Pittsburgh Penguins score 3 goals in just over 3 minutes, break open Game 2

The Penguins and Predators went into the second intermission of Game 2 tied 1-1. That didn’t last long in the third period.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have skated away from the Nashville Predators and Pekka Rinne in the third period of Game 2.

The Penguins scored three goals in three minutes in the third period to make the score 4-1, a tough score to come back from for Nashville.

Jake Guentzel scored his 12th goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, two away from tying the rookie record, to put the Pittsburgh Penguins up 2-1. Guentzel pounced on a rebound from Pekka Rinne, and just passed it into the net past the goaltender.

The third goal from the Pittsburgh Penguins was manufactured with a bit of luck. Scott Wilson, who had two goals and three assists through 16 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, slung the puck in front of the Nashville net, deflected it off Vernon Fiddler, and it went past Rinne to make it 3-1 for the Penguins.

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The Penguins didn’t stop there. Conn Smythe Trophy candidate Evgeni Malkin decided to get in on the action in the third shortly after Guentzel made it 2-1 and Scott Wilson made it 3-1. Malkin, in typically smooth fashion, slung the puck in the net over the glove hand of Rinne, hitting the top shelf. That was Malkin’s ninth goal of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. That goal made it 4-1, and made it tough for the Preds to not go back to Tennessee down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Guentzel is now just two goals shy of the rookie record. Malkin’s goal was his ninth of the playoffs, and 26th point in 21 games, putting him in with a good chance at the Conn Smythe if the Pittsburgh Penguins ultimately win Lord Stanley’s Cup.