2017 Stanley Cup Finals: Pittsburgh vs Nashville

[notfondajane]

On 5/26/2017 at 9:29 AM, B21 said:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Predators in 4. 

 

What's with all the 2-day breaks between games? 

 

 

WHAT? ARE YOU TURNING INTO A BENEDICT ARNOLD? 

I guess it's to make sure the players could stay as health as possible! 

[hf101]

On 5/26/2017 at 9:57 AM, vis said:

I took Nashville in six, but could see it going to seven (and the Pens winning).  It should be a pretty evenly matched -- and fun -- series.

 

I completely agree, Nashville surely can win this if they take the early lead in the series, but if this goes to seven games Pittsburgh will win at home for a repeat championship.  

 

@thenewestlights

Nice write up.  

 

Why I like Pittsburgh's Chances:  

The Penguins top two lines are centered by two of the best in the league, let alone the best player in the league.  Nashville can't match that down the middle not even with a healthy Fisher.  Murray is rested and ready for another stellar series. -- He has a chance at two Stanley Cups in his rookie year.  -- How crazy is that?  

 

Why Nashville will win:

Defense wins championships.  Rinne is playing some of the best hockey in his career.  His save percentage thus far in the playoffs is something like 0.941 -- amazing.  I think he will outplay Murray as he has the quicker and healthier defensive core in front of him.  Pittsburgh just doesn't have as quick of a transition game as with Nashville either, which will put a lot of pressure on Malkin to play the full 200ft game, and I have to agree they will be more like playing against 4 Karlsson's instead of 1.  Nashville will play a dump and chase game putting a lot of pressure on their unhealthy d-men wearing them down.  I think Nashville can win this by taking advantage of Pittsburgh's mistakes and turnovers in their own end and solid goaltending.

 

I'm picking Nashville in 6.

 

[Kings Redeem LA]

8 hours ago, hf101 said:

 

I completely agree, Nashville surely can win this if they take the early lead in the series, but if this goes to seven games Pittsburgh will win at home for a repeat championship.  

 

@thenewestlights

Nice write up.  

 

Why I like Pittsburgh's Chances:  

The Penguins top two lines are centered by two of the best in the league, let alone the best player in the league.  Nashville can't match that down the middle not even with a healthy Fisher.  Murray is rested and ready for another stellar series. -- He has a chance at two Stanley Cups in his rookie year.  -- How crazy is that?  

 

Why Nashville will win:

Defense wins championships.  Rinne is playing some of the best hockey in his career.  His save percentage thus far in the playoffs is something like 0.941 -- amazing.  I think he will outplay Murray as he has the quicker and healthier defensive core in front of him.  Pittsburgh just doesn't have as quick of a transition game as with Nashville either, which will put a lot of pressure on Malkin to play the full 200ft game, and I have to agree they will be more like playing against 4 Karlsson's instead of 1.  Nashville will play a dump and chase game putting a lot of pressure on their unhealthy d-men wearing them down.  I think Nashville can win this by taking advantage of Pittsburgh's mistakes and turnovers in their own end and solid goaltending.

 

I'm picking Nashville in 6.

 

 

 

The only thought that keeps emerging for me consistently = 

Nashville needs to win both one of the first two in Pittsburgh and 

game 3 at home--to win the Cup. But no matter what nonexperts

like me think or so-called media experts argue rudely or guarantee foolishly  

the games gotta be played to get the results. And I hope it's a great Finals. 

 

Good call about Murray! He'll probably be walking in a trance for a while if 

Pitt pulls this off. 

 

Methinks Nashville might have a good chance at winning in six if Cissons 

keeps acting like Mike Bossy too.  

I don't know that Nashville's talented top four defensemen necessarily equate to 

four Karlssons. But they're arguably going to present a greater challenge than Ottawa. 

I don't see this Pred squad getting blown out the ways other teams have during 

this playoff run. A guy like Rinne, who's playing out of his mind, looks to be the consistent 

difference maker in any close games that Smashville may take. And I'm going to

stop writing soon before I think/write/talk myself into the Predators winning this thing.

[notfondajane]

A good FORECHECK or some kind of trap may slow down Nashville! 

I guessing Pens in 6. I hope they could win this in Pittsburgh! 

[Poulin20]

On 5/27/2017 at 4:02 PM, Samifan said:

Rochester is actually holding ROC City Rib Fest this weekend. BBQ from all over the country Friday thru Memorial Day. Samifan clan heading there tomorrow?

 

I would have expected a "Garbage Plate" fest for ROC.

[nossagog]

5 minutes ago, Poulin20 said:

 

I would have expected a "Garbage Plate" fest for ROC.

Ahhhhhhh, Garbage Plates.   I have a great recipe for the Seabreeze sauce that I make every few months.  My boys will come over and I'll make plates for everyone.   And there is leftover sauce for quite a few weeks.    Ran out of Zwieg's a few months ago, but I'll be back up in town at the end of July, I'll stock up then. 

