Some people would argue that the Nashville Predators were the better team in the first two games of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, but in the end, it didn’t matter because they went into Game 3 trailing 2-0.
On Saturday, they were the better team again, but this time, it ended up paying off as they dismantled the Penguins by a score of 5-1.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring early in the first period. Things were looking good for them until Nashville responded by scoring five straight goals, including three in the second period.
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Outside of the victory, the biggest thing for Nashville was seeing Pekka Rinne rebound after two poor performances in the first two games in Pittsburgh. Coming into Saturday’s game, Rinne had never beaten the Pens in nine outings against them in his career. That all changed thanks to a 27-save performance in front of his home fans.
Rinne now has a 13-6 record with a 1.93 goals-against-average and a .931 save percentage this postseason.
The only blemish for Rinne on Saturday was Jake Guentzel‘s goal in the opening frame. The Penguins rookie has found the back of the net at least once in each game of the Stanley Cup Final. He’s up to 13 goals and 20 points in 22 games during the 2017 playoffs. He’s given his team some incredible production this spring. Unfortunately for the Penguins, it wasn’t enough to get them a win on Saturday night.
Ian Cole and Sidney Crosby picked up the assists on Pittsburgh’s only goal of the game. Crosby is now up to three assists in three games during this series.
The Penguins went into the first intermission with that slim lead, but it didn’t last very long. Preds defenseman Roman Josi got his team on the board with a power play goal at the 5:51 mark of the second frame. This was Josi’s first goal since Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the Anaheim Ducks.
Josi’s monster period continued just 42 seconds later when he helped set up Frederick Gaudreau‘s tally that gave Nashville a 2-1 lead at the time.
Gaudreau has been dressed in each of the three games in this series and he’s already found the back of the net twice, which is pretty impressive for the youngster.
Getting back to Josi, he managed to add his third point of the night when he assisted on James Neal‘s sixth goal of the season that extended the Preds’ lead to 3-1 with under 30 seconds left int he second period.
All in all, Josi finished the game with three points, a plus-2 rating and a team-high six shots on goal in 23:36 of ice time. Teammate P.K. Subban (25:53) was the only player to get more ice time than Josi in Game 3.
The Predators didn’t let up in the third period, as Craig Smith scored his first goal of the playoffs to give his team a 4-1 lead with just over 15 minutes remaining in regulation. Smith has been injured on two separate occasions this postseason, so Nashville will be thrilled to see him get on the board. He hadn’t found the back of the net since April 6th when he scored two goals against Dallas.
Finally, at the 13:10 mark of the third frame, Mattias Ekholm got in on the action, as he scored on the man-advantage to put the game to bed. Ekholm finished the game with a goal, an assist, 12 penalty minutes (he got a 10-minutes misconduct late in the third period), two shots on goal and two hits in 22:19 of ice time.
In the end, Pens goalie Matt Murray allowed five goals on 33 shots in the defeat. It’s just the second time in eight games during the 2017 playoffs that he’s given up more than two goals in a game. Murray has a 5-2 record with a 1.96 goals-against-average and a .930 save percentage during the playoffs.
The Predators now trail the best-of-seven series 2-1. Game 4 will be played in Nashville on Monday night.
