PITTSBURGH VS NASHVILLE
BRIDGESTONE ARENA – NASHVILLE, TN
8:00 PM EST. NBC
PENS LEAD 2-1
The Pens dropped game 3 in Nashville in the most predictable shit show of all time. The sky is falling, Crosby is actually bad and blah blah blahhhhhhhhhh.
Get your shit together. It’s a series, you don’t sweep the cup final. That scene in Nashville was incredible and great for the state of hockey. Everyone knew the Pens would be working uphill against that crowd and with how things went in games 1 & 2. If you’ve never watched a playoff hockey series before and wanna pout about it be our guest.
For the rest of us there’s some silver linings to game 3.
When home teams win game 3 to make the series 1-2, they've gone on to win the series ~20% of the time. pic.twitter.com/8FPy775kpQ
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) June 4, 2017
So, NSH's win got them to a 1 in 5 chance of winning, which is up from the 1 in 50 chance they would've had if they lost.
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) June 4, 2017
Sucks to lose game 3, or any game really, but you’d much rather be up 2-1 than down 2-1. The Pens were in this same spot just one year ago, up 2-1 in a series, on the road, hunting a key victory with a chance to clinch at home in game 5. There aren’t a lot of parallels between last years team and this one, but it’s kinda nuts how they keep ending up in the same position as the 2016 squad over and over.
No one knows what the next game holds for us, but I’ve learned two things, over the last two seasons of playoff hockey: 1. Never doubt Mike Sullivan with a whiteboard and 2. Never doubt Matt Murray, ever, for any reason. Tonight’s gonna be a 3 hour heart attack be thankful those dudes are on our side.
Lines: I think Bonino’s ankle is pretty much dead. Hags looked visible to solid in his first game back in a while. PA Parenteau is still a person that play NHL hockey.
Pittsburgh:
Kunitz-Crosby-Sheary
Wilson-Malkin-Kessel
Rust-Bonino-Rowney
Guentzel/Hagelin-Cullen-Hornqvist
Dumoulin-Hainsey
Maatta-Daley
Cole-Schultz
Murray-Fleury
Nashville:
Forsberg-Sissons-Aberg
Arvidsson-Fisher-Neal
Wilson-Jarnkrok-Smith
Parenteau-Gaudreau-Watson
Ekholm-Subban
Josi-Ellis
Irwin-Weber
Rinne-Saros
There was a lot to be learned Saturday night. As Jesse pointed out the powerplay has to be better, the penalty kill has been trash, and the corsi’s aren’t our friend anymore. But remember back to that moment when the Pens went down 2-1. The barrage they unleashed on Rinne. If’ it wasn’t for a blocked shot or 4 and a couple pucks hitting him we are all thinking about this series very differently.
Gene won’t play that bad again, Murray won’t stumble like that again, Crosby is still on a mission. The Pens aren’t the favorite son or the trendy team, but they’re the squad that’s been through this before. They’ve played pressure road games all playoffs with their asses on line. They’ve been forced to climb this mountain with one had behind their back and a blindfold. If you don’t believe in this team by now you might be incapable of feelings.
Playoff hockey is a ton of feelings wrapped into a bunch of hockey games. By now it’s easy to hate Nashville. After all, country music is just talking loud in an accent and Mike Ribeiro is still a chimo.
Hmm. pic.twitter.com/sHvV3r0VXC
— Sean Gentille (@seangentille) June 3, 2017
3-1 lead is there for the taking. Kick the tires and light the fires boys.
Go Pens
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