With the Penguins reeling after losing games 5 and 6 to the Caps, Rowney was reinserted in the lineup for game 7.
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Before Monday’s 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of this year’s championship series, only captain Mike Fisher had played in a Cup final.
Their shot-less span lasted 37 minutes – more than half a regulation game.
Letang just might be coaching himself, too.
In addition to holding the Penguins to the lowest shot total in a Stanley Cup Final game for any team that was victorious, the Preds kept their hosts from registering a shot on goal from the start of the second period until Jake Guentzel scored the go-ahead goal with less than four minutes to play in the final period. Bonino was credited with two shots and two goals. “I’m sure a lot of fans were happy with that”. But it was still too big, so he ran it over with his vehicle a few times to compress it more. “No one wants to squander a shot”.
Pittsburgh continued their shot-shy phase through a power-play before Nashville’s Austin Watson fed Frederick Gaudreau for a one-timer that went under Murray’s pads to tie the score at 3-3 and silence the arena. The Predators, who are trailing in a series for the first time this postseason, are trying to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time before the best-of-seven set shifts to Nashville.
Letang also has 18 goals, 68 points in 116 career playoff games.
They could chuckle about it afterward because, however ugly, the Pittsburgh Penguins managed to come away with a win. The Swede dangled the puck around Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta and beat Matt Murray at 12:57 of the first period.
This game started out with Nashville controlling the play entirely. Pittsburgh scored three goals in the final five minutes of the first period to build up a comfortable lead. However, Pekka Rinne had his worst game of the playoffs in Game 1.
Sullivan even was asked Tuesday if he believed in divine intervention or his team being some sort of team of destiny for winning games like that and overcoming a series of injuries this postseason. Efficiency is the name of the game. “Not a dominant performance, of course, by any means, but we got it done”. The only area where Nashville wasn’t markedly better than the defending Stanley Cup champions is the only one that really matters.
This time they made the dominance count when Colton Sissons bundled in from close range to make it 3-2 before Frederick Gaudreau levelled. They’ve got some “D” that can skate themselves out of trouble. That kind of wreckless shot taking will catch up to them eventually.
“It’s tough. He’s been a rock for us”, Laviolette said. He’s only the fifth rookie ever to reach double-digits in goals in a single playoff and four points shy of the National Hockey League rookie record for points – a mark held by Dino Ciccarelli and Ville Leino, who each had 21. We wish that all of our players were healthy. “We were lucky to win tonight”.
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The City of Clarksville will host a free Predators viewing party near City Hall on Wednesday evening for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
