• Who: Penguins (9-5-3) vs. Predators (5-9-4)
• What: NHL regular season, Game 18
• When: 2:15 p.m. Eastern
• Where: Avicii Arena
• Goaltenders: Arturs Silovs (4-2-3, .916 SV%) vs. Juuse Saros (5-6-3, .892 SV%)
• TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh, NHL Network (national)
• Stream: SNP360 (local)
• Radio: Penguins Radio Network
• Boxscore: NHL.com
• Media notes: Penguins | Predators
► FOLLOW ALONG
• GOAL: Predators scores less than a minute into OT on a partial break for Steven Stamkos. Predators, 2-1
• Overtime.
• GOAL: Predators tie it with 1:10 left with the extra man, right off the faceoff. Filip Forsberg. Tie, 1-1
• Predators call timeout.
• Two minutes left.
• Four minutes left. Quiet period, going by quick.
• Predators have four rebound attempts so far. Not exceptionally good or bad.
• Forgot to mention awhile ago but they did put the defense pairings back to normal.
• One of the road games this season, I can’t remember which one, Arturs Silovs said he thanks the posts after stuff like that. I asked him what language he speaks to them and he couldn’t remember.
• The fake press box is in the middle of an actual section where fans sit. A couple of younger ones just realized at the TV timeout that Patric Hornqvist is right there and were freaking out.
• No “Hey, stop and take a look at that” horn from the league yet, so I guess that was definitely out.
• Predators hit iron. I thought that went in from here, though that’s the far end of the fake press box where it’s hard to see.
• Still no shots three minutes in.
• Third period is underway.
• Ben Kindel is the only Penguin with an xGF% over 50%, at 52.50%. In terms of shot attempt share, Parker Wotherspoon has 50% and Erik Karlsson 55%.
• Half of the Penguins’ 10 shots are from the second line — Evgeni Malkin (3) and Anthony Mantha (2).
• Minor scuffle in the Penguins’ end at the end of the period. Mostly just heated words exchanged. Seemed like Matt Dumba was at the center of it from the Penguins’ side.
• End of the second, and Evgeni Malkin‘s weird bounce has the Penguins up 1-0. Shots are 20-10 Penguins. Shots that period were 12-2 Predators, but Penguins had the only one that mattered.
• Nice clear in front of the net in the final seconds of the period from Ryan Graves.
• GOAL: Evgeni Malkin gets the Penguins going from behind the net, it deflected off a Predator and in. I don’t know if I’ve seen him that happy to score in awhile. Matt Dumba did bicep curls in celebration, I don’t know what that is. But he set it up. That was only their second shot of this period and it came with 6:11 left. Penguins 1, Predators 0
• Ryan Shea and Kris Letang were the ones on their off sides, by the way.
• Weird: Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang are getting time on a pair together. Then Parker Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea come out as the next pair.
• Yeah this is bad. One team dominating in the chances from the net-front, one team can’t get anything off from there at all:
• Nine minutes into this period and Penguins have one shot. Predators have seven. Not ideal.
• Ben Kindel is back out there. He’s been taking a beating every other game, it seems. His face shows it.
• Arturs Silovs robs Justin Barron on a long breakaway.
• Ben Kindel was up talking to an athletic trainer for awhile but it looks like he’ll stay.
• End of the power play.
• Oh, no. Ben Kindel is hurt. He got hit with a Predators stick in the mouth, He immediately threw his glove off and skated to the bench hunched over. No call. Sidney Crosby had words for officials, but they say it was a follow through.
• Penguins go back on the power play with 14:38 left in the second. Justin Barron gets two for high-sticking.
• Bryan Rust is irate over an offside call. Haven’t seen him this mad since yesterday when Evgeni Malkin stole his locker for a few minutes.
• By the way, this is the “home” game for the Predators. So they get last change, the decision on if they shoot first in a shootout, all those little things. Penguins are “home” on Sunday.
• Different start to this period. Predators have the first four shots.
• Big glove save from Arturs Silovs. He adds some flair to it, keeping his arm out as he straightens up.
• Penguins kill the rest of the penalty.
• They’ve got Patric Hornqvist up in the fake press box working on a tiny desk like he’s not an actual legend here, or something.
• Second period is underway.
• The ice didn’t look great that period, by the way. Also not a great sign when the second is about to start and a referee is making ice repairs with a puck.
• The fourth line was the only one that period to not allow a shot on goal, they played just shy of four minutes. Dan Muse has spent the last two days talking about how good Joona Koppanen is defensively (partly because there is a lot of Finnish media here who keeps asking about him).
• One thing to note is that the Penguins really weren’t able to get off much of anything at all from in close that period.
• End of the first period, no score. Shots are tied, eight each. Penguins had a 16-15 lead in shot attempts, Predators had an 11-10 lead in unblocked attempts. Unremarkable period. Penguins have 59 seconds left to kill on the Kris Letang penalty to open the second period.
• Starting the PK: Erik Karlsson, Parker Wotherspoon, Blake Lizotte, Connor Dewar.
• Penguins to the PK with 1:01 left in the first. Kris Letang for roughing.
• Evgeni Malkin with perhaps the best of the Penguins’ chances so far, Juuse Saros kicks it aside.
• Cool to see the various jerseys in the crowd. Tons of NHL teams represented, national jerseys, various teams across Europe.
• Michael Bunting and Connor Dewar with a couple of shoves for each other behind the play. Something to pay attention to.
• OK, not a great power play. Lots of zone time, zero shots. The only shot in those two minutes was Erik Haula on a shorthanded breakaway, which Arturs Silovs stops. It came off a Kris Letang turnover.
• Penguins get the game’s first power play with 13:10 left in the first. Luke Evangelista gets two for interference.
• Really good crowd. Lots of chanting, and cheering for subtle plays. Kind of like what you see in Montreal. Arms going up for perceived missed penalties.
• Arturs Silovs loses his mask making a save.
• Predators get a pair of shots now.
• Five minutes in and the Penguins have the game’s first three shots.
• Warning you now: The wifi here is really bad. It’s just one public, free wifi. Totally fine all week with just media on it. Borderline unusable now. Keep having to get on my hotspot.
• If you’re annoyed that this isn’t on ESPN+, scroll down to the story I just put up. I asked Gary Bettman about the whole streaming setup.
• This is underway.
• Oh, it legitimately is a Swedish model dropping the puck. Not Patric Hornqvist. That’s funny.
• Penguins’ lines and pairings, no surprises. Same as practice:
Bryan Rust – Sidney Crosby – Ben Kindel
Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin – Anthony Mantha
Ville Koivunen – Kevin Hayes – Phil Tomasino
Joona Koppanen – Blake Lizotte – Connor Dewar
Parker Wotherspoon – Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea – Kris Letang
Ryan Graves – Matt Dumba
• Yeah, the Penguins fans significantly outnumber Predators fans. There is an entire section of the lower bowl for Predators’ friends/family, though.
