STANLEY CUP FINALS 2017
GAME 2 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINALS
MAY 31, 2017
Game 2 Summary
Pittsburgh 4 Nashville 1
The Penguins erupted for three goals in the first three minutes 30 seconds of the third period, ending Rinne’s night en route to a 4-1 win in Game 2 and 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup final. Rinne had been the hottest goalie in the playoffs coming into the final, but he’s been hit for eight goals on only 36 shots in two games and badly outplayed by Matt Murray, who finished with 37 saves in Game 2.
​
Leading the way in that respect for Pittsburgh was Jake Guentzel, who added two more goals Wednesday to his NHL-leading total (12) The 22-year-old tied the game 1-1 in the opening frame and then sparked the third period avalanche by beating Rinne 10 seconds in. Guentzel has the second-most goals ever for a rookie in one post-season and set a new rookie record with his fifth game-winning goal. He's only two points (19) from matching the rookie mark for points in a single playoff, now with 19 points in 21 games.
​
Guentzel was also the hero in Game 1, beating Rinne to break a 3-3 tie with just over three minutes left in regulation. He didn't start on Crosby's line in Game 2, but ended up there as the Pens offence stalled through two periods -- contained by the Preds' fearsome defence.
​
Though they're up 2-0 in the series, the Penguins have actually been on the receiving end for most of the six periods so far. They've just struck in quick succession, landing six of their nine goals in a span of about eight minutes. Scott Wilson followed up on Guentzel's go-ahead goal 3:03 later and Evgeni Malkin added his ninth of the playoffs (and NHL-leading 26th point) 15 seconds after that. The goals did come off the rush as Laviolette noted, but some of the leaks come down to Rinne, who couldn't keep Guentzel's game-tying goal from finding a hole and then offered up a juicy rebound to Bryan Rust which spurred the go-ahead marker.
​
Laviolette defended Rinne's play throughout the playoffs, which included a three-goal first round against Chicago, but wouldn't go as far as to confirm him for Game 3 -- the first Stanley Cup home game in Nashville's history.
​
Unlike Rinne, who also gave up four goals on 11 shots in a Game 1 dominated by the Preds, Murray gave his team a chance to rally in Game 2. Nashville again controlled play through two periods -- even-strength shot attempts were 44-24 for the Preds -- but the 23-year-old kept it close for the defending champs.
​
During one second period sequence, he stopped a James Neal backhand that caromed off a teammate's stick and then shut down Filip Forsberg rushing down the left side on an odd-man rush. Following that came a flashy glove stop on a Roman Josi point blast.
​
Scoring more goals and firing more shots than any team during the regular season, Pittsburgh is certainly capable offensively and especially opportunistic in the playoffs with goals on 11 per cent of their shots. But the difference in the series has been goaltending and Rinne, specifically, getting outplayed by Murray.
​
​
​
​
GAME 3 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINALS
JUNE 3, 2017
Game 3 Summary
Nashville 5 Pittsburgh 1
Roman Josi and Frederick Gaudreau scored 42 seconds apart in the second period, and the Predators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 Saturday night to pull within 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Rinne started and made 27 saves against a Pittsburgh team that continued to struggle on the power play and lacked the same zip they had in winning the first two games at home.
​
The Predators capped the biggest party in Nashville history with a victory that gave thousands of fans inside and outside of the arena reason to celebrate with even country star Keith Urban and wife, actress Nicole Kidman, high-fiving.
​
Josi also had two assists in the game. James Neal, Craig Smith and Mattias Ekholm rounded out the scoring for Nashville as the Predators worked out some frustration against the Pens.
​
Captain Sidney Crosby did not have a shot on goal, and neither did Evgeni Malkin. Jake Guentzel scored his 13th goal this post-season and fourth of this series for Pittsburgh. Guentzel put the Penguins up 1-0 on their second shot with a wrister off a rebound of Ian Cole that beat Rinne just 2:46 into the game. Rinne stopped the next 26 shots for the victory.
​
Early on, Matt Murray extended his scoreless streak to 72:54 with the Pittsburgh goalie looking ready to notch his 21st playoff win. Then he gave up five goals in the span of 15 shots and the catfish watch was on.
The Predators got it started with a three-goal flurry in the second.
​
Josi scored his sixth goal off a slap shot at 5:51 , tying it at 1-1 and finally giving nervous fans something to enjoy. Then Gaudreau, who scored his first career NHL goal in Game 1, scored 42 seconds later to put Nashville ahead with his wrister from the high slot, taking advantage of a screen by Penguins defenceman Ian Cole to beat Murray glove-side.
​
Just after that go-ahead goal, the Penguins had a rush on Rinne, and the three-time Vezina Trophy finalist made back-to-back big saves. First, he stopped Phil Kessel's wrister from the right circle. The rebound bounced back into the slot, and Rinne made a save on Chris Kunitz with an assist from Subban sliding over to help.
