The Pittsburgh Penguins will play in their first Game 7 since the 2009 Stanley Cup Final when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning in the deciding game of the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night.
The Penguins staved off elimination with a 5-2 win in Game 6 in Tampa Bay. Sidney Crosby led the way for Pittsburgh with a goal and an assist in a vintage performance. The Penguins have won 11 consecutive playoff games in which their captain has scored.
Thursday’s winner will play the Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks (yes, you read that right) in Game 1 of the Cup Final on Monday night.
Here’s a preview of Penguins-Lightning Game 7.
Need to Know
Date/Time: Thursday, May 26, at 8 p.m. ET
TV/Live Stream: NBCSN, NBC Sports Live Extra
Location: Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh
Penguins Player to Watch: Brian Dumoulin, D
Dumoulin emerged as a legit top-pairing defenseman this season, and he has carried that impressive performance into the playoffs. He’s not going to light up the scoresheet — seven points in 17 playoff games — but he plays excellent defense against opponents’ top forwards, logs over 20 minutes per game and starts breakouts with quick, accurate passes out of the defensive zone.
The Penguins should be able to match him up against the Nikita Kucherov-Tyler Johnson duo that has been so productive for the Lightning this series because Pittsburgh has last line change as the home team.
Lightning Player To Watch:Â Nikita Kucherov, RW
Kucherov has been brilliant in the playoffs with 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) in 16 games, ranking fourth in points and second in goals scored this postseason. He has tallied seven points (two goals, five assists) in this series, including a three-point effort in Tampa Bay’s Game 5 overtime win in Pittsburgh.
The Lightning need one more strong performance from Kucherov to reach the Cup Final for the second time in franchise history.
Goaltending Matchup
Matt Murray was back in the Pittsburgh net for Game 6 after Marc-Andre Fleury’s subpar performance in a Game 5 loss. Murray played very well in the first two rounds, but he enters Game 7 with a disappointing .899 save percentage in the conference finals. He didn’t have to make many saves on high-quality scoring chances in Game 6, and he also gave up two goals in the third period. The Penguins can’t rely on Murray to give a stellar performance, so their offense must give him plenty of support.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy entered the series in Game 1 after Ben Bishop got hurt, and he made 25 saves on 26 shots in the win. Since then, Vasilevskiy hasn’t played very well. The Russian netminder has allowed three or more goals in each of the last five games.
Vasilevskiy needs some help from his teammates, too. The Lightning have allowed 81 high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5, with a high-danger scoring chance differential of minus-29 for the series. In Vasilevskiy’s defense, he has an impressive .850 save percentage on these scoring chances.
Cool Stat
Prediction
The Penguins have been the better team in this series. They have dominated puck possession and generated many more scoring chances.
Pittsburgh’s goaltending has been shaky at times, though, and its inability to protect leads is a genuine concern. But if the Pens’ best players — Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, etc. — play like they did in Game 6, it’s hard to imagine them losing at home.
The Lightning must avoid another bad start. They were trailing 2-0 in Game 5 and 3-0 in Game 6.
Our prediction: Penguins 3-2.
Thumbnail photo via Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports Images
