Predators top Penguins, tie Stanley Cup Final at two games each.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Frederick Gaudreau sure is doing his best to earn his own locker with the Nashville Predators with a Stanley Cup Final debut for the ages.
An undrafted free agent playing just his sixth postseason game, Gaudreau scored the go-ahead goal 3:45 into the second period, and Pekka Rinne made 23 often-spectacular saves as the Predators beat the Penguins 4-1 on Monday night to even the series 2-2.
It’s now a best-of-three sprint to the Stanley Cup, and Nashville is riding a wave of momentum after outscoring the defending champs 9-2 in games 3 and 4 of its Final debut.
Game 5 is Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
Gaudreau, a 24-year-old rookie, only has a chair in the Predators’ locker room, but he now is the second player in NHL history to score his first three career goals in a Stanley Cup Final, joining Johnny Harms with the 1944 Blackhawks. Calle Jarnkrok, Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg also scored for Nashville.
“We were in a tough hole against a really good team, came home and took care of the home games with the help of all our great fans,” Rinne said. “It’s a great feeling. We played two really good games.”
Sidney Crosby scored his first goal in the series after not getting a shot on goal in Game 3.
Craig Smith, who had two of Nashville’s first six shots, ricocheted a puck off Matt Murray’s pads that Jarnkrok tapped in at 14:51 to start the fans yelling. Pittsburgh lost a challenge for goalie interference.
Then Crosby, held without a shot for only the fifth time in the postseason in his career, tied it up for Pittsburgh on a breakaway.
Play was underway when the horn sounded, and officials reviewed a play and ruled Gaudreau’s wraparound attempt slid the puck just over the line before Murray stopped it. Referee Dan O’Halloran announced it as a goal, giving Nashville a 2-1 lead 3:45 into the second.