New York: Rookie Jake Guentzel scored twice as the Pittsburgh Penguins turned on the heat when needed with three goals in the third period on Wednesday in a 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators in the NHL Stanley Cup finals.
The reigning champion Penguins took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven championship series, which shifts to Nashville for game three on Saturday.
The score was knotted at 1-1 through two periods after goals from Pontus Aberg and Guentzel.
Ten seconds into the third period, Guentzel — who delivered the game-winner in game one — notched his second of the game.
Guentzel collected a long rebound off Bryan Rust’s shot and fired home to make it 2-1.
The Penguins kept them coming. At 3:13 Phil Kessel sent a shot toward the net from the right wing that glanced off teammate Scott Wilson, then hit the skate of Nashville’s Vern Fiddler and went under Predators goalkeeper Pekka Rinne’s pads for a 3-1 lead.
Fifteen seconds later Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin scored off of a two-on-one, lofting a shot over Rinne’s glove to make it 4-1 in the first 3:28 of the third.
Nashville coach Peter Laviolette sent in backup goalie Juuse Saros, Rinne departing after stopping 21 of 25 shots.
Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray stopped 37 of 38.
Aberg was the only one to get past him. Aberg cut in from the left and beat Penguins defenseman Olli Matta, sweeping across above the crease and firing past Murray to put the visitors ahead at 12:57 of the first period.
Guentzel, 22, tied it at 1-1 at 16:36 of the first, his second cut at a rebound of Conor Sheary’s shot making it past Rinne.
