PITTSBURGH VS NASHVILLE
PPG PAINTS ARENA – PITTSBURGH, PA
8:00 PM EST. NBC
SERIES TIED 2-2
The Pens return home tonight after Nashville held serve at home to tie the series at two. The two games in Nashville pretty much sucked the life out of all of us, and we are now staring down a best of 3 for Lord Stanley’s Cup
There are some silver linings though. It may not have shown in the final score, but you could make a pretty strong argument that game 4 was the Pens best of the series. They won the possession battle at all-situations, they had more high-danger chances than the Preds did, and if it wasn’t for some crazy bounces the Pens end up with 2-3 more goals. Trusting the process isn’t always the easy thing to do in a short series, but with the Pens trending towards stronger play in the offensive zone and returning to the Paint Can there’s some reason for optimism.
Another reason for optimism is it’s still the fucking Stanley Cup Final. Bad shit happens. Buck up buttercup.
The problems aren’t going away though, it’s gonna help if we all face that and then go buy life-alert to make sure we get through every Ron Hainsey shift. At this point the Pens D is icing 3-4 USS Hal Gill’s and we are just along for the ride. The Pens inability to have any sort of consistent transition game has shaped the series so far, and it really doesn’t seem like they’re gonna be able to change that, but at least they’re still generating some offense like I mentioned before.
Just think how Jacque Martin must feel watching this D group. If the Pens win this, they should give him some sort of lifetime achievement award that’s just like a giant gold plated band-aid
Lines: Letang is still dead no matter what TSN says. Keep an eye on Bonino’s status throughout the day. Lines don’t really matter because Sully’s got the blender out.
From Sully: Murray starting, and Bonino's a game-time decision.
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) June 8, 2017
Pittsburgh:
Guentzel-Crosby-Sheary
Kunitz-Malkin-Kessel
Rust-Rowney-Hagelin
Archibald-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
So here we are, it feels like 6 weeks since the last time these two teams played. A thousand tiny controversies have come and gone and every dude with a mic in front of his face that talks about hockey is buying plane tickets to Nashville to get drunk at the Cup Parade. The last two games are a formality.
Fuck that shit.
The last time I looked you’ve still gotta win 4 and the Pens are the defending champions. Yeah they’re a little beaten down. We’ve reached the point in the match where the champ looks finished, head hanging in the corner, the challenger smells blood, but he doesn’t know what’s waiting for him in the next round, because champions fight. If ever there was a group that was going to go down swinging it’s this god damn Pens team.
The road to the Stanley Cup STILL travels through Pittsburgh.
So you’re going to have to excuse me with the doom and gloom excuses bullshit. Crosby is on PCP, Murray is going to be back in net tonight and be a brick-fucking-wall, the compete level of this team will be out of the building. Clutch your rosary, open another beer, do whatever it is you do just be ready when that puck drops tonight.
Get your mind right.
LETS GO PENS
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
