The Penguins will have had three days between games, the Predators a full week.
The Penguins will be without their top defenseman, Kris Letang, the Predators without their top center, Ryan Johansen.
Advantage?
Neither, really. Not on those two counts.
At the Stanley Cup Final media day Sunday at PPG Paints Arena, on the eve of Game 1, I asked a handful of players on the home team about losing out on a couple extra days of rest by allowing the Senators to stretch the Eastern Conference final to seven, and their responses were both predictable and on point:
I could have added a ton more clips to that, and the sentiment would have stayed universal. There's no doubt in my mind that the injured or secretly banged-up players would have benefit from the bonus free time. But there's also no doubt that hockey players loath nothing more than time away from the rink in mid-season. The NHL's misguided bye-week adventure this past regular season proved that conclusively: Teams that came off a bye week went 8-14-4 against teams that weren't. My goodness, it went so badly that even Gary Bettman admitted a mistake.
So the point about rest has real merit, even if it mostly applies to Game 1. And the point about healing injuries also has real merit, even if it mostly applies later in a long series.
It's a wash. No excuses there. Not for either team.
The point about Letang and Johansen, the other possible built-in excuse for either team, is not that the players are comparable. Letang is an elite talent, Johansen a rising talent.
Rather, the point is related to value to the respective team. Everyone in Pittsburgh can attest to that regarding Letang. And in Nashville, a team that's shallow at center, the impact of the loss of Johansen is sure to be roughly equal, given going against an opponent as spectacular at center as the Penguins are at Nos. 1 and 2.
Anything else that might make the series feel even a little unfair before it begins?
Anything at all?
OK, well, barring further injury, here's what I see, boiled down to 10 basic bullets:
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