[Samifan]

43 minutes ago, nossagog said:

Ahhhhhhh, Garbage Plates.   I have a great recipe for the Seabreeze sauce that I make every few months.  My boys will come over and I'll make plates for everyone.   And there is leftover sauce for quite a few weeks.    Ran out of Zwieg's a few months ago, but I'll be back up in town at the end of July, I'll stock up then. 

@nossagog-I can always ship you some Zwiegles, just get ahold of me. 

[nossagog]

Just now, Samifan said:

I can always ship you some Zwiegles, just get ahold of me. 

Actually, I think you can order them online these days, and they'll ship them to you packed in dry ice.    But it's okay, not having them for a while just makes me fonder for them.   One of the places I always stop when I'm in town for the golf tournament in July is Irondequoit hots. Either that or Bay Hots over by the movie theater in Webster. 

[Samifan]

Thanks, all this talk of garbage plates now I know what I'll be eating while I watch game 1 tonight.

[FD19372]

Penguins in 7, because I'm tired of picking against them, but in reality this could go either way. A really, really good offense versus a tremendous top 4 defense. Should be a classic series. Go Preds!

[Samifan]

Phantom offside takes Preds momentum in game 1. Video review should have been inconclusive. No way the preds can beat PENS, NBC and NHL. Fix is in.....

 

 

 

[nossagog]

Well Nashville thoroughly outplayed the Pens in game one but the Pens come out on top.    Way too much perimeter play on the part of the Pens, but Nashville took away any shooting lanes and blocked a lot of shots.   This was not a case of the Pens sitting back, the Preds just played a great game. 

[Samifan]

Rinne did not seem to have his A game tonight. Not sure if it was the long layoff or lack of SOG from the Pens kept him from getting into rythym. Preds deserved a better fate. 

[Kings Redeem LA]

34 minutes ago, Samifan said:

Rinne did not seem to have his A game tonight. Not sure if it was the long layoff or lack of SOG from the Pens kept him from getting into rythym. Preds deserved a better fate. 

 

No, he didn't. 

 

Two goals went through him that shouldn't have. One of which preceded 

that insane 37-minute shot drought from the Penguins. 

 

Rinne played eight games against the Penguins before tonight; 

it often hasn't gone well for him. 1-5-2. A small sample size to be sure, but his

worst save percentage and GAA are against them. I can't imagine this game 

was good on his psyche or confidence. Plus watching his teammates  

outplay Pittsburgh for two of three periods but still not getting the win. 

 

Tonight reminded me of Ottawa v. Pittsburgh in that great game 7. Pitt 

looked the more tired but somehow pulled out the win. 

 

[FD19372]

9 minutes ago, thenewestlights said:

 

No, he didn't. 

 

Two goals went through him that shouldn't have. One of which preceded 

that insane 37-minute shot drought from the Penguins. 

 

Rinne played eight games against the Penguins before tonight; 

it often hasn't gone well for him. 1-5-2. A small sample size to be sure, but his

worst save percentage and GAA are against them. I can't imagine this game 

was good on his psyche or confidence. Plus watching his teammates  

outplay Pittsburgh for two of three periods but still not getting the win. 

 

Tonight reminded me of Ottawa v. Pittsburgh in that great game 7. Pitt 

looked the more tired but somehow pulled out the win. 

 

Yeah, and many goalies are better when they face a lot of shots. Rinne simply HAS to make that save on Guentzel. I don't care how a good a shot it was...blah, blah, blah. Nashville dominated Pittsburgh, and should have forced this game to OT, then who knows what happens. Although, you can't have lulls like they did in the first on defense, either.

[FD19372]

[Kings Redeem LA]

1 minute ago, FD19372 said:

Yeah, and many goalies are better when they face a lot of shots. Rinne simply HAS to make that save on Guentzel. I don't care how a good a shot it was...blah, blah, blah. Nashville dominated Pittsburgh, and should have forced this game to OT, then who knows what happens. Although, you can't have lulls like they did in the first on defense, either.

 

It's a bummer to think that removing the fluke deflection goal from the

game's equation would have gotten the game into overtime.  I would

have liked to see that. 

[Kings Redeem LA]

4 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

 

Oh my... 

 

[Poulin20]

Poor Lavvy, this must feel like having leaky Leighton in net in the SCF all over again!  

 

4 goals on 11 shots = .636 Sv % for the game

[FD19372]

1 minute ago, Poulin20 said:

Poor Lavvy, this must feel like having leaky Leighton in net in the SCF all over again!  

 

4 goals on 11 shots = .636 Sv % for the game

Who knows, maybe between the layoff and the lack of shots on him, Rinne remained rusty.

[mojo1917]

Pgh better figure out a way to break out of their zone vs Nashville or last night's game will be an aberration. I haven't seen this group of Pens get outplayed that badly for that long. I don't know if the Pens D corps will be up to the challenge, the Preds really seemed to focus on going at Hainsey on the forecheck, but truthfully it didn't matter, the Pens D was under siege all night.

