Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Pekka Rinne and the Nashville Predators are very hard to beat on their own ice this postseason, and now they have added their biggest piece of franchise history yet.

A victory in the Stanley Cup Final.

The embattled Rinne not only started, he made 27 saves. Roman Josi and Frederick Gaudreau scored 42 seconds apart in the second period, and the Predators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 Saturday night to pull within 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

The Predators capped the biggest party in Nashville history with a victory that gave thousands of fans inside and outside of the arena reason to celebrate with even country star Keith Urban and wife, actress Nicole Kidman, high-fiving.

And credit Rinne for coming through with a very stingy performance and improving to 8-1 in Nashville this postseason.

The Predators call the 6-foot-5 Finn their backbone, yet critics wanted him benched after looking so shaky in the first two games in Pittsburgh giving up eight goals on just 36 shots. Coach Peter Laviolette benched him in the third period of Game 2 when Rinne gave up three goals in the first 3:28 of a 4-1 loss.

Josi also had two assists. James Neal, Craig Smith and Mattias Ekholm also scored for Nashville as the Predators worked out some frustration against the Pens.

''Like our team has done the whole playoffs against Chicago, St. Louis, Anaheim, we showed really good composure,'' said Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban, who had predicted a win in Game 3. ''We're going to take that into the next game.''

Game 4 is Monday night.

Jake Guentzel scored his 13th goal this postseason and fourth of this series for Pittsburgh and now is one off Dino Ciccarelli's rookie record of 14 in 1981 for Minnesota. Guentzel, already with two game-winning goals in the series, put the Penguins up 1-0 on their second shot with a wrister off a rebound of Ian Cole that beat Rinne just 2:46 into the game.

Rinne stopped the next 26 shots for the victory and the party continued into the night.

Laviolette stuck with Rinne after lots of questions about his goalie, though he did sit veterans Cody McLeod and Vern Fiddler to get more speed with Harry Zolnierczyk and P.A. Parenteau. Pittsburgh forward Carl Hagelin played for the first time with center Nick Bonino out after taking a Subban slap shot off his left foot in Game 2 that left him on crutches and in a walking boot.

Matt Murray extended his scoreless streak to 72:54 with the Pittsburgh goalie looking ready to notch his 21st playoff win. Then he gave up five goals in the span of 15 shots.

The Predators got it started with a three-goal flurry in the second.

Josi scored his sixth goal off a slap shot at 5:51, tying it at 1-1 and finally giving nervous fans something to enjoy. Then Gaudreau, who scored his first career NHL goal in Game 1, scored 42 seconds later to put Nashville ahead with his wrister from the high slot, taking advantage of a screen by Penguins defenseman Cole to beat Murray glove-side.

Just after that go-ahead goal, the Penguins had a rush on Rinne, and the three-time Vezina Trophy finalist made back-to-back big saves. First, he stopped Phil Kessel's wrister from the right circle. The rebound bounced back into the slot, and Rinne made a save on Chris Kunitz with an assist from Subban sliding over to help.

Neal made it 3-1 with 22.6 seconds left in the second, banking the puck off Murray's left arm for his first goal in the series and sixth of the playoffs. Smith's goal on a breakaway at 4:54 was his first of the playoffs, and Ekholm padded the lead with a power-play goal with 6:50 left.

Notes: Smith is the 18th different Nashville player to score a goal this postseason. ... The Penguins went 0 of 3 on the power play and now are 1 of 13 in this series. ... With an assist, Sidney Crosby now has 160 career playoff points (56 goals, 104 assists) and tied Mike Bossy, Gordie Howe, Bobby Smith and Al MacInnis for 20th all-time.

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Two people with knowledge of the situation say the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs will play an outdoor game at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, next season.

The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Saturday because the NHL had not announced the event. The game is scheduled to be played March 3 at the 34,000-seat Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium that hosts Navy football games.

It's the first NHL outdoor game to take place at a U.S. service academy. It's the third outdoor game for Washington and Toronto.

The New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres will play in the 2018 Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at Citi Field in New York.

NHL Network revealed on air that the league would announce a game at Navy on Monday.

