The Pittsburgh Penguins face off against the Nashville Predators in game one of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will obviously be looking to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions. The Nashville Predators however may have something to say about that.
Pittsburgh Penguins
With game one kicking off the series, here are three keys for the Penguins to hopefully boost their chances of coming away with a 1-0 lead in the series.
Score Early
The Penguins have had a struggling offence at times during these playoffs, particularly during the first period. The Penguins never scored over two goals in the first period all playoffs long except recently during game five of round three.
The Penguins need to be able to take control of games early, especially in the Finals. The Nashville Predators are a very defensive minded team. It will most likely be difficult to get good offensive starts with them. But we have to try to in order to get in their heads. If we do, we’ll be good to go.
Goalies Have to Be Elite
Pekka Rinne may be the top goalie in the playoffs right now, but the Penguins have the next two best goalies. Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray both are fantastic goaltenders who easily give us a real solid chance at winning.
What we need in these Finals is for Matt Murray to play like he did last year and for Marc-Andre Fleury to play like he has been in the first two rounds of these playoffs.
Take Advantage of Their Injuries
The Penguins have been a broken team all season long. We may be missing some key players, but most of our team is in tact. Most importantly, most of our stars are present.
The Predators have a few people away for injury. Most importantly, top centre Ryan Johansen is out for the rest of the playoffs. Although the Predators have played well without him, the Penguins should try to take advantage of the fact that Nashville’s number one centre is absent.