Hornqvist set to return for Pens, Fisher for Preds in Game 1

And with the Pens still fighting to even register a shot since the first period more than 10 minutes into the third, the Predators struck again, pulling within one after some decisive puck movement and another power-play goal, this one from Colton Sissons. Jake Guentzel’s goal with 3:17 remaining – on the Penguins’ first shot since late in the first period – proved to be the difference. “We’ve got some things that we need to improve”. The Penguins had played almost two periods in a defensive shell that Predators goalie Pekka Rinne could have been reading a book or watching TV back in the dressing room.

Finally, a shot from the Penguins. Nashville won the battle of possession, the shots on goal, all the fancy stuff: They lost the game, 5-3. His shot from the top of the slot glided just over Rinne’s left pad.

“They out-quicked us out there”.

It’s been all Predators since the first intermission of Game 1 in the Stanley Cup Final.

But we didn’t. We don’t know what this series is.

Yet for all the resiliency the Penguins have shown during their injury-marred title defense, they are taking nothing for granted heading into Game 1 on Monday night.

“Obviously we have to be better”.

“We create chances. We found ways to execute”, Crosby said.

Early on. The Predators set the tone. What makes the defending Stanley Cup champions different from the 29 other clubs chasing them isn’t the way they dominate when they play well.

Just how Penguins coach Mike Sullivan drew it up.

Turned out that Filip Forsberg was indeed offside, his right skate picking up before he received the puck, and the goal was taken off the board. It took a few minutes to remove the catfish carcass from the ice. The Penguins responded thereafter.

“I know we were the eighth seed but we didn’t feel like a group that we were”, Fisher said.

It’s hard to oversell how badly the Predators mashed the Penguins on Monday. The Penguins killed a minor on Olli Maatta for interference, but Ian Cole’s penalty for cross-checking Calle Jarnkrok came back and bit them. And then, it got downright embarrassing. So does Evgeni Malkin skimming a two-man advantage tally off the underside of Rinne’s glove, and Conor Sheary knocking a weakside one-timer into a yawning cage 65 seconds later.

Jake Guentzel prevented overtime in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final by scoring a late victor for the Pittsburgh Penguins to bury the Nashville Predators.

The Clarksville Parks & Recreation Department and CDE Lightband will stream the game to a huge screen on the First Street side of City Hall.

“On and off the ice, he’s just an example to follow”, injured Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang said Tuesday. “We played in their zone more than they were playing in our’s”. The puck would have found no one in particular, but bounced off of Mattias Ekholm’s leg and past Pekka Rinne to make the game 3-0. While Nashville has been the road team for every series, that has not stopped them from having home dominance in the playoffs where they are 7-0-1, the best record of any team.

Nashville’s PK Subban opened the scoring with a wicked wrister from the point about seven minutes into the game. The mood on the Penguins’ bench was a mix of frustration and dejection.

“I thought our guys played a great game”, Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “We just have to stay positive”.

“We just believe that we can win”, forward Austin Watson said at Sunday’s Media Day.