​
Neal made it 3-1 with 22.6 seconds left in the second, banking the puck off Murray's left arm for his first goal in the series and sixth of the playoffs. Smith's goal on a breakaway at 4:54 was his first of the playoffs, and Ekholm padded the lead with a power-play goal with 6:50 left.
​
​
GAME 4 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINALS
JUNE 5, 2017
Game 4 Summary
Nashville 4 Pittsburgh 1
Craig Smith ricocheted a puck off Murray's pads that Jarnkrok tapped in at 14:51 to start the fans yelling louder. Pittsburgh lost a challenge for goalie interference.
​
Just 66 seconds later, Crosby tied it up for Pittsburgh on a dazzling breakaway. He skated in on Rinne, holding the puck, faking a slap shot and then slipping one past the goalie for his eighth goal and 24th point of the playoffs. He also moved into 20th all-time in NHL playoff points but the Predators clamped down after that.
​
Rinne kept it tied in the early minutes of the second first with a stop of Jake Guentzel before a big save on Chris Kunitz on a breakaway. And then came Gaudreau's goal, confirmed only after the horn sounded and officials reviewed the play. They ruled Gaudreau's wraparound attempt slid the puck just over the line before Murray stopped it, giving Nashville a 2-1 lead 3:45 into the second.
​
"Crosby had another breakaway nearly midway through the period, and Rinne stopped him not once, but twice. Then the goalie slid to his right stopping Guentzel with an assist from Nashville defenceman Roman Josi. Crosby and Evgeni Malkin finished with six shots, but just the lone goal.
​
Arvidsson made it a 3-1 Nashville lead with his first goal since the end of the first round. James Neal started the play, getting the puck to Fisher who fed the puck up to Arvidsson while falling to the ice. Arvidsson beat Murray under his glove, putting the puck just inside the right post at 13:08.
​
Forsberg sealed the win with an empty-netter with 3:23 left.
​
​
GAME 5 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINALS
JUNE 8, 2017
Game 5 Summary
Pittsburgh 6 Nashville 0
Sidney Crosby has the Pittsburgh Penguins on the verge of back-to-back Stanley Cups. Crosby set up three goals as Pittsburgh stomped Nashville 6-0 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final.Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel were among the six different goal-scorers for the Penguins.
​
Justin Schultz, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary and Ron Hainsey also found the back of the net in the decisive win and Matt Murray pitched a 24-save shutout, his third career in the playoffs.Pekka Rinne got pulled after giving up three goals on nine shots with Juuse Saros faring no better in yielding three on 15 shots.
​
Crosby, who broke through the Nashville defence on the very first shift of the game and hit a post. The captain drew a penalty on the play and with the ensuing power play, set up Schultz for a point blast that sailed through the pads of Rinne — this after only 91 seconds.
​
Pittsburgh soaked up plenty of offensive time and had their second of the night before seven minutes had passed with Rust beating Rinne with a backhand off the rush.
​
Rinne had been maybe the biggest reason for the Preds winning the previous two games. The 34-year-old was especially sharp in Game 4 — notably denying Crosby on his second breakaway attempt of the game. Rinne had struggled to start the series in Pittsburgh though, pegged for eight goals on only 36 shots at PPG Paints Arena.
By the end of the 20 minutes, he'd allowed three goals on only nine shots with Malkin adding the third marker with 10 seconds left. Rinne was replaced to start the second by Saros, who was making only his second appearance of the playoffs.Rocked himself in the two Penguin losses, Murray bounced back with a sharp performance as did Malkin and Kessel.
​
Malkin entered the night leading all players in post-season scoring, but had been relatively quiet in the series and held pointless in Nashville. He was determined to have his "best game" and did so with two points alongside Kessel, who finished with three himself (one goal, two assists) in the win.
​
But this night ultimately belonged to Crosby, who appeared driven to make something happen every time he touched the puck. He wrestled with P.K. Subban at the end of the first — both received minor penalties — and then set up his second goal moments into the middle period. Crosby grabbed hold of the puck as he strode below the goal-line and then slipped a backhand in front to Sheary, who promptly beat Saros on his 25th birthday.
Crosby added his third helper and seventh point of the series on Kessel's first goal of the final.
​
​
GAME 6 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINALS
JUNE 11, 2017
Game 6 Summary
Pittsburgh 2 Nashville 0
Sidney Crosby is bringing the Stanley Cup back home to Pittsburgh for a second consecutive year.
Patric Hornqvist scored with 1:35 left and Matt Murray made 27 saves for his second straight shutout as the Penguins became the NHL's first team in nearly two decades to repeat as champions following a 2-0 win over the Nashville Predators in Game 6.
​
The Penguins won their fifth title — all of which have been clinched on the road — to tie the Wayne Gretzky-Mark Messier-era Edmonton Oilers for sixth on the all-time list.
​
The Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and `98 were the last champion to defend their title, but the Penguins are the first to do it in the salary cap era. It's the second time in franchise history that the Penguins have won back-to back titles; Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr led the team to consecutive Cups in 1991 and 1992.
