The Pittsburgh Penguins are two wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup for the second time in as many seasons.
Let that shit sink in for a minute.
All set?
From the moment the Penguins won their first game to their 14th of this majestic playoff run, everyone, from us to your Uncle Frank to that guy that slams IC Lights and Marlboro Reds down the street, has been saying the Pens are playing with house money this year.
Without the likes of Kris Letang and Matt Murray and having to go through Columbus and Washington to get here, it makes sense. No one would have blamed them if they faltered.
But now, that sentiment couldn’t be any more true.
Up 2-0 and heading to Nashville, they truly are playing with house money now. They’ve got nothing to lose over the next two games. If they drop both in Nashville, it becomes a best of 3 with the Pens owning home ice. They certainly know how to handle that.
But if they find a way to split in Tennessee, well, look the fuck out. A split guarantees them grabbing this series firmly by the balls.
There are must-win games in every series and Saturday night in Nashville just became that exact thing for the Preds. Make no mistake, this series is far from over. They’re a very good team and showed that for 40 minutes last night, but losing Game 3 puts them in the casket. All the Penguins have to do is drive it into the Youghiogheny.
Getting back to last night, it had an oddly familiar feel to it. Too much of the same weird shit that happened in Game 1 happened again, this time with both the full 2 minute 5v3 and correctly challenged insanely close offside goal going the Preds way. But moreover, last night had to feel all too familiar for Pens fans. ‘Member all those times/years the Pens didn’t put teams away, let them hang around, and ended up losing?
Ohhh, I ‘member.
Because the Predators were very much the better team. They were very much the more dominant team. The only time the Pens had more shot attempts than them was 6:40 into the game. After that, the Pens looked like a gutted catfish with a dick on its head. They out-shot the Penguins 38-27, out-attempted the Penguins 55-34 (at 5v5), and out-chanced the Penguins 21-10 (!!!!!!!) at 5v5.
But none of that shit mattered because of one reason: Money Murray.
Murray was absolutely brilliant and that’s putting it very, very lightly. The kid made 31 of his 37 saves in the first two periods to give the Pens a chance to win and become the 4th goalie to win 20 of his first 27 career playoff starts. Per Elias Sports, that puts him in the same company as Hall of Famers Bill Durnan, Grant Fuhr, and Patrick Roy. Strange not to see a few other names on that list…
Nevertheless, he did it all with limited help in front of him. The Pens went 0/7 on the powerplay and gave up the first goal of the game, even after getting a PP chance 2:04 into it. The only time it looked dangerous was when the Preds almost put the puck into their own net. Two minutes later, it started to look like the refs and league actually do favor the Pens, letting a blatant boarding penalty go uncalled to save us all from having to witness another miserable display. Stand up guys, the refs.
GIF: Cullen hit from behind into the boards. No call. pic.twitter.com/LX0udUrnK1
— Benstonium (@Benstonium) June 1, 2017
Instead, the next powerplay would be going to the Preds after Malkin hooked Ekholm straight to hell. As that was happening, Kunitz got nailed for cross-checking Subban in the neck to put the Preds on a 2 minute 5v3 much the same as the Pens got one in Game 1. Then, 58 seconds into it, Bonino took a Subban one-timer off the side of the knee while Fisher was beating the shit out of Cole in front of Murr to make it a 4v3.
Bonino shot block pic.twitter.com/IhhgOSd3Hi
— steph (@myregularface) June 1, 2017
After all the shit and back at 5v5, the Preds would open the scoring and the sphincters could have made diamonds. Some guy named Pontif Assberg took a pass and chipped it by Maatta before proceeding to get ground clearance to send him into orbit. If Maatta defended that any worse, he’d have gotten traded for Taylor Hall. 1-0
https://gfycat.com/KindPertinentEgret
https://gfycat.com/FalseDiligentIslandwhistler
But with 5:28 left in the opening frame, Roman Josi put the Pens back to the powerplay after cross-checking Sheary in the numbers about 5 or 100 times before it actually got called. The powerplay was a bleeding asshole from hell, but just as it expired, the 2nd unit found a way to cash in. Remarkably, the Preds PK units were keeping the Pens PP to the perimeter, but even with Kunitz, Sheary, and Guentzel stuffed along the boards and next to nothing penetrating, Sheary found a little seam to throw it towards Bake in front of Rinne for Jake to bang in his 11th of the postseason. Unrealistically bad goal to give up. 1-1
https://gfycat.com/GroundedMilkyBobwhite
At 1-1, that’s when Murray really made his money, particularly in the last 34 seconds of the opening period. Two his 7 saves in the final half minute would come off a lost faceoff in the defensive zone with 18 seconds left on Asperg and Forsberg to keep it level heading into the first break.
