Pittsburgh gains upper hand with rout
PITTSBURGH — The night started with a catfish throw.
It ended with haymaker after haymaker — both literal and figurative — 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 Finals to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Pittsburgh will have a chance to become the first franchise in 19 years to win back-to-back championships when the series shifts to Nashville for Game 6 on Sunday.
“Understand that we’re going to play a desperate team,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who had three assists. “Nothing’s done yet and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of ourselves.”
So do the Predators, who can’t get back to Smashville fast enough after a game that included two third-period fights and 100 penalty minutes.
“I don’t know if anybody shakes off a game like that that quickly,” Nashville head coach Peter Laviolette said. “Nobody feels good leaving the building playing the way we did.”
Justin Schultz, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin scored during a firstperiod 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 wins in Games 3 and 4 gone.
“Obviously not the start you want to have,” Rinne said. “It seemed hard for us to get anything going.”
Conor Sheary, Phil Kessel and 35-year-old playoff newbie Ron Hainsey also scored for the Penguins.
Crosby’s eventful night included becoming the franchise’s all-time leading scorer in Stanley Cup Finals play, a twominute roughing penalty for trying to dribble Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban’s head on the ice near the end of the first period and a flip of a water bottle onto the ice during play.
“It’s just one of those things. It slipped out of my hand,” Crosby said. “I had a gesture with my hand and before I knew it, the thing was flying across the ice.”
After the Predators rallied to tie the series by outscoring the Penguins 9-2 in two wins in Nashville, it took all of 91 seconds for Pittsburgh to get its swagger back.
Just 91 seconds after a Nashville fan flipped a catfish onto the PPG Paints Arena ice — mimicking a move that came shortly before a three-goal outburst by Nashville in Game 1 — Schultz powered home a slap shot to end an 0for-15 power-play skid.
“We were on our toes tonight,” Schultz said. “We were really jumping and playing our game, playing fast. It all started with that start and got us going for the rest of the game.”
Rust made it 2-0 at 6:43 with a nasty backhand flip over Rinne’s glove.
Then things got chippy as Crosby and Subban became tangled up behind the Nashville net. Crosby ended up on top of Subban, then hit him in the head repeatedly, eventually drawing a roughing penalty.
“I’m not an official, so I’m not going to judge what’s over the line and what’s not,” Subban said.
The Predators’ defenseman could say that his team will be ready Sunday.
“The real hockey starts now,” Subban said. “You’re in the Cup Final, this is what it’s all about. It’s about going back and forth.”