The Penguins closed to within one victory of claiming their second straight Stanley Cup championship with a 6-0 shutout of the Nashville Predators Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Pittsburgh leads the best-of-7 series, 3-2, with Game 6 at Nashville on Sunday. They won Game 5 after losing Games 3 and 4 at Nashville.
Matt Murray stopped 24 shots for his second shutout of the playoffs, while Sidney Crosby recorded three assists and has 27 points in the postseason.
The Penguins scored three goals by Justin Schultz, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin in the first period.
The Penguins have won each of their previous four championships on the road. They won the Cup last season with a 3-1 victory against the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 at SAP Center.
Team Notes:
· Pittsburgh established a franchise record by winning its 10th playoff home game of the season, allowing the Pens to take a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.
· The Penguins are 19-7 at home in the playoffs over the past two seasons, with the 19 home wins the most in the NHL during that span. Only the 2008-09 Detroit Red Wings and the 1987-88 Edmonton Oilers (20 each) have more home wins in a two-year span in league history.
· The Penguins are 13-4 all-time at home in the Stanley Cup Final after recording their sixth-straight playoff home win in Game 5.
· Tonight marked the fourth different occasion since 1967 that a team has won a Stanley Cup Final game by six or more goals. Others include the Penguins in 1991, the Colorado Avalanche in 1996, and the Boston Bruins in 2011.
· Pittsburgh had six different goal scorers and twelve different players record a point.
· The Penguins’ four shutouts established a new team record for shutouts in a single postseason (Marc-Andre Fleury, 2; Matt Murray, 2).
· Pittsburgh’s 26 home playoff games over the last two seasons are the most by any NHL team in a two-year stretch.
· Tonight was the Penguins’ 48th overall playoff game over the past two years, which tied the 2000-01 New Jersey Devils for the most in a two-year span in NHL history.
· Pittsburgh is 14-3 all-time in the playoffs under head coach Mike Sullivan following a loss. The Pens have never lost three-straight playoff games under his direction.
· Pittsburgh has won 67 of its last 90 games at PPG Paints Arena (regular season and playoffs).
Player Notes:
· Sidney Crosby extended his point streak to three games (1G-4A) with three assists tonight. Crosby now has 20 career Stanley Cup Final points (4G-16A), which surpassed Mario Lemieux for most in franchise history.
· Crosby recorded his 56th career playoff multi-point game, tying him with Glenn Anderson and Paul Coffey for fourth-most in NHL playoff history (Courtesy: TSN’s Kevin Gibson).
· It is the second time in the Stanley Cup Final Crosby has had a point streak of three games or more (previously May 28, 2008-June 4, 2008).
· Crosby’s three assists tied Peter Forsberg for 20th place on the NHL’s all-time postseason assists list with 107.
· With his assist on Conor Sheary’s goal, Jake Guentzel tied Dino Ciccarelli (MNS, 1981) and Ville Leino (PHI, 2010) for most points in a single playoff year by a rookie (21) in NHL history.
· Evgeni Malkin scored his 10th goal of the postseason with 10.2 seconds remaining in the first period and later added an assist. Malkin leads the NHL with 28 points (10G-18A) in the playoffs.
· Matt Murray made 24 saves for his second shutout of the postseason and third of his career in the playoffs. His seven victories in the Stanley Cup Final tied Tom Barrasso for most in Penguins playoff history.
· Phil Kessel recorded his sixth multiple-point game of the postseason (1G-2A). It is the third time this postseason that he has registered three points in a game.
· Justin Schultz opened the scoring on the power play. His seven power-play points this postseason lead all NHL defensemen. He now has four points (2G-2A) over his last four home games.
· After his first period tally, 10 of Bryan Rust’s 13 career playoff goals have come at home.
· On his 25th birthday, Conor Sheary notched his 4th career Stanley Cup Final goal.
· Ron Hainsey notched his first career Stanley Cup Final goal and second goal of the postseason. His assist marked his first career playoff multi-point game.
· Patric Hornqvist recorded his first career Stanley Cup Final assist. He now has 2G-1A in 11 career Final games.
· Olli Maatta established a new career-high in postseason points, eight, with an assist on Kessel’s goal.
