Not three minutes of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final had elapsed, and Pekka Rinne's hole was dug that much deeper. Jake Guentzel had rammed home a rebound, and the Penguins had rung up their ninth goal on 38 shots against the Predators' franchise goaltender.
What could have been swirling behind that mask at that point?
"I think these first couple games, the beginning of the game, it's been a battle," Rinne would say later. "I think at those moments, you just mentally try to erase your mind, just focus on the next save, remind yourself that you're still in the Final. Life is pretty good."
It's got to look a whole lot better now. Rinne stopped 27 of 28 shots in Nashville's 5-1 romp to finally, finally show up in this series and to reclaim some dignity. He's 34, and he's been respected throughout his decade-long NHL career, but he'd never faced anything approaching the criticism, scrutiny and outright embarrassment that followed Games 1 and 2.
Strikingly, he semi-credited the Penguins for resurrecting his playoff.
"I think the second period helped me," Rinne said of a wild 20 minutes in which Nashville outshot the Penguins, 16-13, but Rinne went undented. "I mean, I was able to see the puck pretty good, make a couple big saves. They started to shoot the puck little bit more. I feel like, for the first three games now, they haven't shot the puck too much. They try to make a lot of plays across the crease, thing like that. Obviously, games like that, it can make things a little bit difficult. But this was a great effort tonight, a great team win."
In particular, Rinne found confidence, he'd attest, through these two saves:
That's a blocker on Phil Kessel, streaking down the right side and ticketing one for the top shelf, followed by a strange shortstop-style backhander with his catching glove on the rebound that popped out to Chris Kunitz.
If that sequence has a familiar feel, it might be because of this pass-off-the-pads special between Bryan Rust and Guentzel in Game 2 back in Pittsburgh:
Be very sure it crossed Rinne's mind even as it occurred.
"Yeah, last game, they connected on the same play," he said. "In practice, you try to do that 30 times. You get maybe four rebounds on your stick. I'm sure they tried to do that. At the same time, I'm not going to change the way I play the game."
Change the way?
Look closely up at the Kunitz save again, and imagine how this remarkably unorthodox veteran could ever change what he does. He's almost always winging it, at least from outward appearance. But that's what's worked for him over the years, and it's what's made him successful enough that his 1-7-2 career record and .854 save percentage against the Penguins stood out as sensationally as they did.
Peter Laviolette, Nashville's coach, had played coy with the media for three days over whether Rinne or 22-year-old backup Juuse Saros would start Game 3. Laviolette's simple stance was that he never discusses the lineup, but he clearly was going for more when he instructed Rinne and Saros to both tell everyone they wouldn't say who's starting, either.
Asked about his goaltending decision after this game, Laviolette shot back at the big room full of reporters, "There was no decision. Yeah, that was just you guys, so. There was no decision on that."
Similarly, Rinne acknowledged he was told right after being pulled in Game 2 that he'd start Game 3.
Laviolette expressed great satisfaction with what he saw Saturday.
"He was terrific," he said of Rinne. "I said it after Game 2. I said he's been the backbone for our team. He's been excellent. His game tonight was rock solid. He saw the puck well. He moved well. He got out and stopped pucks. He set up pucks for our defensemen. He made timely saves. That first goal, that was more like the first two games. It wasn't really his fault. He caught a tipped, knuckling puck that came in and caused a ruckus in front. That's an area where we can do a better job in front of him."
Rinne's teammates were no less effusive.
"It was the same Pekka that everyone's been talking about for a long time now," Ryan Ellis said. "Our belief in him never wavers in this room, and he was unbelievable."
"There's never been a doubt in him whatsoever," Mattias Ekholm said. "Just the way he played tonight was ... what a big way to come back. I don't think he's been bad at all this series. I just think we haven't helped him out a lot. We know that when he sees the puck and there are no tips or rebounds, he's going to save them all."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
[caption id="attachment_321202" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
Penguins vs. Predators, Game 3, Nashville, Tenn., June 3, 2017. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
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