This best-of-7 series is over.
Done. Finished. See you guys later.
Obviously, the rest of the series isn’t over yet, at least not in the traditional sense. Over the course of the next couple of days, we will all be subjected to a lot of Fake News handing the Predators the Cup after they, too, won 2 straight games on home ice. This is very dishonest and sad! The only sense in which this series is over is the one in which early pop-punk pioneers The Staring Line wrote about in 2002 in their smash hit, “The Best of Three.”
Tell me what you thought about when you were wrong and so alone.
The worst are the takes.
We’re heading to a best of three.
We got older, but you’re still dumb.
You never grew out of this slamming of the superstars.
Unfortunately, until the Penguins win another game in this series, the following things will all happen:
- Phil Kessel will get blamed for the loss(es) because he didn’t score.
- Evgeni Malkin will get blamed for the loss(es) because he didn’t score.
- Matt Murray will get blamed for the loss(es) because he didn’t score.
- Sidney Crosby will get blamed for the loss(es) because he didn’t score enough.
- Someone will earnestly say Marc-Andre Fleury should start.
- The Predators are already Cup Champs.
Between today and Thursday, these over-reaching, over-reactions will dominate your Twitter feed. Your cousins from New Ken or Uniontown will share their thoughts and memes and clickbaity bullshit on Facebook. But all 6 have the same shit in common: they are all fallacious and boring.
There are only two real takeaways from the two games played in Nashville and they manifested last night. First and foremost, reports of Pekka Rinne’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Last night in particular, he looked like the 2010-2012 version of himself. Any other night, the Pens probably win 8-0, but to say Rinne stood on his head would be immensely insulting to the “standing on one’s head” idiom. He was that good and this series is even at 2 because of him.
Secondly, there is no trouble here. There is no need for concern or panic or hot takery for one simple reason: The Pens (and Preds, for that matter) have not lost a game on home ice this series. And out of the final 3 possible games, the Pens play 2 at home. It’s that simple. Maybe, just maybe, we can consider worrying if they drop one at home. We won’t, though, because the Penguins are set to go at least 6 games in trying to defend their crown.
That’s pretty damn impressive.
Getting back to last night and before Pekka Rinne stole the spotlight in the 2nd period, there was still some hockey to be played. HCMS made some changes to his lineup, bringing in Josh Archibald (<3) for Scotty Don’t, moving Kessel/Kunitz to flank Cullen, and bumping HagDaddy up with 71 and 72.
Game 4 got off to a slow, skittish start, which included just 1 total shot in just under the first 7 minutes. It went the Pens way, but right as the clock was about hit 7 minutes, the Preds nearly scored on their first of the game off Dumoulin’s possibly only mistake of the first 40 minutes. Horrible giveaway though for Forsberg to step into one.
Twenty seconds later, Hornqvist tripped up Ekholm to put the Perds on their first PP, but the Pens put together a nice PK to not give one up and hold the Preds shotless with the man advantage. And, aside from the Forsberg rip and the -1 in the penalties category, the Penguins basically put together a great road game first period. Both goalies were called into action on point blank shots in the second half of the period, but because this paragraph doesn’t end with a bold-faced scoreline, it’s safe to assume Murr and Rinne kept the game 0-0.
That is, until 5:09 remaining in the period. Nashville’s forecheck once again overloaded the strong side, forcing Maatta to try to go high off the glass to clear the zone. The attempt was similar to shitting your pants on a first date and expecting to get a 2nd date. Weber with the keep in at the point for Jarnkrok to feed Watson for the simple wrister to the net as Smith and Jarnkrok crashed. Smith may have made a little contact with Murr, but it didn’t matter as Jarnkrok buried the sitter. Sully challenged for goaltender interference, but he got it wrong. 1-0
But just over a minute later, the GOAT popped up to establish himself. How on earth Josi and Ellis disappear to let Crosby walk in uncontested behind them will never make sense to this blogger, but what a pass from Dumo to make up for his earlier mishap and spring 87 to toast Rinne. 1-1
With 41.7 seconds left in the first, the Pens would get their first PP of the game after Neal blatantly interfered with Cullen instead of trying to play the puck. Pretty understandable for someone like Jim to forget what he’s doing at any given moment, but it was still a p bad penalty. The powerplay was maybe the best it had looked all series long, just zipping the puck around the zone and creating dangerous looks in front, but they weren’t able to find the breakthrough once more on either side of the intermission, despite registering 2 shots on the peep, also for the first time all series.
This was when Rinne started to shine and began looking like the goaltender that swept Chicago rather than the goaltender that gave up 8 goals on 36 shots in Pittsburgh as he robbed Guentzel all alone in front after Crosby worked Josi harder than employees at an illegal brothel and stoned Kunitz on a breakaway on two straight shifts.
As was the case in the 2nd period, every time Rinne made one or 8 ten-bell saves on the Peng, the Perds would answer with a goal of their own instead. Immediately after turning the puck back up ice after the Kunitz breakaway chance, they got themselves a favorable bounce. Absolute clown job by Gaudreau on Cole to get to Ellis’ shot off the back wall. Looked like Murray kept the wraparound attempt out, but upon review, it crossed the line by a matter of millimeters.. 2-1
Then, the Pens had to go back to the penalty kill about 3 minutes later for a unnecessary high sticking penalty to Hainsey on PA Parenteau, who apparently plays for the Preds now. Once more, they were able to kill it off and start the wildfire again to try to tie it up. Crosby, again, was gifted another breakaway, this time on a sweet feed from Bake. Rinne made the save, but it pulled him out of the net for the puck to just sit there in the crease. But between Guentzel and Josi and Rinne sprawling back across, it somehow stayed out.
So of course, the Preds would make the Pens pay for not equalizing to really put the Pens down with a piledriver. This time, Cole got bodied and worked by Neal along the wall, who had to make a desperation play on the puck to get it over Geno’s stick and into the path of Fisher. He, too, had to make a desperation dive to keep Malkin from turning it back up ice to get it into Arvidsson’s path for a breakaway of his own right up the gut. No chance for Murr. 3-1
The Pens continued to generate some chances the rest of the second and into the third, but Rinne just was not giving up another goal. Forsberg would add the empty netter late from 200′ away to seal it. 4-1.
Game.
NOTES
- Scoring just 2 goals in 120 minutes of play isn’t good, but they certainly got their fair share of chances. They have the best offense in the league. Can’t imagine a scenario where they don’t blow this thing wide open.
- Powerplay finally looked like we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. So the goals are coming.
- Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Crosby was head and shoulders above everyone else last night.
- On the other side of the coin, if Crosby was a giant on the ice, Ron Hainsey was an ant some 8 year old was scorching with a magnifying glass.
- With all the time off between games from here on out, gotta think it benefits the Pens from both a systematic and fatigue standpoint.
Game 1 of this best of 3 series is either Thursday night at the Paint Can or like August 2019. Do it. Go Pens.
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