Getting the early leg up
Guentzel’s winner puts Penguins up 1-0
PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh rookie Jake Guentzel beat Nashville’s Pekka Rinne with 3:17 left in regulation 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 eightgame goalless drought to help the defending champions escape after blowing a three-goal lead.
Nick Bonino scored twice for the Penguins. Conor Sheary scored his first of the playoffs and Evgeni Malkin scored his eighth. The Penguins won despite putting just 12 shots on goal. 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, 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 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 5on-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.
It looked like a repeat of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against Ottawa, when the Penguins poured in four goals in the first period of a 7-0 rout.
Nashville, unlike the Senators, didn’t bail. Instead they rallied.
Ellis scored the first goal by a Predator in a Stanley Cup Final 8:21 into the second. Though Nashville didn’t get another one by Murray, they also kept Rinne downright bored at the other end. Pittsburgh didn’t manage a shot on net in the second period, the first time it’s happened in a playoff game in franchise history.
Nashville kept coming. Sissons beat Murray 10:06 into the third and Gaudreau tied it just after a fruitless Pittsburgh power play.
Guentzel slipped one by Rinne with 3:17 to go in regulation and Bonino added an empty netter.