What to Watch For: The all-important first game

Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Matt Murray talks about his injury that led to Marc-Andre Fleury starting and how he thought about the chance of him not playing during the playoffs.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. After seven long weeks of playoff hockey, only two teams remain and the Stanley Cup Final is about to begin.

In one corner, the defending champions from Pittsburgh. In the other, the pesky Predators from Smashville.

Will we see the first team to repeat in 20 years? Or will Nashville deliver its fans the franchise’s first Stanley Cup?

It all starts tonight, in the all-important Game 1.

Here are some things to watch for.

vs.

Game 1, 8 p.m. ET on CBC, Sportsnet and Sportsnet Now

Defence vs. Offence

A quick look at both teams’ rosters and you’ll see a lot of stars. But what sets them apart is the roles those stars play.

For Nashville, their top-four defenceman have been the engine that kept the team moving all playoffs long. Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm and P.K. Subban have been steady, keeping the puck away from goalie Pekka Rinne while finding ways to score.

Add in Matt Irwin and Yannick Weber and the Predators defence so far has combined for 11 goals and 42 points in 16 games.

For the Penguins, injuries to the backend have forced stars like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel to bring as much offence as possible. And so far they have.

Malkin leads all players in the playoffs with 24 points. Crosby is second with 20 and Kessel is tied for third with 19. Rookie Jake Guentzel leads all skaters with nine goals, tied with Anaheim’s Jakob Silfverberg.

The Penguins also lead all teams with 58 goals, 11 more than the Predators in three more games.

Sportsnet’s Dimitri Filipovic wrote about this head-to-head battle between defence and offence. Which of these groups of stars finds success in the final will go a long way towards deciding a champion.

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A tale of two goalies

Like most things in this series, the goaltending matchup is one of opposites. On one side, there’s a veteran goaltender getting his first taste of success. On the other, a young man with a bright future who has only made four playoff starts this year.

And both are really good at their jobs.

Matt Murray was a late addition to the Penguins playoff run. After injuring himself in Game 1 of Round 1 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Murray watched as teammate Marc-Andre Fleury carried the Penguins to the Eastern Conference Finals.

But in Game 3 against the Ottawa Senators, head coach Mike Sullivan gave Fleury the hook and it’s now Murray’s net to lose.

Joining the party late doesn’t make Murray a weakness though. After all, the 23-year-old rookie was a key part of the team’s championship run in 2016. And in his four starts against Ottawa, he was spectacular, even picking up a shutout in Game 5.

If the Penguins are to repeat as champions, Murray will need to be great. And he’s already shown that he can be.

Pekka Rinne, 34, is the longest-serving member of the Predators and has been their MVP all playoffs. His 1.70 goals-against average and .941 save percentage lead all goalies with more than five playoff starts this year. He also has two shutouts and three assists.

Obviously, goalies are the last line of defence and any team that wins the Stanley Cup needs a great one. In this case, both teams have goalies who can take them all the way. Time to see which one can make the one extra save needed to win.

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Does experience matter?

Another thing that sets these two teams apart is playoff experience, but at this stage of the game does that really matter?

The Penguins have 17 players on their roster who played in the Cup-clinching game against the San Jose Sharks one year ago. The Predators have exactly one player with Stanley Cup Final experience. Injured-captain Mike Fisher played five games in the final for the Ottawa Senators exactly 10 years ago.

So there’s a big difference in experience between the teams. But so far these playoffs, the two have matched up really well statistically.

Besides the power play, neither team really holds any advantage so far. So the difference may come down to something as unquantifiable as experience.

The Penguins at least aren’t letting the experience get to their heads. At media day on Sunday, defenceman Trevor Daley told Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas that “Everything gets erased at this time and we all start at the same number. You have to win four games.”

After tonight, one team will only need three.

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