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OTTAWA, Ontario - Mike Hoffman scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period to give the Ottawa Senators a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night and force a decisive Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Bobby Ryan also scored a rare power-play goal for Ottawa and Craig Anderson stopped 44 shots.

Evgeni Malkin gave Pittsburgh, vying for its second straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, the lead early in the second period and Matt Murray finished with 28 saves.

Game 7 is Thursday night in Pittsburgh, with the winner advancing to face the Nashville Predators for the championship.

The Senators managed to quickly forget a 7-0 loss two days earlier in Game 5 and extend their season for one more shoot at a return to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 10 years. and land one more shot at a first Stanley Cup final appearance in 10 years.

Ottawa was primarily looking for a return to structure in Game 6, beginning with a smoother start - which they got. Notable in a scoreless opening period were two effective penalty kills, one of which saw Viktor Stalberg get the best opportunity short-handed.

Pittsburgh had four shots with the man advantage, but Anderson stopped them all. The 35-year-old struggled through Games 4 and 5 - allowing seven goals - but it was evident early that he had his game back in this one. He stopped Nick Bonino off a rebound in transition, Scott Wilson off a deflected shot by Phil Kessel, and Bonino again when Kyle Turris gave the puck away.

Murray was also sharp. The 22-year-old, who replaced Marc-Andre Fleury after Game 3, made maybe his finest save of the first on Derick Brassard, who found an open lane down the middle of the ice following a pass from Ryan.

The Penguins appeared to have opened the scoring just over three minutes into the second, but Trevor Daley was deemed to have interfered with Anderson following an Ottawa challenge.

Less than two minutes later though, Pittsburgh took the 1-0 lead anyway off a few moments of brilliance from Malkin. The playoff scoring leading (24 points) bounced off a check from Zack Smith behind the goal and after being stopped on his drive to the net, followed up with a nifty backhand rebound to beat Anderson.

It was the 153rd career playoff point in 142 games for Malkin - three back of Sidney Crosby for second among active players behind Jaromir Jagr - who had been jarring with Hoffman a few minutes earlier.

The Senators had little going until a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage for 1:24 just past the midway point of the period. The Ottawa power play, which had gone 0 for 29 in the previous 10 games, came through with Ryan ultimately wiring a one-timer short-side to tie the score.

It was the sixth goal and 15th point of the playoffs for Ryan, who is second on the Senators behind captain Erik Karlsson (16 points).

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Colton Sissons scored his third goal with 6:00 left, ensuring the Nashville Predators' magical postseason now includes the franchise's first trip to the Stanley Cup Final after eliminating the Anaheim Ducks with a 6-3 win in Game 6 on Monday night.

The Predators, who've never won even a division title in their 19-year history, came in with the fewest points of any team in these playoffs.

Now they've swept the West's No. 1 seed in Chicago, downed St. Louis in six in the second round and then the Pacific Division champ in six games. Peter Laviolette became the fourth coach to take three different teams to the Final, and the first since the playoffs split into conference play in 1994.

The Predators will play either defending champion Pittsburgh or Ottawa for the Stanley Cup. Game 1 is next Monday.

Anaheim lost in the conference finals for the second time in three years.

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PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins are one win away from a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

The defending champions pounced on the Ottawa Senators early in a 7-0 demolition in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday to take a 3-2 series lead. Sidney Crosby scored for a third consecutive game as part of a four-goal first period in which the Penguins twice chased goalie Craig Anderson.

Bryan Rust had a goal and an assist in his return from a concussion. Olli Maatta and Scott Wilson also beat Anderson in the first period. Matt Cullen scored his second of the playoffs, and Phil Kessel his seventh.

Matt Murray stopped 21 shots to win his second straight start following a six-week injury layoff. Game 6 is Tuesday night in Ottawa.

Anderson was pulled briefly after the Penguins went up 3-0 in the first and removed for good to start the second period. He stopped 10 of 14 shots he faced on his 36th birthday.

The Penguins appeared to hit their stride during a 3-2 victory in Ottawa on Friday night in Game 4, playing with the kind of speed and intensity that fueled their run to the franchise's fourth Cup last June. Still, they stressed the importance of finding a way to keep it going in a series that saw the teams alternate wins and losses through the first four games.

