A Rinne rebound could get Predators back into series
NASHVILLE — Pekka Rinne has a chance to author one of the great Stanley Cup stories in playoff history.
All he has to do is summon his lost game.
All he has to do is find the kind of greatness — or something close to that — he demonstrated in the first three rounds of the playoffs .
All he has to do is something he personally has never done before: That means starting in goal and beating the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It isn’t too much to ask for a goalie of his pedigree. To put two losses behind him. To put two games played not at his lofty level behind him. What do you need from your goalie to win a Stanley Cup?
You need him to give you a chance to win. He didn’t provide that in Games 1 and 2 of the Cup final in Pittsburgh.
Matt Murray did for the Penguins Now what if the Rinne of the first three rounds arrives with all the noise and hype and histrionics at Bridgestone Arena Saturday? What if that guy makes an appearance in the manner in which the Predators players expect him to?
This Nashville team can still win with a sharp Rinne. It can come back, even if the odds are hugely against them. Ninety per cent of teams that win the opening two games of the Final end up carrying the Cup. Rinne is playing now for his team and for history.
Everything can start to change Saturday night. It has to start with Rinne, whose save percentage through two games has been an unacceptable .778. He was 17% better than that in the first three rounds. He can go from Conn Smythe favourite coming into the Cup final, to goalie who gave his team no chance to win, to guy who can steal the series for the Predators.
Up. Down. Down. Up. The script is all possible for Rinne. There may be all kinds of doubt about him around the hockey world right now, just none of it in the Nashville dressing room, where he remains King Predator.
“Peks is our best player,” said Ryan Ellis, the fine Nashville defenceman. “There is nothing but belief in Peks. We count on him. He counts on us. There’s no doubt he’s our guy.”
That seems to be the mantra going around the Predators, except of course with coach Peter Laviolette, who wouldn’t announce his starting goalie if he had Carey Price and Patrick Roy in goal. Ask a Predators player about Rinne, though, and all they say is good things.
The blames themselves for losses in Games 1 and 2. They didn’t take advantage. They gave up too many odd man rushes. They lost too many battles. There’s a rule in the Nashville room: No doubting the starting goalie.
He’s everybody’s friend here. He’s the calm in the centre of the storm. He’s the player they trust the most. The support, Ellis said, is unwavering.
Roman Josi, one of his closest friends on the Predators, talks to Rinne every day. “Several times a day,” said Josi. The conversation didn’t change after the first two games. There was none of that look the other way thing when a friend screws up. We’ve all been there in different ways. It isn’t always comfortable. But the Preds shrug and move on.
What are they saying to Rinne, who isn’t the stereotypical odd goalie, maybe the opposite of that. What do they say heading into Game 3?
“At the end of the day, that’s why we have coaches,” said P.K. Subban, the Nashville defenceman. “I’ve made a few mistakes. There’s time when Howie (assistant Phil Housley) comes down the bench and he’ll say something to you. And there’s times he won’t say anything at all, he’ll let you figure it out. At the end of the day, that’s established through coaching and teamwork.
“If you think you can go up and say something, sometimes you do it. At the end of the day, everybody is accountable and is held accountable. For me, when I make a mistake, I either turn the page or dwell on it, I’d rather turn the page go out and look forward. The reality is, Game 1 and Game 2 are over. It dosesn’t really matter how you played in Game 1 or Game 2. It’s what you do now.”
At the end of the day, it’s about Pekka Rinne. He plays his game and the Predators have more than a shot. There’s a chance for history here. Still a chance.