https://gfycat.com/SeparateAggravatingDavidstiger
On the other side of the intermission, the Predators were coming so hard that Chris Hansen wanted to have a word. Pretty sure the only time the Penguins touched the puck in the 2nd was when it would end up in Murr’s glove.
https://gfycat.com/FrenchGenuineHeron
Somewhere in there, Cullen obliterated Mattias Ekholm, who is quickly becoming a huge villain in this series. Literally it was the only high note the Pens had in the offensive zone, despite having been awarded two powerplays. They also went 9+ minutes without a shot on goal, which was somehow an upgrade over Game 1.
But the only thing that was of any consequence from the first 40 minutes of play was that the Pens somehow scored a goal and the game was still somehow tied. They were getting worked and run out of their own goddamn building. Not sure what Sullivan said during the second intermission or if he gave them cocaine because 10 seconds into the final frame, the game was dropped on its head (but stayed in because “concussion protocol”). Right off the opening faceoff, Hainsey won the first race to a loose puck of his life to chip it ahead to BFR. Rust knew what he was going to do as soon as he picked his head up: throw it off Rinne’s pads and hope someone was on the other side. Rinne, doing his best Marc-Andre Fleury impression, kicked the low shot out into the slot and right to Bake’s tape for him to notch his 12th. 2-1
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The Preds were stunned. Their fans were stunned. Carrie Underwood was stunned. Hell, we were stunned. Then, we partied. Because about 3 minutes later, the Pens were able to clear their lines to send Philson on a 2v1. Phil was patiently waiting for a game to explode on. Weber went down for some reason and his ass got rolled on. It feels like Phil’s game’s been hot for so long. If you thinking he fucking fell off, you’re so wrong. 3-1
https://gfycat.com/SafeJadedAvians
The Preds had to start getting aggressive in the Pens zone and open up the game, which only plays into the Pens strengths. Just 15 goddamn seconds later, the Pens made them pay. Ellis pinched up the wall to dump Kunitz as Cole reversed the puck, but it was too late because Kunitz already put the biscuit in behind him. We’ll take Malkin one-on-one against Cody Sessions at the point all damn day. 4-1
https://gfycat.com/ScentedApprehensiveAmericanbittern
Three goals in the first 3:28 of the third period ended Rinne’s night. The Pens welcomed Juuse Saros to the game with what looked like a PPG with Assberg in the box for slashing. Cullen had his skate off the ice as Kunitz ended the zone, Lavy challenged, and Hornqvist’s goal was overturned. So we’re even now. No goal.
Nashville tried so hard and got so far, but in the end, it didn’t even matter. Neither did Gene and Subban fighting (though Geno admitted he wanted to go after Ekholm for whacking him). All that mattered was the series record when Party Hard played one final time.
Game.
NOTES
- Second straight game that Murray stole. Guentzel, rightly so, captured all of the headlines, but Bake doesn’t get that chance without Murr doing money things. What a player.
In 27 playoff starts, Murray hasn't lost back-to-back games. Nashville is going to have to achieve that, twice, to win series now.
— PensBurgh (@Pensburgh) June 1, 2017
- Guentzel with 5 GWG this postseason, a rookie record. His 12 goals puts him first among goals scored by a US born rookie and he sits just 2 goals away from Dino Ciccarelli’s all time record. Oh, and he leads this postseason in goals.
Guentzel now has 28G + 24A in first 61 games after being top player in AHL. he belongs in list of most dangerous Fs next to 87/71/81
— ck (@404ResponseCode) June 1, 2017
- Pens had as many shots in the first period as they had in all of Game 1, so that’s neat.
- Pekka Rinne sucks.
- Somehow Bonino got an emergency cyborgian surgery to replace his detonated leg and return to the bench for the start of the 2nd period. But man, was it ugly. Thought he’d be gone until he signed in Carolina in July.
- Don’t wanna focus too much on the negatives, but against this Nashville team, the Pens cannot continue to sleepwalk through long stretches of play and expect to win.
- Someone is probably going to write some article about the Pens PP being dogshit, which will just mean they’ll go 5 for 3 in Game 3. They do need to find a way to score, though.
Both teams will get some much needed rest ahead of Game 3, coming in your face on Saturday night. Do it. Go Pens.
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