Rinne’s competitive spirit all that can save Preds

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Pekka Rinne is a friendly, polite man off the ice. Slipping the puck past the Predators goaltender is one of the few ways to anger the 6-foot-5 Finn.

Pucks bouncing past him on the NHL’s biggest stage infuriate him. Rinne chopped his stick against a goalpost not once but twice after giving up a fifth and final goal a year ago when Nashville was ousted from the playoffs.

That was Game 7 in the second round.

Now Rinne goes into the biggest game of his career Sunday night, needing yet another home victory to force both the defending champs and the Stanley Cup finals to a deciding seventh game back in Pitts- burgh. Rinne spent the last 40 minutes Thursday night stewing on the bench as the Penguins finished off a 6-0 rout, easily Nashville’s worst playoff loss.

“You have those thoughts that why [is] the puck getting deflected in off our guys or something like that,” Rinne said Saturday. “You try to work so hard that the luck is also on your side. When bounces not going your way, sometimes you question, have second thoughts in your head, but that’s life.”

The goalie so competitive he doesn’t like teammates scoring on him in practice is back in Nashville where he’s been nearly unbeatable over the past two postseasons at 13-1.

Rinne has a 9-1 record this spring with a 1.44 goalsagainst average and .949 save percentage in Nashville. He has allowed two or fewer goals in eight of those 10 games and tied Antti Niemi with his 36th playoff win for the most in NHL history by a Finnish-born goaltender.

Now the goalie and the Predators are all that stand between Pittsburgh and history as the Penguins try to become the first team to win the Stanley Cup in consecutive seasons in nearly two decades since Detroit repeated in 1997 and 1998. One more win gives the Penguins the franchise’s fifth Stanley Cup, tying them with Edmonton for sixth all-time.