Around the NHL: Previewing a Predators-Penguins Stanley Cup Final

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The 2017 Stanley Cup Final is set to begin on Monday night with the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins facing the Nashville Predators.

Here is a preview of the series, including each team’s top two candidates for Conn Smythe, how they got to the Final and what they need to do to win the Cup.

Pittsburgh Penguins

How They Got Here

Is it really all that surprising that the Penguins are back in the Final? Before you go and call them the league’s darling team, bear in mind the talent that Pittsburgh has had throughout the season.

This is a team that was decimated by injuries throughout the season and into the playoffs. They constantly had to tap into the AHL roster for reinforcements, and they never missed a beat. That’s more than just a great NHL team. It’s great organizational depth.

Pittsburgh’s path to the Final was a little skewed. The challenges from other very good teams in the league ranked right at the top of the Eastern Conference was certainly there. The order wasn’t.

As per the NHL’s playoff structure with the wildcards, the Penguins had to face the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round. That was really a second-round series on paper. Pittsburgh had 111 points in the regular season. Columbus had 108. They finished third in the conference with that point total, behind only Pittsburgh and Washington.

In the old format — 1-seed vs. 8-seed, 2-seed vs. 7-seed and so on — Pittsburgh would have played Boston in the first round. Columbus would have met Ottawa. The earliest Pittsburgh and Columbus could meet would have been the second round. Instead, the Penguins ousted the Blue Jackets easily in five games.

In a similar sense, the Penguins played the Capitals in the second round, a series that seemed better suited for a conference final. Make no mistake about it, Pittsburgh had to go through the best to get to the Final again, but the order just seemed very messed up.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a test of endurance. To get Ottawa in the conference final after playing Columbus and Washington in the first two rounds was, on paper, a cakewalk. The series itself was anything but.

Ultimately, Pittsburgh showed three things in returning to the Final. They are a well-coached team. Mike Sullivan proved this last year and only further displays it this year. The road to the Final this season was arguably harder than last year.

This is a complete team. To get contributions at any moments from Olli Maatta, Justin Schultz, Jake Guentzel, Conor Sheary, Matt Cullen, Nick Bonino, Scott Wilson, the list goes on. This team is so much more than the three or four obvious names.

And lastly, a big reason for their success is Sidney Crosby. It may not be what Philadelphia fans want to see or hear, but he’s arguably taken his game to another level. He may still have a way to get under your skin or have the league in his clutches, but he’s got more skill and all-around ability than any player in the game. People love to hate the great ones. Crosby is one of them.

But Crosby this season has actually proven to be as valuable as it seems. When Crosby won the Conn Smythe a season ago, I felt it really belonged to Matt Murray or even Phil Kessel, two players that had performed and put up the numbers night in and night out. Murray was flat out incredible and seemed to be the most deserving.

What Crosby has done in this year’s playoffs is display more of a sense of the all-around player. Sure, he’s still putting up points, but his two-way play has been much more noticeable. That’s what a valuable player does for his team.

Related: Chris Kunitz Scores in Double-OT to Put Penguins in Cup Final

Conn Smythe Leaders

At this point, Crosby is the leader for the Conn Smythe for Pittsburgh. It’s a toss-up between Evgeni Malkin and Guentzel for the second spot.

Guentzel really came out of the gate strong in the opening series against Columbus, but this last series started to see him slow down a bit — he had just two assists against Ottawa. He’s just a rookie, so it’s understandable, but for a brief time, he was your frontrunner.

As for Malkin, there are night’s when you can actually question if Crosby is the best on his own team, let alone best in the world. Malkin can be that good.

What the Penguins Need to Do to Win

For the Penguins to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup and third under the leadership of Crosby, there really isn’t that much to say. It’s the status quo for them.

Everything about the Penguins has really been similar for the last two seasons, especially once Sullivan took over. It’s an all-business approach that focuses on hard work, discipline and winning battles. They’re also loaded with skill and speed, putting some defensive units to shame.

