Penguins take 3-2 lead with 6-0 win

NHL PLAYOFFS: Penguins 6, Predators 0

PITTSBURGH — The night started with a catfish throw. It ended with haymaker after haymaker — both literal and proverbial — from the ever resilient Pittsburgh Penguins.

The defending champions provided an emphatic and repeated reminder of what makes them such a difficult out in a 6-0 demolition of the Nashville Predators in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to take a 3-2 lead. Pittsburgh will have a chance to become the first franchise in 19 years to win back to back Cups when the series shifts back to Nashville for Game 6 on Sunday night.

The Predators can’t get back to Smashville fast enough. Justin Schultz, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin scored during a first-period barrage against Pekka Rinne that sent the Nashville goaltender to the bench for the rest of the night, all the good mojo he created during a pair of wins in Games 3 and 4 gone.

Conor Sheary, Phil Kessel — just as linemate Malkin predicted — and 35-year-old playoff newbie Ron Hainsey also scored for the Penguins. Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby’s night included three assists, a two-minute roughing penalty for trying to dribble Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban’s head on the ice near the end of the first period and an flip of a water bottle onto the ice during play. Matt Murray bounced back from so-so performances during Pittsburgh’s lost weekend in Nashville to make 24 stops.