add an empty netter with 3:23 left on the clock to ice the game.
The Nashville Predators continue to get contributions from guys that have seemingly fallen from the sky. Like Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo. in “Damn Yankees,” they have come from nowhere and sold their soul to the devil to lead their team to glory. Austin Watson continues to be in the thick of the action creating plays and setting up teammates. Frederick Gaudreau (a.k.a. Freddy Hockey I guess now?) just keeps scoring. Colton Sissons has a goal, an assist and 12 shots on goal this series.
Unfortunately, the Pens can’t say the same for some of their depth forwards. Carter Rowney has been handed a bigger role with the absence of Nick Bonino and has now twice been on the ice for the Pens’ first goal against. He played fine in the Eastern Conference Final, but is getting shown up by the Preds’ depth players.
Even without Ryan Johansen, the Predators are taking certain Penguin blueliners behind the woodshed. Looking at you, Ron Hainsey. Hainsey is having a lot of trouble keeping his feet moving and making good decisions with the puck. He either needs to be sheltered even more than he already is or maybe it’s time to consider Chad Ruhwedel as a potential replacement with a bit more offensive ability. Ruhwedel is pretty bad too, so it’s a tough call.
Pittsburgh went 0-for-3 on the man advantage, bringing their powerplay to just 1-for-16 for the series. That’s a failure on assistant coach Rick Tocchet, Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin. Kessel has not scored in six games. Malkin has been unable to go from his own end to the other, so Mike Sullivan has stopped trying.
Evgeni Malkin saw no defensive zone starts in Game 4. He’s getting sheltered about as hard as a player of his caliber can and still is not outplaying the likes of Filip Forsberg or Colton Sissons.
Matt Murray has lost two consecutive games in the postseason for the first time in his career. He was scored on eight times in Nashville, with a lot of those goals coming glove side. When guys know where to shoot, it can be tricky. Corey Crawford and Henrik Lundqvist have grappled with this issue in various playoff runs themselves.
Rinne was a wall. He’s turned the narrative of his struggles on its head. Maybe it was the thrill of having a crowd behind him, but he’s looked sharp when called upon.
INCREDIBLE SEQUENCE. #Preds #PITvsNSH pic.twitter.com/kYxipZeQNF
— Thomas Willis (@TomAWillis) June 6, 2017
But if the Nashville Predators are going to win their first Cup in franchise history, they will need to win a game on the road. Pekka Rinne has already conquered Chicago, St. Louis and Anaheim. Can he triumph over the second-best home team in the National Hockey League this season?
The fact is that even though the Nashville Predators have looked like a dominant force the last two games, Pittsburgh is still Pittsburgh. Their arena is horrible to play in from an opponent’s standpoint. The Pens are still creating odd man rushes and breakaways, and the extra day of rest between Games 4 and 5 could help them a great deal.
All eyes are on Pittsburgh’s star power. That’s Malkin, Kessel and even Patric Hornqvist who has not scored against his former club this series.
Odds are that they can rebound. There’s a great reason to believe that these players, with Sidney Crosby leading the way, will rebound. It’s in their blood. It’s been proven in their historic careers.
Crosby and head coach Mike Sullivan have remarkable poise and wit under pressure. And even though they were just soundly thumped on the road, they know that they simply have a new best-of-three series before them with home ice advantage in hand.
With that said, I’m still going with Nashville per my series prediction. If nothing else, it’s a great chance to cash in on a tilted line. I expect a lot of offense to go around, though. The Penguins are going to come out swinging. Nashville better be ready with a stiff counterpunch. Now that Viktor Arvidsson has broken out of his drought that had him goalless since the first round, I look to him as a key player tonight.
Prediction: Stay the course. I’m taking Nashville to steal one on the road. Play the over.
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