PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins went into game two of the Stanley Cup Finals hoping to repeat history. Nearly seventy five percent of teams that went up two games to none went on to win the cup, since the best of seven format began in 1939.
The Nashville Predators, no doubt wanted to capitalize on their dominant performance from last game, save for their goaltender. Pekka Rinne has been the best goaltender throughout the playoffs and last game was his worst. The Penguins, for their part, had four of the top five point leaders prior to puck drop.
The Predators won the first faceoff and seemed to pick up where the left off from game one. They controlled the puck early and neutral zone resembled the turnpike, closed for traffic. As the Pens struggled to break out of their own zone the Preds forecheck generated a few quality chances early.
With just over two minutes played, the Penguins got their first powerplay when Craig Smith cross checked Ian Cole. The Predators killed off the penalty then went on a five on three when Evgeni Malkin was sent off for hooking and Chris Kunitz got caught cross checking P.K. Subban
The Pens killed off a minute of the PP and Mike Fisher interfered with Cole making it four on three hockey for a tick over a minute. The four on three bled into a four on four and eventually a brief Pens PP but after all that mayhem, full strength resumed.
Just over halfway through the frame, Pontus Aberg beat Matt Murray top shelf after blowing past Olli Maatta cleanly. Fisher and Viktor Arvidsson were along for the ride. Two minutes later the Penguins got their own PP but didn’t register a shot. Then, just as the penalty expired, Jake Geuntzel wristed one between the glove arm and side of Rinne. Kunitz and Conor Sheary with the helpers on the goal.
Near the end of the period Murray had to make a couple key saves to keep the score tied at one. After one period of play, five penalties were handed out and neither team was able to cash in. The Penguins were still being out shot, hit, and played, yet the score remained even. Stop if you’ve heard this song before.
The second began with the Predators winning another faceoff clean. At this point in the game, the Preds were over sixty percent on faceoffs. Filip Forsberg had a solid look on a breakaway halfway through but Murray was able to smother it. Two minutes later the Penguins went on their fourth PP when Austin Watson interfered with Patric Hornqvist.
The Pens could not muster a shot on goal and would follow that with another inept PP. The period ended with the Pens zero for five on PP chances. Murray made several saves in the final few seconds and was the biggest reason why the score remained tied. Rinne, outside of a leaky goal in the first, was solid as well. That would not last long.
If you stood in line a little two long in between periods waiting on extra cheeze for those nachos, you missed the game. In a span of just over three minutes the Penguins scored three times. The scoring began when Malkin won a faceoff clean. After a quick up to Guentzel, he broke past the D and ten seconds into the period, the Pens had their first lead of the game. Minutes later Scott Wilson grabbed a goal of his own, assisted by Phil Kessel and Matt Cullen. Fifteen seconds after that, Malkin added another, assisted by Kunitz and Ian Cole. The game went close game to a laugher before the Zamboni was parked. Rinne was chased in favor of Juuse Saros.
From there the Preds got a little chippy. A lot of pushing and shoving in front of 18,000 referees, put the Pens back on the PP. Hornqvist chipped in goal but Coach Laviolette challenged if the Penguins were onside leading up to the goal. The Pens were deemed to be offsides and the goal was taken away.
At about the halfway point, chippy turned into Fight Club. Sidney Crosby, who had been wearing a Ryan Ellis overcoat all game, took out his frustration on Viktor Arvidsson with a cross check. The Predators couldn’t connect and didn’t register a shot.
Back at full strength, Malkin and Subban had words and dropped the gloves. As far as hockey fights go, theres was more of a Merengue than a Tango. The Preds got the better deal out of the scrum with a PP, but again, nothing happened. After all the testosterone was spent, having been out played for almost half the game again, the Penguins won by a field goal 4-1.
The Penguins will head to Nashville for game three and try their hand at what few teams have done in the playoffs this year, beat Nashville at home. The Preds are seven and one in their house and Rinne is better than, well Rinne, at home. No goaltender had better numbers in the playoffs than he did (before tonights game) and his number at home were even better than on the road. Smashville is going to have to find a way to beat a team that seemingly wins games it has no business winning.
The Penguins are going to have to improve on the PP. To have that many chances and only register two shots is beyond poor. Pittsburgh will need to do their best Ottawa impersonation and trap for the first period to take the crowd out of it. Chris Kunitz remarked after the game that “we need to play our most boring hockey of the season”, tipping their hand of what they plan to do. Once the fans are out of it they can play their way and be opportunistic.
Nashville cannot take so many penalties. No matter what the stats show from game two, Pittsburgh has a potent PP that can make you pay when they click. Nashville needs to sweep to keep the cup within reach.
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