The momentum Pittsburgh generated did more than carry over. It crushed the Senators completely.

Rust watched Games 3 and 4 while recovering from a concussion suffered during an open-ice collision with Dion Phaneuf in Game 2. Coach Mike Sullivan placed him on the third line with Nick Bonino and Carter Rowney, and the impact was immediate.

Rust set up Maatta's opening goal by grabbing a loose puck in the Ottawa zone - a common occurrence during the Senators' nightmarish first period - then dropping it to Maaatta. The defenseman who scored just once during the regular season zipped home his second in two games 8:14 into the first.

The Penguins were just getting started. Crosby redirected Trevor Daley's shot past Anderson on the power play 12:03 into the first, and Rust did the same on a shot by Bonino with 3:56 left in the period.

Ottawa coach Guy Boucher briefly removed Anderson in favor of Mike Condon only to return Anderson about 90 seconds later. It didn't help. The player perhaps most vital to the Senators' first appearance in the conference finals in a decade let Wilson bank a shot from behind the goal line off him and into the net to make it 4-0.

Condon came on for Anderson in the second but it didn't exactly provide a jolt. Cullen scored off a centering pass from Mark Streit to make it 5-0 just 1:54 into the second and the Penguins kept pouring it on.

The Senators head back home on the brink of elimination for the first time in their postseason. They head home a little dinged up too. Defenseman Erik Karlsson, playing with a pair of hairline fractures in his left heel, sat out the last 25 minutes after colliding with Wilson. Forward Derick Brassard and defenseman Cody Ceci also skipped the third period, leaving the final 20 minutes as little more than a glorified exhibition.

NOTES: The Senators went 0 for 4 on the power play and are 0 for 29 in their last 29 chances with the man advantage. The Penguins were 3 for 3. ... Crosby's assist on Kessel's goal gave him 100 career playoff assists. He's the 22nd player in NHL history to reach that milestone. ... Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin played in his 141st postseason game, surpassing Jaromir Jagr for the most in franchise history. ... The Penguins scratched D Justin Schultz (upper body) and F Patric Hornqvist (upper body). F Conor Sheary was a healthy scratch. ... Rowney had three assists for Pittsburgh.

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OTTAWA, Ontario - Marc Methot, Derick Brassard, and Zack Smith scored in a 2:18 span midway through the first period to chase goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and the Ottawa Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

Mike Hoffman opened the scoring 48 seconds in, and the Senators blew it open against the sluggish Penguins a few minutes later with the fastest three goals in team playoff history. Kyle Turris made it 5-0 late in the second period.

Sidney Crosby ended Craig Anderson's shutout bid with a power-play goal in the third. Pittsburgh has scored a goal in each game in the series, dropping the opener 2-1 in overtime and winning the second 1-0.

Anderson finished with 25 saves. Fleury allowed four goals on nine shots, and Matthew Murray made 19 saves in relief.

Game 4 is Friday night in Ottawa.

Hosting their first Eastern Conference final game in 10 years, the Sens came out flying. Hoffman got it going by capitalizing on Turris' shot that bounced awkwardly wide of the goal. Hoffman stuffed the shot, standing to the left of the goal, just between the post and right pad of Fleury.

Brassard got the first of three when he snatched Erik Karlsson's dump-in and swung wide of the Pittsburgh goal. Bobby Ryan eventually gained possession down low and found Methot with a crafty pass. While his initial shot was stopped, the rebound bounced off Penguins defenseman Ian Cole and into the net. It was the second goal of the playoffs for Methot after he went scoreless in 68 games during the regular season.

Brassard added his fourth of the postseason less than two minutes later, taking advantage of the Senators' offensive-zone pressure before slipping behind the aging Mark Streit for the shot that beat Fleury.

Streit was making his playoff debut for the increasingly battered Pens, who lost Justin Schultz and Bryan Rust to upper-body injuries in Game 2. Pittsburgh, which did get Trevor Daley back from injury, also remained without injured winger Patric Hornqvist as well as No. 1 defenseman Kris Letang, who's out for the season with a neck ailment.