 

Based on what I saw I really disagreed with the goal reversal, now to give the benefit of the doubt, perhaps there was a camera NBC wasn't using that the NHL was that  illustrated the offsides clearly. (maybe the oddly colored freeze frame that was cut to more than once ?) That call gave life to a team that was being ground out of their building, it totally changed the tenor of the period. 

 

The Predators certainly earned those two penalties that led to the weak goal by Malkin. James Neal continues to live down to low expectations, too bad, he's got a nice shot but acts like a dipshit most of the time.

 

The Kunitz pass to Sheary was a thing of beauty. 

Rinne was terrible, he owes his team an apology and must play better.  .636 doesn't cut it shinny let alone the SCF.

[FD19372]

1 minute ago, mojo1917 said:

Pgh better figure out a way to break out of their zone vs Nashville or last night's game will be an aberration. I haven't seen this group of Pens get outplayed that badly for that long. I don't know if the Pens D corps will be up to the challenge, the Preds really seemed to focus on going at Hainsey on the forecheck, but truthfully it didn't matter, the Pens D was under siege all night.

 

Based on what I saw I really disagreed with the goal reversal, now to give the benefit of the doubt, perhaps there was a camera NBC wasn't using that the NHL was that  illustrated the offsides clearly. (maybe the oddly colored freeze frame that was cut to more than once ?) That call gave life to a team that was being ground out of their building, it totally changed the tenor of the period. 

 

The Predators certainly earned those two penalties that led to the weak goal by Malkin. James Neal continues to live down to low expectations, too bad, he's got a nice shot but acts like a dipshit most of the time.

 

The Kunitz pass to Sheary was a thing of beauty. 

Rinne was terrible, he owes his team an apology and must play better.  .636 doesn't cut it shinny let alone the SCF.

Some goalies would rather face 40 shots a night in order to stay focused. I don't know, but I suspect that is the case with Rinne. The problem is, as any average NHL hockey fan knows, if you do that versus Pittsburgh, they might put 5 or 6 past you on your best night. It's a conundrum. I expect Rinne to be much more focused and have a better Game 2, though. Part of it probably also had something to do with the long layoff. There's nothing like real game action. You can only simulate so much in practice.

[nossagog]

19 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

Pgh better figure out a way to break out of their zone vs Nashville or last night's game will be an aberration. I haven't seen this group of Pens get outplayed that badly for that long. I don't know if the Pens D corps will be up to the challenge, the Preds really seemed to focus on going at Hainsey on the forecheck, but truthfully it didn't matter, the Pens D was under siege all night.

 

Based on what I saw I really disagreed with the goal reversal, now to give the benefit of the doubt, perhaps there was a camera NBC wasn't using that the NHL was that  illustrated the offsides clearly. (maybe the oddly colored freeze frame that was cut to more than once ?) That call gave life to a team that was being ground out of their building, it totally changed the tenor of the period. 

 

The Predators certainly earned those two penalties that led to the weak goal by Malkin. James Neal continues to live down to low expectations, too bad, he's got a nice shot but acts like a dipshit most of the time.

 

The Kunitz pass to Sheary was a thing of beauty. 

Rinne was terrible, he owes his team an apology and must play better.  .636 doesn't cut it shinny let alone the SCF.

Pens defense has had this same problem all post season.   They tend to pin the puck to the boards and wait for help when the forecheck is coming instead of a high glass dump out.   Not sure why.   Teams that forecheck hard give them loads of problems.  This is where they really miss Letang, who would be playing big minutes and has the confidence to skate with the puck. 

 

Don't think the Pens can count on Rinne playing that badly again.   They need to also figure out where the net is, because they could hit the net with the pucks that they did shoot.   Loads being made of the 12 shots, but part of that was missing the net all the time, and part of it was just the Preds D that blocked a lot of shots. 

[mojo1917]

2 minutes ago, nossagog said:

Loads being made of the 12 shots, but part of that was missing the net all the time, and part of it was just the Preds D that blocked a lot of shots. 

Sure, stats can say anything you want them to, but the Pens were thoroughly out played. Even if they got 10 more shots "on net" I don't think that changes the way that game felt.... now as bad as Rinne was, the score could have been 7 or 8 to 3. 

There weren't long stretches where the Pens had Nsh pinned in their d-zone and were skating circles around them like in the Ottawa series. 

 

[B21]

"Ugly" win but I'll take it every day of the week and twice on Sunday. To a man it's clear the Pens know they can't play like that again and expect to win (based on the post-game comments I have read).

 

I'll say this - one thing this post-season should have made clear is that there is no such thing as momentum. 

 

I recall the Caps being dead in the water down 3-1. Whoops.

 

I recall the Senators being ready to pack it in after a 7-0 beat down in Game 5. Double whoops.