Stanley Cup Final: Great Goaltending and Quick Strike Offense sink Predators in Game 2
Penguins 4 – Predators 1 (PIT LEADS SERIES, 2-0) The Pittsburgh Penguins are two wins away from hoisting Lord Stanley Cup for the second consecutive season. Despite the Nashville Predators being the far superior team for the first 40 minutes, the Penguins got great goaltending from Matt Murray and then an offensive explosion seconds into the third period sunk the Predators in a Penguins 4-1 win on Wednesday night at the PPG Paints Arena. Turning Points? The Penguins were building something late in the second period and it carried over from the drop of the puck in the third. Jake Guentzel struck again 10 seconds into the period on a juicy rebound and the Penguins kept coming. Scott Wilson put
Stanley Cup Final: Breakouts, Predators closing speed & who’s under the microscope
Stanley Cup Final: Lucky or not Pens are 3 wins away In the Stanley Cup Final, it doesn’t matter how you get to four wins. The Penguins are three wins away from winning the Stanley Cup Final and the Predators are four wins away entering Wednesday’s Game 2. Pittsburgh might be the luckiest team in the NHL but they don’t put an asterisk next to the Stanley Cup if you’re deemed lucky. “They won the game. I’d rather be up 1-0,”Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “Just cuts down our opportunity to win four games.” To beat the Pittsburgh Penguins you can’t beat yourself and you have to be able to weather any storm for a particular short stretch they’re bound
Jake Guentzel happened and the Penguins take Game 1
Penguins 5 – Predators 3 (PIT leads series 1-0) The Nashville Predators had the Pittsburgh Penguins on the ropes for much of the game and climbed back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game at 3-3 in the third period and were in complete control. A Colton Sissons power play goal at 10:21 of the third cut the Penguins lead to 3-2 and Frederick Gaudreau tied the game, 3:08 later after a blunder behind the net in two Penguins losing a winnable puck battle from Austin Watson. Now a 3-3 game, the Penguins had gone the entire second period and third period to that point without a shot and it looked like we were all witnessing an implosion from
Stanley Cup Final: Breaking down why the Penguins should be labled as a slight favorite
Stanley Cup Final: Predators vs Penguins What many hockey types around the game see being the precursor of who wins the Stanley Cup will come down to whether the Predators defense can be special enough to off-set the major advantage the Penguins have down the middle. The Predators blueline has all of the talent and ability of being the difference that sways the series in their direction but no Ryan Johansen looms so large for Nashville. “This will be a tight, contested series, but I don’t see how they [Nashville] make up for the loss of Johansen,” an NHL assistant coach said believing Pittsburgh will prevail. “That’s a thoroughbred you can’t just replace with plug guys against that team [Pittsburgh].”
Latest Penguins Buzz: As Penguins brace for Stanley Cup Final, a wild off-season inches closer
Latest Penguins Buzz If the Stanley Cup Final goes to seven games, it will be played on June 14. The Penguins win, the celebrations, partying, the parade in the days after, what a chaotic/great time it would be right before the June 21 expansion draft. The expansion draft protected list have to be in by June 18. Jim Rutherford, though, embraces chaos in dealing with his pending free agents as a return to the Stanley Cup Final and the off-season pretty much being moved up because of the expansion draft won’t change his philosophy of not negotiating with players during the season. Agents say it’s been crickets from the Penguins. What’s going to happen with the pending unrestricted free agents
Scouts Buzz: Penguins game plan for a pace dictating Predators defense
Stanley Cup Final: Can Penguins find a way to expose Preds dynamic blueline? The Pittsburgh Penguins this postseason have faced some dynamic defensemen. Zach Werenski, Seth Jones in Round 1, a deep Capitals blueline in Round 2 and of course Erik Karlsson in the Eastern Conference Final. The Nashville Predators blueline as a whole is a different animal when it comes to the top-2 pairings. And what the Penguins haven’t faced yet with the Predators top-2 pairings of Roman Josi – Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm – PK Subban, is how they can push the pace in activating offensively and not missing a beat defensively. No group is better. Roman Josi is one of the best combo defensemen in the
Rumors: Josh Harrison off the trade block?
Photo: David Hague Latest Pirates Rumors [hide] Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports released a list this week of 70 impact players who may be traded by the deadline. Among the Pirates, Gerrit Cole came in at No. 4, Andrew McCutchen No. 12, Josh Harrison No. 30 and Tony Watson No. 40. On Cole, Heyman states the obvious in saying teams will be lining up to acquire Cole if the Pirates decide to move him but they are not there yet, while the situation with Andrew McCutchen is pretty clear to anyone. He’s not tradeable right now but McCutchen will be a goner at the deadline if the Pirates can find a suitor. Things are heading down the road with McCutchen
Peter Laviolette vs Mike Sullivan
Peter Laviolette vs Mike Sullivan This year’s #StanleyCup Final between @PredsNHL and @penguins will be the first in #NHL history with two American-born head coaches! pic.twitter.com/AfKpkToL4f — NHLCoaches (@NHLCoachesAssoc) May 26, 2017 When Jim Rutherford fired Mike Johnston and promoted Mike Sullivan from AHL coach to the Penguins new bench boss, one thing that swayed Rutherford to promote Sullivan was how he saw some Peter Laviolette in him. “Mike really is a demanding and take-control guy. In some ways — I actually hate to this, but it’s my mind now, so I’ll do it, he reminds me of a coach that I had a lot of success with, Peter Laviolette.” Jim Rutherford on December 13, 2015 A year and a
Here come the Champs: Penguins have found their game at the right time to continue writing their story
Penguins are NHL’s version of “Strength in Numbers” The Pittsburgh Penguins are a franchise that reaches the Stanley Cup Final in pairs. 1991 and 1992, 2008 and 2009 and now 2016 and 2017. “The last 2 years have been quite a ride. We’ll try to do it for another 2 weeks,” Game 7 overtime hero Chris Kunitz said of the Penguins returning to the Stanley Cup Final after Thursday night’s epic 3-2 overtime win. The Ottawa Senators thanks to Craig Anderson overachieved in the Eastern Conference Final and came so close to delivering a shocking Ottawa – Nashville Stanley Cup Final but the Penguins once again just found a way to get the job done. “This was a hard fought
Stanley Cup Bound
Penguins 3 – Senators 2 (2 OT) The Pittsburgh Penguins are heading back to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season. An epic Game 7, the hero tonight was Chris Kunitz who ended it at 5:09 of the second overtime, burying a feed from Sidney Crosby at the top of the left circle past Craig Anderson. In scoring his second goal of the night, it was vintage Crosby-Kunitz connecting that has the Penguins four wins away from becoming the first team in 19 years to win back-to-back Stanley Cups. Kunitz starred in the win with 2 goals and 1 assist. Justin Schultz also scored in the Game 7 win, a power play marker in the third period to