Suspect charged after Vancouver car ramming leaves 11 dead    Suspect in killing of general claims he was paid by Ukraine    North Korea confirms troop deployment to Russia for first time    Rock & Roll Hall of Fame picks Outkast but not Oasis    400-800 year old giant coral colony discovered within AMAALA waters in the Red Sea    Makkah police arrest Yemeni and Egyptian suspects of fake Hajj campaign    Kafalah grants 1,900 loan guarantees worth over SR4.8 billion to SMEs during 1Q 2025    Council of Senior Scholars reaffirms performing Hajj without a permit is a sinful act    HR Ministry launches 'Ajeer Al-Hajj' service for seasonal work during Hajj 2025    stc reports strong first-quarter 2025 results with 11% rise in net profit    King and Crown Prince offer condolence to Iranian president over the deadly port explosion    Saudi Awwal Bank records SR2.1 billion net profit after zakat and income tax for 1Q25    Virgin Atlantic celebrates one month of nonstop service between London and Riyadh    Al Ahli cruise past Buriram into AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Duran leads Al Nassr past Yokohama Marinos into AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Saudi orchestra to perform at Sydney Opera House in May    Al Hilal thrash Gwangju to reach AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Saudi Theater Commission launches its Work and Learn Project in UK    The season has begun — and one comment shook us all    Average life expectancy in Saudi Arabia rises to78.8 years    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar dies at 87    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Penguins head home upbeat despite loss
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 08 - 06 - 2017

The goals that came so easily to the Pittsburgh Penguins during the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final — the ones that arrived in bunches and seemed to signal an emphatic end to Pekka Rinne's spectacular playoff run — have disappeared.
Across six periods in Nashville, the NHL's highest-scoring team managed to beat Rinne just twice as the Predators rallied to tie the series. Yet Penguins coach Mike Sullivan hardly seems frustrated heading into Game 5 Thursday night back home in Pittsburgh.
Sullivan is 7-0 in series with the Penguins, and the way he sees it, his team's inability to solve Rinne in Games 3 and 4 had little to do with lack of effort or opportunities. It had everything to do with a remarkable performance by the 34-year-old goaltender.
Where do you want to start? With Rinne's no-look left pad stop on Jake Guentzel early in the second period of a tie game on Monday night? Maybe the one about a minute later when Rinne denied Chris Kunitz on a breakaway?
Or maybe the diving blocker stop on Guentzel just before the midway point, the one that preserved Nashville's lead on the way to a 4-1 victory?
Sullivan understands it's easy to look at the result and be discouraged. That's not his job. The coach who has made "play the right way" part of the franchise's lexicon is more focused on the process. The Penguins didn't produce much in Games 1 and 2 and somehow won going away. They "got to their game" (another of Sullivan's favorite mantras) repeatedly in Game 4 only to lose.
It's hockey. It happens.
"We believe that we have some guys that are due to score some goals here," Sullivan said Tuesday. "They've had some high-quality chances, and the puck hasn't gone in the net for the last couple of games. We believe if we continue to try to do the right things out there, we'll score."
Game 4 marked the sixth time in their last 11 games the Penguins have scored just one goal, compared to just twice in 24 playoff games last spring.
Pittsburgh has survived anyway thanks in part to a resilience that has been their hallmark under Sullivan. When limited to one goal during the 2016 postseason, they won the following game. When the Penguins had just three goals during the first three games of the Eastern Conference finals against Ottawa last month, they scored 10 over the next two to take control.
"It just comes down to burying your chances," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who picked up his first goal of the series in Game 4.
Something the Penguins did more than anybody during the regular season when it led the NHL in scoring. Pittsburgh is averaging 3.0 goals per game in the playoffs, the same as the Predators. It's not a coincidence they're the last two teams standing, both two wins away from a championship.
What the Penguins are saying now sounds an awful lot like what the Predators were saying after coming up empty in Pittsburgh to start the final. Nashville was every bit the defending champ's equal in the opening two games only to be undone by a pair of dominant bursts by the Penguins. The Predators weren't shaken then, much like the Penguins aren't shaken now.
"I know it's a nasty hole to be in," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said Tuesday. "But we really liked the way we played in Game 1. We thought we played a real competitive game in Game 2. Could have had results in both those games."
While Pittsburgh center Matt Cullen said there are no moral victories during the postseason, the way the Penguins were able to generate odd-man rushes and stretch the ice were encouraging. They got the puck everywhere it needed to go, just not in the net. Though that style also generated opportunities for the Predators at the other end, don't expect Pittsburgh to try and rein it in. That's now how they got to the cusp off back-to-back titles.
"If anything we just need to press a little more," Cullen said.
Well, everything except the panic button. Though Sullivan experimented liberally with his line combinations — something he frequently does when trying to break the Penguins out of a funk — there appear to be no plans to make a change in net.
Asked twice Tuesday if he planned on reevaluating his goaltending situation after Matt Murray allowed eight goals in Nashville, Sullivan stressed "we haven't lost games because of our goaltending."
The issues have been at the other end of the ice, where Rinne suddenly has his groove back. For now anyway. If the first four games of an unpredictable series have dictated anything, it's that momentum is just one shot away.
"We found a different level (in Game 4)," Crosby said. "If we continue to get those chances, they'll go in for us." — AP


Clic here to read the story from its source.