Preview: Penguins at Predators

[June 05, 2017]  Music City has provided quite the festive backdrop throughout the NHL's postseason, with the Nashville Predators giving their enthusiastic fans even more reason to party with an impressive 8-1 home record. Fueled by a resounding victory in the first Stanley Cup Final game played in The Volunteer State, the Predators look to even the series with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday when the teams reconvene for Game 4 at Bridgestone Arena.

"You know what, best atmosphere I've ever played in," defenseman P.K. Subban told reporters after his team made good on his vow for a Game 3 victory with five unanswered goals in a 5-1 triumph on Saturday. "It was pretty spectacular. Anybody who paid the price of admission to watch the game, I'm sure it was money well spent for them." Pittsburgh's Jake Guentzel continues to pay dividends with a league-best 13 goals in the playoffs and four in the series, with the first statistic putting him within one of tying a single-year NHL rookie record (Minnesota's Dino Ciccarelli in 1981) while the latter has him one shy of the rookie mark for the Stanley Cup Final (Boston's Roy Conacher in 1939, Brad Marchand in 2011). Former Hart Trophy winners Evgeni Malkin (NHL-best 26 points) and captain Sidney Crosby (23 points) weren't as fortunate as they were each held without a shot for the first time in their 143 playoff games together.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, Sportsnet, TVAS

ABOUT THE PENGUINS: For all of his success, Crosby has failed to score a goal in 12 consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances and has just one tally in his last 19 Final games. The 29-year-old, at least, was 15-of-26 in the faceoff circle in Game 3, while Malkin lost seven of nine. "I thought they had some looks," coach Mike Sullivan said of the superstar duo's difficult night. "They had some attempts. They didn't hit the net, obviously. Those are important guys for us. We want them to get pucks on the net because they obviously have the ability to score."

ABOUT THE PREDATORS: While Subban mouthed the words for a guarantee, fellow defenseman Roman Josi went the extra mile to make sure it paid out as he scored a goal and set up two others in the second period. "Well, I think it's part of our system (which) allows us defensemen to jump up in the play," said Josi, whose six goals lead all blue-liners while his 14 points are second-best at the position (Ottawa's Erik Karlsson, 18) and just above fellow Nashville defensemen Ryan Ellis (12), Subban (11) and Mattias Ekholm (10). "Yeah, (coach Peter Laviolette) wants us to jump up and make something happen in the offensive zone, too." Filip Forsberg leads the team with 15 points in the postseason, but has yet to hit the scoresheet in the series.

OVERTIME

1. Nashville G Pekka Rinne owns a 1.49 goals-against average and .949 save percentage at home in the playoffs.

2. Pittsburgh D Ian Cole has set up a goal in back-to-back games and owns four assists in his last seven.

3. The Predators are 4-for-10 on the power play in the Stanley Cup Final while the Penguins are just 1-for-13, with their lone tally coming on a 5-on-3 advantage in Game 1.

PREDICTION: Predators 4, Penguins 2

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