Subban’s quip puck fiction but Preds should feel cocky
It’s not about P.K. Subban’s breath, but OK, fine. After Nashville’s 5-1 win in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final Subban started barking at Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel, and then swam by him to bark at Sidney Crosby, with whom the Predators defenceman has had a series of annoyance-based scrapes over the years. He pulled Crosby by the jersey to get extra barking time, and Crosby barked back. Subban told the media that Crosby told him he had bad breath, and then told the media on Sunday his teammates left Listerine in his locker. Oh, P.K.
I was there when he said it on Saturday night, and it was clear to me that P.K, bless him, was trafficking in his usual earnest b.s., but it was his explanation. On Sunday, Crosby was asked about it, because that’s how this works.
“Yeah, he made that up. I didn’t say that,” said Crosby.
Asked about his on-ice history with P.K., Crosby said, “Yeah, that’s part of it. He likes the attention, and things like that. If he wants to make stuff up, what can I do?”
And that was that. Subban loves making things about himself, which makes him more entertaining than more or less any other hockey player, though your mileage may vary. And it was a silly sideline to a series that Pittsburgh leads two games to one, and feels like it may belong to Nashville.
But that, beyond anybody’s breath, is the point.
Yes Crosby had to answer questions about Subban, even though he isn’t playing Subban much.
The bulk of his time has been spent matched up against the defence pair of Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi, while Subban and Mattias Ekholm spend more time on Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel. So Crosby’s reactions to the Subban question were polite, if a little annoyed.
“To be honest, guys, I haven’t seen him much,” said Crosby. “I haven’t seen P.K. much. We haven’t been in the zone probably enough. But I don’t feel like every time I’m out there P.K.’s out there. You know, you guys probably watch closer than I do, but that’s how it feels. I’m pretty sure that they’re not locked in on a certain pairing being out there against a certain line. They’re pretty comfortable with each pairing, and I’m kind of seeing a bit of both. But I’m ready to compete against whoever.”
But he was also asked the question because Crosby and Malkin were held without a shot in Game 3 for the first time in their long playoff careers, and Malkin didn’t even have a shot attempt, and Crosby has now scored three goals in 22 career Cup final games. He’s played great ones — Nik Lidstrom, to start — but now faces a defence corps that has four talented guys who can skate with him. Being the best player in the world means facing the best anyone else has to offer.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s defence resembles a fleet of 1994 Corollas, with limited speed and not enough passing ability, and Crosby and Malkin don’t have enough help, so they and the rest of the Penguins don’t have a lot of time behind the steering wheel. In the series, Malkin has been on the ice for 15 shots for and 31 against in his 35 minutes at five-on-five: that’s 32.6 per cent. Kessel is at 40.9 per cent. Crosby, 47.6, but that was influenced a little by Pittsburgh playing from behind in Game 3.
Subban? 67.0. Ekholm? 59.1. Ellis? 56.5. Josi? 56.3. Those four have played the most minutes of anybody in the series, an average of nearly 25 minutes per game apiece. The Penguins power play has gone dark, too. That defence is dominating the series, more than anybody.
“It’s huge. I mean, we’re not necessarily looking to go into a game without them having any shots at all, but if we can do that, it’s awesome,” said Predators centre Colton Sissons. “And yeah, I think we have been doing a pretty good job of limiting their puck possession.”
The point is in there. The Penguins have scored 68 goals in these playoffs, and either Crosby or Malkin or both have been on the ice for 48 of them. They are an absurdly topheavy team: they are the top two scorers in the playoffs, and their linemates Guentzel (mostly) and Kessel are third and fourth, and the four of them have more goals than the rest of the roster combined. If Sid and Geno don’t drive the train, it’s going to be very hard for the Penguins to win this series.
And it’s going to be hard, and that’s why Subban felt free to hijack the news cycle with absurdity. As Sissons puts it, the Predators can defend Crosby and Malkin because “we don’t have to cheat, we don’t have to blow our defensive zone to get opportunities on the offensive end, so we don’t need to force it. We talk about just doing your job, and if you’re on Crosby you stay with him, and we don’t need someone jumping out of position to help you.”
P.K. Subban might try to distract and annoy Sidney Crosby regardless, because it’s what he does. But in this case, he could grab him and bark and get silly because despite trailing in the series, Nashville feels like it’s in the lead.