Music City Was Rocking As Predators Take Crucial Game 3
Nashville was rocking Saturday night as the Predators were hosting a Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history. They didn’t disappoint because Pekka Rinne played well and the offense came to play. Jake Guentzel scored again for the Penguins while Roman Josi started the barrage of goals for Nashville. In the end the Predators put a beating on the Penguins 5-1 and the Penguins lead the series 2-1.
Jared McCabe: Game 3 was a crucial game for the Predators to win because they were coming home down 0-2 where they lost two games in Pittsburgh where they looked like the better team in both of those games, so they knew Game 3 was a “must win.” Nashville was hosting their first ever Stanley Cup Final and the crowd was raucous and was ready to cheer on their team. The Penguins drew first blood with the rookie Jake Guentzel scoring his team leading 12th goal of the playoffs and that was the only goal the Penguins would score because from there it was all Predators. In the second period Roman Josi tied it with his 6th of the playoffs. Predators took the lead, Frederick Gaudreau put in his 2nd goal of playoffs, and late in the third James Neal tallies his 6th of the playoffs to head to the locker rooms up 3-1. Craig Smith and Mattias Ekholm scored and the Predators would go on to win 5-1. Pekka Rinne bounced back from two tough games in Pittsburgh where he let in soft goals and in Game 3 he made the saves we were used to see him making. Coming into the game the Predators were 7-1 at home in the playoffs. A big statistic in this game was Nashville held Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin with zero shots in the game for the first time ever. Game 4 on Monday night is a bigger, crucial, “must win” game because the Predators don’t want to go back to Pittsburgh down 3-1 on the brink of elimination.
Caden Balint: Game 3 was brought to the music city as the Predators played their first home game in the Stanley Cup Final ever, and this one was big for them. In a statement after the Predators game 2 loss from P.K. Subban “We will win game 3 and we will see what happens from there” and that's what they did. The Penguins would try and shut down the rowdy music city early by scoring 3 minutes into the first period when Jake Guentzel would score his 13th of the playoffs to give the Pens the 1-0 lead, and that would be the last that Rinne would give up, and it would also be the last goal of the first. About 5 minutes into the second period Roman Josi would score a slapshot from the blueline to tie the game at 1. A minute later Frederick Gaudreau would score a wrist shot on the powerplay to make it 2-1. Then with a minute left in the game James Neal would put home a rebound to make the game 3-1 in favor of Smashville. That would be the end of scoring for the Predators in the third, but not for the game. The third period would be the dagger for the Penguins. Only 4 minutes into the third period Craig Smith would score on the breakaway to give the Predators the 4-1 lead. Then with 7 minutes left Mattias Ekholm would score on the powerplay as he scored a blast to give the Predators the 5-1 lead. Game 4 is the game for Predators as it is another “must win” for the Predators and their season.
