Rinne hopes for rebound

Preds goalie knows getting back to best needed in Game 6

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 the Predators were ousted from the playoffs — and that was just 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 Final to a deciding seventh game back in Pittsburgh. And Rinne spent the last 40 minutes stewing on the bench as the Penguins finished off a 6-0 rout Thursday night.

“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 are 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 has a 13-1 record in the last two postseasons.

Rinne has a 9-1 record this spring with a 1.44 goalsagainst average and .949 save percentage in Nashville. He’s 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 Finnishborn goaltender.

Meanwhile, the Penguins are trying to become the first team to win the Cup in consecutive seasons since the Red Wings repeated in 1997 and 1998. One more win gives the Penguins the franchise’s fifth Cup, tying them with the Oilers for sixth all-time.

“Opportunities like this, they don’t come around often, so you want to make the most of them,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said.

The Predators haven’t scored a goal in 63 minutes, 23 seconds since Filip Forsberg’s empty-net goal in Game 4.

Rinne understands coach Peter Laviolette was trying to wake up the Predators by pulling the veteran after allowing three goals on nine shots in the first 20 minutes of Game 5. Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel all put up at least two points each in that game.

Yet there’s been no question that Rinne, who has never won a start in Pittsburgh, will be in net Sunday night.

“Right now our backs are against the wall, and this is our opportunity and I think you try to do anything in your power and prepare the best you can for this one,” Rinne said.

GENE J. PUSKAR/AP Predators goalie Pekka Rinne says he understands why he was pulled in Game 5 after allowing three early goals.