Nashville had spurts not only during this game, but during this series, where they looked like the better, faster, and more dominating team. The Predators had chances in game one but weren't really able to cash in on them. It took a little over thirteen minutes into this one but the Preds were able to finally break through against Pittsburgh. it came thanks to rookie Pontus Aberg, who danced around the Penguins defense on this highlight reel goal:
You won't see too many goals this year in the playoffs prettier then that one. Almost kind of reminds me of the movie Lemieux pulled off against the North Stars in game two of the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals. Nashville held the lead for just over three minutes. The Penguins tied it up with 3:24 left in the first period when Jake Guentzel's shot sneaked in for his eleventh of the playoffs. Talk about a guy really starting to heat up at the right time, look no further then Mr Guentzel. Two goals in as many games, including the game winner in the series opener. So now we end the period tied at one.
The middle frame saw no scoring, but the Predators did double up the Penguins in shots 14-7, in that period. Nashville had been controlling the shots on goal department through the first two periods. Was it the Preds are really struggling that bad to hit the back of the net or is Matt Murray just playing that well? It's very strange, but it's just not really seeming to go the way of the Preds so far. Pittsburgh ignited in the third period scoring three goals in 3:18. The first goal was by Guentzel who became the first rookie since Dino Ciccarelli to score twelve goals in a single playoff season (Dino scored 14 during his rookie season). The next two goals were scored 15 seconds apart and also prompted Predators head coach Peter Laviolette to replace goaltender Pekka Rinne with Juuse Saros. The Penguins would hold off the Predators' six shots in the final period to win Game 2 4−1.
Physical play really started to pick up as this game wore along. Actually the action was physical most of the night, but really started getting chippy in the 3rd period. You know its getting chippy if, of all people, Evgeni Malkin is getting into a fight. he's known more for his scoring touch so Malkin getting into a fight shoul;d let you know right there that it was a feisty kind of a night. But lets not forget5 about the man of the hour in the steel city. Guentzel has been hot, with three goals so far in the series including game winners in both games of this series. He is really starting to heat up in the goal department, and I don't know exactly what it is but something like this always seems to happen right around this time of year.
Its weird though, that the guy who's been carrying the Preds all all playoffs long is now all of a sudden starting to fault. He's almost kind of been shell shocked in the first two games of the series, partly because the defense in front of him. He's getting no help at all at times and he's left a couple of big rebounds in front of the net. Case in point the game winner Guentzle scored ten seconds into the 3rd.
But now the series shifts to Nashville for game three on Saturday night, which could be huge for the Preds. It gives them a couple of days to relax, rethink their game plan and refocuse on the task at hand of getting back into this series. They also, just a suggestion, might want to watch video of what Ottawa did against the Pens early on in the last round. Might help the Preds find a way to slow down the Champs
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