When a goaltender makes saves the team in front of him plays with confidence and swag. Such was the case on Saturday night as the Nashville Preds climbed back into the Stanley Cup Finals with an impressive 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pecca Rinne looked nothing like the sieve we saw in the first two games in this series. On the night, he stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced and made every stop after allowing an early goal to of course rookie Jake Guentzel. In these playoffs, Rinne is 8-1 at home and has a .949 save percentage at home.
The Nashville crowd was incredible. Maybe the best hockey crowd I’ve ever seen as they were part of the game. It kind of reminded me of the Oklahoma City crowds in 2012 when the Thunder made their run to the NBA Finals. The city of Nashville has gone ga ga over their hockey team and it’s clear this team feeds off the energy of the crowd.
Pens goalie Matt Murray had a tough game only stopping 28 of 33 shots, but in all candor he was left out to dry on numerous occasions.
I think we’ve got us a hockey series, but this shouldn’t come as a surprise because as the 8th seed in the West the Preds beat Chicago, St. Louis, and Anaheim to get here. A very impressive run and of course they have their crowd.
Game 4 on Monday night in Nashville. Can’t wait.
Both coaches in this series are excellent. Both Pete Laviolette and Mike Sullivan have won a Stanley Cup championship as a coach. Here’s Pete Laviolette in his Game 3 post game presser. He doesn’t mince words. Hockey coaches generally don’t mince words.