Pittsburgh Raises the Cup for Back to Back Years Defeating the Predators 2-0.
The Pittsburgh Penguins raised the Cup for back to back years beating the Predators 2-0 in a game where both goaltenders were playing strong throughout the game. With 1:35 left to go former Predator Patric Hornqvist scored the first goal of the game that went off of Pekka Rinne's back. Carl Hagelin would put the nail in the coffin by scoring the empty net goal. Matt Murray would get the shutout and Sidney Crosby would win his second straight Conn Smythe Trophy.
Jared McCabe: The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators were playing their hearts out, giving all they had, and both goaltenders Matt Murray and Pekka Rinne were putting their respective teams on their backs. Patric Hornqvist would put the go ahead goal off of Rinnes back that would shock Bridgestone Arena. The play of the game was when the Predators clearly scored a goal but it was waved off because the referee blew his whistle before the stick hit the puck. By rule and law that was the right call, but I felt that the whistle was blown way to early because it was clear that Murray didn’t have control of the puck. You can’t say that affected the outcome of the game because the Predators had plenty of opportunities on the powerplay and they went 0-4 on the powerplay and they had a 5-3 power play and they still couldn’t get it past Murray. In the series I thought the Predators were the better team in most of the games, but the games in Pittsburgh is going to haunt Pekka Rinne and the rest of the Predators players because they struggled modality there especially Pekka Rinne. The Predators put Nashville on the map as a hockey town and this won’t be the last time we will see them in the finals because they have a very bright future, they just went up against a Penguins team that was to experienced,powerful, and physical. The Pittsburgh Penguins will go down in the history books as one of the best franchises ever and Sidney Crosby brings home another Stanley Cup back to the place where they call it “the city of champions.”
Caden Balint: For the first time since the 1996-1997 and the 1997-1998 the NHL has had back-to-back championships. The Pittsburgh Penguins repeat championships when they beat the Nashville Predators in 6 games. This was the same night a year ago that the Penguins also beat the Sharks in 6 games. This game was fast-paced from beginning to end. The only goals came in the last period with under 2 minutes left in the game. The first goal came from Patric Hornqvist with 1 minute and 35 seconds left in the game as Hornqvist put a rebound of the backboards and he banked it off of Rinne’s back to make it 1-0. Then with 16 seconds left Carl Hagelin scored on the empty net to keep the cup in Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby won his second Conn Smythe in a row, and his third Stanley Cup for the Penguins. The Predators put themselves on the map as a new hockeytown and the Preds will be back to the Cup final in the next 10 years.