Apparent miscommunication between the 39-year-old Streit and Cole led to Cole throwing the puck away shortly before Brassard's goal.

Ottawa, looking crisp and confident, finished the flurry 24 seconds after Brassard's goal, with Smith beating Fleury on a wraparound, chasing Fleury from the game.

In question now is whether coach Mike Sullivan turns to Murray, who helped deliver the Pens a Cup last season and was excellent in his first full NHL season, for Game 4 or goes back to Fleury.

The crowd was delirious throughout the one-sided win and all the more so when their team got under the skin of the Penguins. At one point late in the first, Dion Phaneuf leveled former Maple Leafs teammate Phil Kessel. Ryan came by with a shove seconds later as Kessel waved his stick in the air at the Sens winger in apparent frustration.

Towel-waving fans chanted Kessel's name and later cheered as Mark Stone mixed it up with Evgeni Malkin.

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ANAHEIM, Calif. - Nick Ritchie scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, and the Anaheim Ducks roared back from an early two-goal deficit to even the Western Conference finals with a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game 2 on Sunday night.

Jakob Silfverberg, Sami Vatanen and Ondrej Kase also scored while the Ducks cracked imposing goalie Pekka Rinne with a thrilling surge of four goals in less than 19 minutes. The Predators hadn't allowed four goals in any game during their excellent Stanley Cup playoff run before Anaheim finally got rolling for its sellout crowd.

John Gibson stopped 30 shots, and Antoine Vermette had an empty-net goal for the Ducks.

Ryan Johansen, James Neal and Filip Forsberg scored for the Predators.

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Nashville.

Rinne made 22 saves for the Predators, and faced relatively little adversity while steamrolling Chicago and St. Louis in the first two rounds on the way to the first conference finals in franchise history.

Two days after Nashville's 3-2 overtime victory at Honda Center in the series opener, Johansen and Neal scored in the opening 8:32 of Game 2.

The Ducks finally awakened at the prospect of their second straight 0-2 series deficit and replied with high-octane hockey - and a few fortunate bounces - that was too much even for Rinne, who hadn't given up four goals in a game since March 13.

Ritchie, the power forward making his first career playoff run, scored the winning goal in Game 7 against Edmonton. Four days later, he got his next major goal on an exceptional high shot that appeared to glance off Rinne's mask on the way in.

Anaheim hung on through a frenetic third period, surviving a few mad scrambles before captain Ryan Getzlaf got his third assist of the night on Vermette's empty-netter. The Ducks also got several good saves from Gibson, who has raised his level of play from the first two rounds.

Although Honda Center was much fuller and louder than it was for the traffic-affected series opener, the Ducks' knack for slow starts at home remained constant.

After Johansen scored on a breakaway just 4:18 in, Neal doubled the lead on a power play with one of the easiest goals in recent history, escorting the puck unimpeded into the net when Gibson completely lost sight of the play.

The now-familiar ominous hush fell over Honda Center, but the Ducks got going in an unlikely scenario. Anaheim's power play was scoreless in 21 straight attempts dating to Game 2 of the second round against Edmonton, but Vatanen beat Rinne cleanly with a slap shot for his first goal of the postseason.

Silfverberg evened it in the opening minute of the second period, cashing in Rickard Rakell's pass on the back side of Rinne for the ninth goal of the Swede's outstanding postseason.

The Predators took another lead when Forsberg cashed in a rebound of a breakaway by speedy Viktor Arvidsson, who had two assists.

The Ducks pulled even again on the first career playoff goal for Kase, the aggressive Czech rookie, who slipped a puck through traffic.

NOTES: The Ducks kept veteran Jared Boll in their lineup over several young prospects to replace injured F Patrick Eaves, who missed his sixth straight game. Boll, who is scoreless in four postseason games, had no goals and three assists in 51 regular-season games. ... Getzlaf has 18 points in the postseason, trailing only Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin (19). ... Mike Trout crossed Katella Avenue to support the Ducks for the second time in three playoff games. The two-time AL MVP homered and stole two bases while the Angels beat Detroit 4-1 earlier in the day.

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