Rinne finds groove, hopes it joins him on road
After a historically bad start in the Stanley Cup final, Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne found his groove in Nashville.
Perhaps, it isn’t a surprise, considering the Predators have won 13 of their past 14 home games. After posting a .778 save percentage in Pittsburgh for Games 1 and 2, Rinne made 50 saves and allowed only two goals in the past two.
Rinne called the opportunity to face a best-of-three situation a “dream.” The Predators, however, are hoping their turnaround will carry into Thursday night, when they take the ice at PPG Paints Arena for Game 5.
“Obviously, you don’t want to look back yet,” Rinne said. “Been playing for a long time, never had this opportunity. It means everything to me right now. Just living my dream.”
The Predators have maintained that they played well enough in Game 1 and 2 to win both. Nashville has outshot the Penguins in all four games, but had more success at home in terms of scoring.
Nashville enjoyed a 9-2 overall goal advantage in the two games and has outscored opponents, 34-15, in 10 home games this postseason. Now, the challenge is to bring that success to Pittsburgh, where the Penguins continually have found ways to win.
“We know we can play better in this building,” Predators center Mike Fisher said. “We know we’re going to have to. This is a team that Games 1 and 2, there were a few minutes where we liked our game for some of it, then other parts of it, they took over. They capitalized. We did a better job of managing the game that way in Games 3 and 4.”
Unheralded defensemen
Much has been said about the Predators’ two shutdown defensive units — Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis, and P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm. The four have shown an ability to contribute across zones with Ellis, Subban and Ekholm, for example, each notching an assist in Game 4.
But coach Peter Laviolette was quick to point out the contributions of his third pairing of Matt Irwin and Yannick Weber. The first two pairings have logged heavy minutes, but Nashville was able to maintain defensive pressure with Irwin and Weber on the ice in Games 3 and 4.
“Having the ability to have those four players available, it’s been good for us,” Laviolette said. “It’s gotten us a long way in the regular season, certainly in the playoffs. Again, you have to include the last two guys in there, Matt Irwin, Yannick Weber. They’ve done a terrific job, as well. They’ve had to play against those guys, as well.”
Subban was on the same page as his coach.
“A lot of talk always comes with Ecky, Jos, myself and Elly. After those four, we have guys that are capable of stepping in. A good example of that is when we had injuries, Matty was playing in our top four, Webby at some points in the season. They did a great job.”