It took a minute and thirty one seconds for Pittsburgh to take the lead that they would never relinquish. Ryan Ellis got called for holding, and 41 seconds into the man advantage Justin Schultz scored his fourth of the playoffs to get the Penguins off and running. Crosby passed to Schultz at the point, where he one-timed a slap shot past Pekka Rinne's glove. Bryan Rust extended it to 2-0 by backhanding a shot through Rinne's pads at 6:43. The night wouldn't get any easier for Rinne, as Evgeni Malkin, who had two points (one goal, one assist), made it 3-0 with 11 seconds remaining. That's as far as Rinne would play in this game, as he was replaced by Juuse Saros for the final fourty minutes of the game.
His night would be just as rough as the one Rinne went through. The Pens added three more goals in the middle frame. Conor Sheary scored his 2nd of the playoffs a minute ninteen into the period, followed by Phil Kessel's 8th of the playoffs at 8:02, and finally Ron Hainsey scored his 2nd of the playoffs at 16:40 to seal this one away. Pittsburgh big boys all had a big night, at least on the scoresheet. Crosby had three assists, Kessel had a goal and two assists, Malkin had a goal and a helper and Matt Murray stopped all 24 shots he faced.
That was about all the good that took place in this hockey game. There's plenty that was bad about what happened in game five. First lets look at the slightly less obvious, that the play of Pekka Rinne. He's been a different goalie playing on the road as compared to Bridgestone Arena. He's given up 13 goals on 50 shots on the road, but at home he's allowed on 2 goals on 69 shots. Don't know whether its the crowd noise or what, but Rinne is way off his game on the road in this series. I guess maybe its the fact that the Penguins are coming with way more speed then he's used to seeing in Nashville. Either that, or he's nowhere near as comfortable at handling the puck in Pittsburgh as he is in Nashville. Strange how this seems to happen to him now when it wasn't as obvious in the first three rounds.
Now lets talk about some of the on ice antics shall we. There's been no big secret that this series has been a little on the chippy side. During the third period of game five alone, 20 penalties were assessed, the most in a single period since Game 3 of the 2011 Finals. Besides that, which is a pretty amazing number in and of itself, was the antics of Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. There's no doubt in anybody's mind that the Kid is the best player in the league, the face of the league, and the face of the Penguins franchise. But that doesn't mean he should be able to get away with whatever he wants.
Case in point, the incident in the first period. He and Predators defenseman PK Subban get into a scuffle behind the net. Crosby slammed Subban's head off the ice four times and only got two minutes for the incident. How he didn't get hit with more time in the box is mind blowing. I know that PK Subban is no saint,and most players and fans around the rest of the league really can't stand the guy, but still that doesn't give Sid the right to smash his head off the ice and get away with it.
But wait there's more. The Penguins were unhappy with a non call made by the refs in that feisty 3rd period. From the Pittsburgh bench, there came a water bottle thrown on the ice. It was later shown that it was in fact Crosby's water bottle that he threw on the ice. He later told the refs that it slipped out of his hand, which I claim to be a total lie. He knew exactly what he was doing and because he's Sidney Crosby he can get away with it. I'm sorry but that kind of stuff can't be allowed to continue. Crosby really needs to learn to grow the hell up.
Now with the Pens having a 3-2 edge in the series, they can clinch their fifth Stanley Cup Sunday night in Nashville. It seems that's been the Penguins trend. They've won four Stanley Cups in their history and all four of them have been won on the road. But they have to try and do it IN Nashville,. which has been a real nightmare for opposing teams in this years playoffs. And its been a trend in this year's playoffs that in games following a score of six or more goals, the team that got beaten by the six goals, came back and won the next game. So the way that trend has gone we may have a game seven.
Either that, or the Cup will be presented to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a fifth time Sunday night
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