Penguins steal Game 2 from Preds with 3rd-period blitz

It’s become a specialty of the Pittsburgh Penguins during their Stanley Cup playoff run this spring: Breaking goaltenders.

Jake Guentzel, Scott Wilson and Evgeni Malkin torched Pekka Rinne in the first four minutes of the third period, leading the Penguins to a 4-1 win in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 series lead.

“We need to play smart next game. It’s not over,” Malkin said. “We understand that Nashville is a great team.”

Rinne was the odds-on favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP heading into the final series. He was pulled after stopping 21 of 25 shots in Game 2. He allowed four goals on 11 shots in the opener.

In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Penguins took Columbus’ Sergei Bobrovsky, the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie this year, and Washington’s Braden Holtby, who won the award last season, and made them look ordinary.

The latest victimization of Rinne started in earnest 10 seconds into the third. He kicked a rebound of a Bryan Rust shot to Guentzel in the slot for his second goal of the game and 12th goal of the playoffs.

The surge continued with two goals in 15 seconds a few minutes later. A puck banked in off defender Vern Fiddler on a two-on-one rush by Phil Kessel and Wilson at 3:13. Malkin scored on an oddman rush with Kessel at 3:28.

Malkin now leads the league in postseason scoring with 26 points and penalty minutes with 47.

“We score one, we not stop,” Malkin said. “We want to score more... It’s our game. Never stop.”

(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review/TNS)