This isn’t a question of who shows up in the Final to put Pittsburgh over the top. It’s more about not having a reliance on the top players. If the Penguins have to lean on Crosby, Malkin and Kessel for scoring, then this will be a tough task. Nashville forced Chicago to put heavy workloads on Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Artemi Panarin in an effort to find some form of offense, but never did. Their tremendous depth scoring in the regular season disappeared in the four-game sweep by the Predators.

If the Penguins continue to get depth scoring, it’s going to be hard to see anyone else finding a way to beat them this postseason.

Nashville Predators

How They Got Here

The ultimate underdog in these playoffs was really a two-team race. One team bowed out in double-overtime on Thursday night. So if anyone is going to unseat the reigning champions, it’s going to be the one underdog team left standing.

Chicago was a favorite entering the playoffs to win the Stanley Cup. They didn’t even win a game. The Nashville Predators pulled off a stunner and from there the race was on.

The Predators faced some bumps and bruises along the way, and not minimal ones.

Kevin Fiala scored the game-winning goal in Game 3 against the Blackhawks and was lost for the rest of the playoffs with a fractured femur in Game 1 against the Blues. Ryan Johansen was a warrior throughout the playoffs and the team’s leading scorer. After the Predators lost Game 4 to the Ducks, Johansen needed an emergency surgery and was lost for the remainder of the playoffs. Captain Mike Fisher missed Games 5 and 6.

This team has been battered, but they are here.

The reason they are here is one of the more active and consistent defensive units, depth players rising to the occasion and their goalie.

Defensively, this is the model team. The Predators have four defensemen — Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm — that are capable of playing big minutes, can handle the puck, can get involved in the offense and are still equally as responsible on defense.

Depth scoring in the clutch has also been key. When the Predators were without Johansen and Fisher for Game 6 against the Ducks, Colton Sissons stepped in and scored a hat trick while serving as the team’s top-line center — not his usual role, but duty called.

In fact, look at the four game-winning goals from the series against the Ducks — James Neal in overtime in Game 1, Josi in Game 3, Pontus Aberg in Game 5 and Sissons in Game 6.

In the series against St. Louis, the game-winning goals for Nashville were by Vern Fiddler, Cody McLeod, Neal and Johansen. There aren’t many All-Stars on that list.

And finally, there is Pekka Rinne. Rinne had two shutouts and allowed three goals against Chicago. In Round 2 against the Blues, Rinne allowed 11 goals in six games. In the conference final against Anaheim, Rinne allowed 14 goals in six games. His numbers are astounding, a 1.70 GAA and .941 save percentage.

This is a team that has believed in themselves since Day 1 and had to defy the odds to get there. They’ll have to defy the odds one more time to become Stanley Cup champions for the first time in franchise history.

Related: Predators Advance to 1st Stanley Cup Final in Franchise History

Conn Smythe Leaders

It’s Rinne. There really is no one else that comes close.

But if there has to be a second-place player, Filip Forsberg has emerged as a budding star in the NHL during these playoffs, leading the team with 15 points. Forsberg is having the type of offensive performance that would make him a runaway with the Conn Smythe…if his goalie wasn’t stealing the show.

What the Predators Need to Do to Win

Success for Nashville in this series is going to start with Rinne’s performance. He’s been the catalyst for the Predators success and the series against Chicago that started it all would have been a lot different if Rinne wasn’t a brick wall in the series.

Pittsburgh is going to throw the kitchen sink at Rinne in this series. It’s what they do. They have players who can score, some certainly better than others at it, but there is no lack of trying from anyone. Rinne needs to be sharp to be the difference-maker in this series.

Related: Former Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette Joining Elite Group of Coaches

For the rest of the Predators, they need to channel what made them successful against Chicago. St. Louis and Anaheim weren’t going to pack the scoring punch that Chicago did on paper, but Pittsburgh has four quality lines that can all put the puck in the net.

Against Chicago, the Predators really let the game come to them. They got help from their goaltender along the way, several times at that, but they very much employed a similar style to Ottawa. Apply smart use of defensemen in the offensive zone, play with a defense-first mentality without sitting back too much and the Predators should get their chances.

Nashville doesn’t have one or two players like a Crosby or Malkin that you can pin a lot of weight on when it comes to scoring. This is just going to be about opportunities and which player for Nashville has the opportunity presented to him. Finishing those chances will be the key.