"I don't know if anybody shakes off a game like that that quickly", Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "I don't think that they were necessarily bad goals. If they don't, then we just gotta move forward".
Without a return to form at home, though, and a follow-up performance on the road in a potential Game 7, the Predators season will likely come to an end.
No matter how the ice has tilted one way or another, this Final has earned some extra attention for the Nashville hockey effect with catfish and country music artists, from surprise anthem singers to Carrie Underwood, the wife of Predators captain Mike Fisher.
We have the Pittsburgh Penguins vs Nashville Predators.
Crosby, 29, is now one win away from trading a green Gatorade bottle for a third silver chalice of Lord Stanley. It was the fifth 6-goal beating in Cup Final history, meaning the game tied for the seventh-biggest blowout on record in this round.
Of course, it all changes if the Predators reclaim their swagger and rally to complete one of the improbable Cup runs in National Hockey League history.
Sidney Crosby had three assists, and goaltender Matt Murray had 24 stops in the shutout. Still, he also managed his 21 points in 19 games, flipping his totals to have 14 assists to go with seven goals.
The home team has won every game in this series, and that may have been a big reason why the Pens played so well. "We were really jumping and playing our game, playing fast".
It was a familiar showing for Rinne. He has just two assists after five games, though he had a goal disallowed in Game 1.
Rinne is winless in six career games in Pittsburgh with a 5.15 goals against average and.822 save percentage. He gave up two goals in the first 6:43 of the game and it never improved from there as h started the second period on the bench. I mean I know it's perfectly legal to drop the gloves and physically assault each other within the confines of the game, but can you really bash a guy's skull into the ice like this? "We've just got to do a better job in front of him". "Right now we've just got to focus on Game 6 at home and put all our energy in that one".
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The game got chippy in the third quarter as James and Durant received double technical fouls after a heated exchange of words. He scored 39 points, hauled in 11 rebounds, dished nine assists while logging one steak and one block to boot.
Crosby, Malkin and playoffs goals leader Jake Guentzel would seem to be the favorites to win the playoff MVP if the Penguins close out the series.
It is 2-0 Pittsburgh less than seven minutes into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against Nashville.
Rinne insisted his confidence isn't shaken though he was disappointed with Thursday's result.
Crosby said Subban lost his stick and had him in a leg lock while they were tangled in their Game 5 melee. "He made a handful tonight that we needed, and we believe he'll do that".
Crosby started the first-period surge for Pittsburgh when he split Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis on the opening shift of the game and hit the post. No unsportsmanlike penalty was called and Kessel's goal stood. Drifting toward the back of the net, Crosby made a ideal backhand pass to Conor Sheary, who deposited the puck into the net to give Pittsburgh a 4-0 lead 79 seconds into the middle frame.
The Penguins power play found its rhythm early, as Patric Hornqvist passed to Crosby, who set up Justin Schultz for a one-timer from the blue line for a 1-0 lead only 1:31 into the first period. If the Penguins win the Stanley Cup, you can hand him the Conn Smythe Trophy once again.
Rinne returns to Pittsburgh, where he was shelled in the first two games of the series and is 0-5 with a 4.85 goals-against average and.833 save percentage over his National Hockey League career. But if the pattern holds, the Preds should bounce back with a much better effort in Game 6.
The Pittsburgh Penguins exploded into life on Thursday night. Nashville Predators' Viktor Arvidsson (38) and Pittsburgh Penguins' Carl Hagelin (62) trade punches during the third period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Thursday, June 8, 2017, in Pittsburgh.
The defending champions provided an emphatic and repeated reminder of what makes them such a hard out in a 6-0 demolition of the Nashville Predators in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to take a 3-2 lead.
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