Late goals lift Penguins in Stanley Cup Final opener
PITTSBURGH -- Rookie Jake Guentzel scored a tiebreaking goal with 3:17 left on Monday night, and the Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at PPG Paints Arena.
Guentzel's goal, from the right dot, ended an incredible shot drought of 37:09 for the Penguins. Nick Bonino's empty-netter, his second goal of the game, ended the scoring with 1:02 remaining.
Guentzel scored his playoff-leading 10th goal, though he snapped a personal eight-game drought.
Pittsburgh was outshot 26-12 -- it had no shots in the second period and for most of the third -- but goaltender Matt Murray stopped 23 of the Predators' attempts.
Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne allowed four goals on 11 shots.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena.
Evgeni Malkin, Conor Sheary and Bonino scored in the first for Pittsburgh before Ryan Ellis broke through for Nashville in the second to make it 3-1.
A shot by Nashville's Roman Josi glanced in off Colton Sissons for a power-play goal at 10:06 of the third to cut the lead to 3-2.
At that point, Pittsburgh had no shots since the first period, and that continued through a Penguins power play.
Just after that power play ended, Nashville's Austin Watson carried the puck behind the Pittsburgh net and fed Frederick Gaudreau for a one-timer in front that went under Murray's pads for a 3-3 tie.
The Penguins got a break after it appeared that P.K. Subban gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 7:13 of the first period on a shot from the top of the right circle. Pittsburgh challenged, however, and it was ruled upon review that Filip Forsberg was offside preceding the shot.
About midway through the first, Murray got up slowly as play moved to the other end after he became tangled with teammate Ron Hainsey in the crease. Murray checked with a team trainer near the bench at the next TV timeout but remained in the game.
At 15:32, Malkin gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead during a five-on-three power play. His shot from the top of the slot glided just over Rinne's left pad. It was Malkin's playoff-leading 25th point.
Just 1:05 later, Sheary had an open net behind Rinne for a tap-in near the right post on a pinpoint feed from Chris Kunitz for a 2-0 Penguins lead. It was the first goal of the postseason for Sheary, who struggled enough that he was scratched twice during the Eastern Conference final.
Pittsburgh got an even bigger break with 16.1 seconds left in the first when Rinne stopped a shot by Bonino, only to have the rebound hit Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm's leg and bounce into the net to make it 3-0.
That gave the Penguins three goals on seven shots. The Predators had allowed only five first-period goals through its first 17 games.
Nashville cut the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 8:21 of the second when Ellis beat Rinne through a screen.
Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz each had two assists for Pittsburgh.
NOTES: Pittsburgh RW Patric Hornqvist (upper-body injury) returned after missing six games. He replaced LW Carl Hagelin, who was scratched. ... Nashville C Mike Fisher, the only Predator with Stanley Cup Final experience, returned to the lineup after leaving Game 4 of the previous round because of a knee to the head. The Nashville captain logged two assists Monday. ... Predators RW Craig Smith (lower-body injury) played for the first time since May 7. ... Nashville LW Colin Wilson was a late scratch because of an unspecified injury. ... Someone threw a dead catfish onto the ice early in the second period.