Preview: Predators at Penguins

[May 31, 2017]  If it were a boxing match, the referee may have stopped the fight. Fortunately for the Pittsburgh Penguins, their heavyweight showdown versus Nashville was scored by the quality of the blows that they landed, allowing them to take a 1-0 series lead into Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the visiting Predators on Wednesday night.

Pittsburgh's 5-3 victory Monday night came in inexplicable fashion -- the Penguins built and blew a three-goal lead before Jake Guentzel delivered the late tiebreaking tally after his team went more than 37 minutes without registering a shot on net. "It's not textbook," said Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby after the Penguins finished with the fewest shots on goal (12) by a winning team in Stanley Cup history. "We've got some things we need to improve on." 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. "I thought our guys played great," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said after Monday's game. "We hate the score, we hate the result, but we'll move forward."

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

ABOUT THE PREDATORS: Pekka Rinne's save percentage has steady decreased since opening the postseason with consecutive shutouts in Chicago, but he's eager to atone after allowing four goals on 11 shots Monday. "That's the best part in the playoffs," Rinne said. "You always get another opportunity, and that's going to happen on Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to that." Colton Sissons continues to shine in place of injured No. 1 center Ryan Johansen with four goals in two games while center Mike Fisher returned from injury to collect two assists -- his first points of the playoffs.

ABOUT THE PENGUINS: Pittsburgh received the secondary scoring it had been missing as Conor Sheary, a 23-goal scorer during the regular season, notched his first of the playoffs and Guentzel registered his 10th of the postseason to lead all goal scorers. Guentzel ended an eight-game drought and tied Claude Lemieux (1986) and Chris Drury (1999) for the most game-winning goals by a rookie in the playoffs with four. Crosby matched Chris Kunitz with a pair of assists for his 55th career multiple-point game in the postseason, eclipsing Joe Sakic for sixth place on the all-time list.

OVERTIME

1. Crosby is bidding to become the first player to win the goal-scoring title and a Stanley Cup in the same season since Wayne Gretzky (1986-87).

2. Rinne owns one victory over Pittsburgh in nine matchups (1-6-2).

3. Penguins C Evgeni Malkin has a playoff-leading 25 points after his power-play goal in Game 1.

PREDICTION: Penguins 4, Predators 2

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