​
Hornqvist scored off Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne's left elbow to end the scoreless game. Nashville challenged for goalie interference, but the goal was upheld. With Rinne pulled for an extra attacker, Carl Hagelin set off a bench celebration with an empty netter with 13.6 seconds left.
​
Nashville lost for just the first time in regulation on home ice this postseason.
Colton Sissons had a goal erased by a whistle 67 seconds into the second period. The Predators went 0 of 4 with the man advantage, including 32 seconds of a 5-on-3 in the third.
​
Forget a golden anniversary: The Penguins will cap their 50th season with their names on the most famous silver cup in sports — again. It is also the third championship for Crosby and a handful of teammates from the 2009 title team, surpassing the two won by the Penguins teams led by current owner Mario Lemieux in the 1990s.
And it's the second championship in 18 months for coach Mike Sullivan, who has yet to lose a playoff series since taking over after Mike Johnston was fired. Sullivan is the first American-born coach to win the Cup not once, but twice.
​
Matt Murray became the first goalie to win not one, but two Stanley Cups as a rookie after being a late-season call up a year ago and didn't play enough games to get that tag removed. That's something neither Patrick Roy, Ken Dryden or Cam Ward ever managed, but the 23-year-old Murray finished this Cup Final shutting out Nashville for the final 126:52.
​
The loss ended the upstart Predators' deepest playoff run in the franchise's 19-year history and one that became the talk of the town far beyond Music City, catfish and all.
​
​
The Stanley Cup Final opened with a bit of history for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it wasn’t the sort they had in mind. The 37-minute stretch Pittsburgh went without registering a shot against the Nashville Predators on Monday night was the longest ever in the NHL’s championship series – at least since they started tracking such things in 1957-58.
​
The fact the Penguins prevailed 5-3 despite only firing 12 total shots on goal established a new low for a winning team in a Cup final game.“It’s not textbook,” said captain Sidney Crosby.
​
Crosby made a couple nice plays to set up goals 65 seconds apart in the first period, with Evgeni Malkin providing the finish during a 5-on-3 advantage. However, the Predators had no trouble finding encouragement from the fact they kept goaltender Pekka Rinne completely out of harm’s way while turning a 3-0 deficit at the first intermission into a 3-3 tie with seven minutes to play in regulation.
​
“From the way we started and the way we continued on after that, I thought our guys played great,” said Nashville coach Peter Laviolette. “I thought we played a good game. We hate the score. We hate the result. But we’ll move forward.”
​
The Penguins sat at eight when Nick Bonino harmlessly one-handed the puck towards Rinne and saw the Predators goalie accidentally direct it in off the shin pad of defenceman Mattias Ekholm with 17 seconds to play in the first period. The next one didn’t arrive until Jake Guentzel broke free on the wing and beat him high with a lightning-fast release at 16:43 of the third period.
​
During the intervening period, the mood on the Penguins bench had turned to something approaching despair. The defending champs were acutely aware that they weren’t at their best and they’d seen the Predators roar back and tie things up with third-period goals from Colton Sissons and Frederick Gaudreau.
​
“We were yelling at everybody to shoot the puck,” said Penguins winger Conor Sheary. “Rinne hadn’t seen one in awhile and maybe that caught him by surprise when Jake shot that.”
​
Rinne finished with seven saves on 11 shots. Bonino added an empty-net goal after he had been pulled for an extra attacker. Arguably the Conn Smythe favourite entering this final series, the Predators goalie acknowledged that it was tough to go through such a long stretch with so little action.
​
“It was a weird, weird game,” said Rinne. “I don’t know. At this point in the season, you try to stay in the game no matter what and try to play the puck and stop the rims and whatever it takes to stay in the game.
“But, yeah, it was a challenging, challenging night.”
​
A week had passed since Nashville wrapped up the Western Conference Final, but it showed no obvious signs of rust. The Preds pushed the pace early and appeared to open the scoring thanks to P.K. Subban – only to have the goal reversed because of an extremely close offsides review on Filip Forsberg.
That ended up taking some wind out of their sails.
​
Still, they controlled the puck for long stretches after Pittsburgh exploded for three quick goals.
“We didn’t play a great first period and we came in up 3-0,” said Sheary. Strange night, indeed.
Never before in the 50-year history of the Penguins had they won a game while registering 12 shots or less. There may be no style points when you’re this close to lifting the Stanley Cup for a second straight spring, but they were under no illusions about what went on here.
GAME 1 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINALS
MAY 29, 2017
Game 1 Summary
Pittsburgh 5 Nashville 3
Sidney Crosby was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for being the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs
Mario Lemieux wins his Third Stanley Cup as an owner and will have his name on the Stanley Cup for the fifth time. Twice as a player and three as an owner
"We've won the Cup three times, and we feel very fortunate to be able to win it back-to-back," Lemieux said. "It's something special, something that these guys and all of us in the organization can cherish for the rest of our lives. It's unbelievable."