PENGUINS WIN CUP OPENER
PENGUINS WIN DESPITE NO SHOTS ON GOAL IN SECOND
Jumping out to 3-0 lead after first period almost not enough for Penguins
Jake Guentzel helped the Pittsburgh Penguins avoid a humiliating defeat in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. Guentzel broke a 3-3 tie with just over three minutes left in regulation as the Penguins hung on to beat the Nashville Predators 5-3 on Monday night. Pittsburgh had a 3-0 first-period lead completely unravel and failed to generate a single shot for about 37 minutes, including zero in the second period.
“He’s done a terrific job for us,” said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan of Guentzel. “We felt in the last series that he might have been wearing down a little bit. The coaching staff was trying to be proactive and trying to find ways to maybe cut his minutes a little bit so that we would get more productive minutes from him. Quite honestly, to take a little bit of pressure off him.
“But by no means did we lose faith. We know he’s a good player. He’s a high-quality player.”
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had two assists, Nick Bonino scored a pair and Evgeni Malkin found the back of the net as the Pens grabbed a 1-0 series lead. Conor Sheary also landed his first goal of the playoffs and Matt Murray made 23 saves.
“It’s not textbook,” said Crosby. “We’ve got some things that we need to improve.”
Pekka Rinne was shaky in yielding four goals on only 11 shots for the Predators.
Ryan Ellis, Colton Sissons and Frederik Gaudreau scored for Nashville, their comeback attempt falling short in the first Stanley Cup final game in franchise history.
Mike Fisher was the only Pred with any experience in the final previously, but it was Nashville that looked at home early.
They even appeared to score first when P.K. Subban drove a blast past Murray less than seven minutes in. The former Canadiens defenceman broke into an exuberant celebration after the apparent goal, but his excitement was dulled when Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan challenged the play for offside.
After a lengthy review, which saw officials huddled over an iPad at centre-ice, the goal was called back with Filip Forsberg deemed to have entered the zone early.
Dulled in their attack to that point, the Pens started to pick it up after the favourable decision and with just over six minutes left in the period, gained a full two-minute five-onthree advantage. Calle Jarnkrok drew the first whistle for interference and James Neal added the second with a needless cross-check on Trevor Daley.
Traded from Pittsburgh to Nashville for Patric Hornqvist (who drew the Jarnkrok penalty) in June 2014, Neal was booed when he was introduced before the game and grinned in response.
Malkin made him and the Preds pay with a one-time blast from the point — his eighth goal and 25th point of the playoffs. He was helped by Guentzel’s presence in front and Crosby, who got the play started by blocking Mattias Ekholm’s clearing attempt behind the net.
Containing Crosby and Malkin was a top priority for Nashville heading into the final with the Penguins duo — chasing their third Cup together — ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in post-season scoring.
Those efforts failed again with the Pittsburgh captain keying the second Penguins goal 65 seconds after the first.
After Brian Dumoulin kept a clearing attempt in at the blue-line, Crosby got the puck down low, fought off a check and then found Chris Kunitz high in the zone. The double overtime goal-scorer in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final, Kunitz quickly found Sheary on the weak-side and he fired past Rinne.
Bonino added the third goal in just over four minutes and third on seven shots to beat Rinne.