Pittsburgh Penguins Pummel the Predators

The Pittsburgh Penguins took advantage of an early lead and beat the Nashville Predators, 5-2.

The Pittsburgh Penguins snatched up an early lead and never looked back, surging past the Nashville Predators 5-2. Patric Hornqvist scored against his former team as the Pens moved back up to second in their division.

Phil Kessel scored just moments into the game, picking up the uncommon first goal for the Penguins. Kessel’s eighth point in four games prevented the Penguins from having to battle back from an early deficit for what seems like the first time in a long time.

The Penguins are 26-5-1 when scoring the first goal this season, a great record. Though the Pens may struggle to get early leads, it’s all but impossible to wrest one away from them.

Given how much trouble they previously have had with coming back from behind, the Pens have improved astronomically at being resilient. Under head coach Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh has rebounded well in most of the games in which they fell behind.

Also under Sullivan, the defense has been reborn. Justin Schultz was minus-22 this season with the Edmonton Oilers; in just a few weeks in Pittsburgh he is a plus-7. He picked up one of the assists on Kessel’s goal tonight.

Ian Cole was a minus-12 this season under head coach Mike Johnston. Since Sullivan took over, he’s posted a plus-8. That kind of improvement – by the third defensive pairing, no less – is stunning.

Kessel’s linemate Carl Hagelin soon took a penalty for tripping Mike Ribeiro. The Predators didn’t manage too many chances on their man-advantage and Hagelin escaped the box.

The teams flew end to end, each getting several good chances. Pekka Rinne and Marc-Andre Fleury had to be strong in net throughout the first.

Mar 31, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) makes a save against Nashville Predators center Mike Fisher (12) during the first period at the CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm took a hooking penalty shortly before the end of the first period. The Preds have scored seven shorthanded goals this season, but the Penguins’ strong powerplay was not about to let that happen.

Despite some revamping of the powerplay, sustained pressure, and three shots on goal, the Pens could not cash in. Still, the units looked much improved: they kept the play moving and actually shot the puck – both of which are aspects of their game that sorely lack without Evgeni Malkin.

Former Penguin James Neal set up a goal against his old team as the period ran down. He found Ryan Johansen from behind the net as Fleury lost track of the puck, and Johansen made no mistakes.

The first period ended in a 1-1 tie as the Pens outshot the Preds 14-11.

Kessel continued his hot streak by scoring his second of the game in the second period. The Penguins are unrivaled in their scoring during the middle stanza, and Kessel’s recent play is a big reason why. Trevor Daley fed Kessel a stretch pass way down the ice, and Kessel rocketed it on net.

Rookie Oskar Sundqvist, who has spent almost every day in the past few weeks driving back and forth between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre, picked up his second career point assisting on this goal.

As good of a goalie as Rinne is, he’s lost his last five games against the Pens. Looking at how much he’s struggled and how much difficulty the Preds are having in clinching their playoff spot, it may have made more sense for Nashville coach Peter Laviolette to start backup Carter Hutton tonight.

(That’s what I thought early in the game, and by the third period Laviolette seemed to agree. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though.)

Young Petter Granberg was called for holding, and though there was some speculation that Conor Sheary would receive a penalty shot opportunity as a result, Granberg got a regular minor penalty instead.

Not that it made much of a difference. On the ensuing powerplay, Kris Letang unleashed a lethal wrister and put the puck behind Rinne.

Just moments later, the Predators were the ones on the powerplay and Sheary was on the wrong end. He tripped Filip Forsberg and was promptly sent to the sin bin.

Though the powerplay had technically expired, James Neal let loose his own deadly shot and put the Predators within one. Eric Fehr left Neal alone in order to block a shot, a mistake which proved costly.

The Predators hailed Neal as the best pure goal scorer their organization had ever seen when they acquired him from Pittsburgh a few years ago, and with his 31st goal on the season he’s more than proved his worth.

The physical game continued as Viktor Arvidsson threw Cole into the boards. Cole looked sore and Arvidsson went to the box for holding.

Neal scored against his former team tonight, but what about the guy he was traded for? Not to worry. Patric Hornqvist scored his first career goal against the Predators, restoring the Penguins’ two-goal lead and perhaps balancing his personal scale.

The Penguins outshot the Preds through two periods 29-16; Nashville has the dubious honor of being one of the worst teams for shots allowed.

Hoping for a rally, Hutton replaced Rinne in net at the start of the third but it was too little, too late.

Early in the third period, Chris Kunitz and Calle Jarnkrok exchanged pleasantries and both headed to the penalty box. Kunitz, however, received two roughing penalties to Jarnkrok’s one, and Sheary served the extra.

Those penalties were killed off, but both sides’ special teams evidently decided they hadn’t had enough yet. Sidney Crosby and Colton Sissons took nearly simultaneous minors later in the period for goaltender interference and slashing, respectively.

The Preds tried hard to get back into it, but Fleury aggressively stopped the onslaught. After a great save on Shea Weber by “the Flower,” Nick Bonino won a faceoff at the other end and flipped the puck past Hutton.

There was chaos in the crease as the puck was passed around and Laviolette challenged the goal on the basis of goaltender interference. Hagelin made incidental contact with Hutton, but it didn’t appear intentional or illegal.