PENS GO UP
Pittsburgh tops Predators after losing 3-0 lead
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh rookie Jake Guentzel beat Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne with 3:17 left in the third period to put the Penguins ahead to stay in a 5-3 victory in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night.
Guentzel snapped an eight-game goalless drought to help the defending NHL champions escape after blowing a three-goal lead.
Nick Bonino scored twice for the Penguins. Conor Sheary scored his first goal of the 2017 playoffs and Evgeni Malkin scored his eighth. The Penguins won despite putting just 12 shots on goal.
Matt Murray finished with 23 saves for the Penguins, who used the first coach’s challenge in finals history to wipe out an early Nashville goal and held on despite
going an astonishing 37:09 at one point without a shot.
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
Ryan Ellis, Colton Sissons and Frederick Gaudreau scored for the Predators. Rinne stopped just seven shots.
The Penguins had only three days to get ready for the final following a draining slog through the Eastern Conference that included a pair of Game 7 victories, the second a double-overtime thriller against Ottawa last Thursday.
The Penguins downplayed the notion they were fatigued, figuring adrenaline and a shot at making history would make up for any lack of jump while playing their 108th game in the last calendar year.
Maybe, but they looked a step behind at the outset. The Predators, who crashed the NHL’s biggest stage for the first time behind Rinne and a group of talented defenseman, were hardly intimidated by the stakes, the crowd or the defending champions.
All the guys from the place dubbed “Smashville” have to show for it is their first deficit of the playoffs on a night a fan threw a catfish onto the ice to try to give the Predators a taste of home.
The Penguins, who led the league in scoring, stressed before Game 1 that the best way to keep the Predators at bay was by taking the puck and spending copious amounts of time around Rinne. It didn’t happen, mostly because Nashville’s forecheck pinned the Penguins in their own end. Clearing attempts were knocked down or outright swiped, tilting the ice heavily in front of Murray.
Yet Pittsburgh managed to build a quick 3-0 lead anyway thanks to a fortunate bounce and some quick thinking by Penguins video coordinator Andy Saucier. Part of his job title is to alert coach Mike Sullivan when to challenge a call. The moment came 12:47 into the first when P.K. Subban sent a slap shot by Murray that appeared to give the Predators the lead.
Sullivan used his coach’s challenge, arguing that Nashville forward Filip Forsberg was offside. A lengthy review indicated Forsberg’s right skate was in the air as he brought the puck into a zone, a no-no.
It temporarily deflated Nashville and gave the Penguins all the wiggle room they needed to take charge.
Malkin scored on a 5-on-3 15:32 into the first, Sheary made it 2-0 just 65 seconds later, and when Nick Bonino’s innocent centering pass smacked off Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm’s left knee and by Rinne just 17 seconds before the end of the period, Pittsburgh was in full command.
Nashville didn’t bail. Instead, the Predaors rallied.
Ellis scored the first goal by a Predator in a Stanley Cup Final 8:21 into the second. Nashville kept coming. Sissons beat Murray 10:06 into the third and Gaudreau tied it just after a fruitless Pittsburgh power play.