Predators goalie Pekka Rinne beats Penguins at PPG Paints Arena for 1st time

Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne plays a prominent role in one of Jake Guentzel’s greatest professional memories.

On Friday night, he was probably the star of Guentzel’s nightmares as well.

Rinne made 42 saves, including a handful of stops on Guentzel in prime scoring situations, leading the Predators to a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The loss ended a streak of five consecutive games with at least one point in the standings for the Penguins, who were 3-0-2 in that span.

“I had a couple of grade-A chances,” Guentzel said. “You’re hoping you can get one of them in there and change the game.”

The most memorable goal of Guentzel’s career came when he snapped a 3-3 tie by beating Rinne with a shot from the right wing with less than four minutes to go in Game 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final.

The goal was one of many moments Rinne would rather forget when facing the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. Coming into Friday, Rinne was 0-6-0 with a 5.15 goals-against average and .822 save percentage in the building.

Given those numbers, Predators coach Peter Laviolette might have turned to Juuse Saros instead, but the backup goaltender came down with an illness and was unavailable. Pressed into action, Rinne was brilliant, especially while making 22 saves in the first period.

“You know he’s a good goaltender, and any night, you can run into a hot goalie,” Guentzel said. “He was good. Give him credit.”

Hot goaltender notwithstanding, the Penguins have scored a total of 14 goals in their past seven games. They’re 3-2-2 in that stretch.

Coach Mike Sullivan said he’s more concerned with how his team performs on both sides of the puck in low-scoring, late-season games than he is in trying to boost their offensive totals.

“We’ve got to find a comfort level playing in those games,” Sullivan said. “It’s not always about trying to score four or five goals. It’s making sure that we’re hard to play against so we can win a game 2-1 or win a game 3-2.”

The loss further jumbled the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

With four games to go, the Penguins are five points behind first-place Washington and two points back of the second-place Islanders in the Metropolitan Division race. They’re four points up on fourth-place Carolina, which will visit the arena on Sunday.

In the Eastern Conference, the Penguins remain five points ahead of Columbus and Montreal, who are tied for the eighth and final playoff berth.

“We didn’t play badly by any means, but we just gotta have a short memory and move past it,” goalie Matt Murray said.

Captain Sidney Crosby chalked up the loss to a pair of factors.

First, he noted the Penguins were playing catch-up all night because Nashville scored on a Craig Smith tip from the slot less than two minutes in.

“They got a lead and sat on it,” Crosby said.

Second, he pointed out the Penguins lost the special teams battle. Despite putting 15 shots on net during their four power plays, the Penguins didn’t score.

Nashville cashed in on its first power-play chance of the game on a Viktor Arvidsson shot from the left faceoff circle in the second period.

“The power play, special teams, that would have been a big plus if we could have capitalized,” Crosby said.

A minute after Arvidsson’s goal, Guentzel had a chance to make it 2-1 on a breakaway off a diving feed by Patric Hornqvist, but Rinne got a piece of his shot. Par for the course in this one.

“You know it’s going to be a battle from now on in,” Guentzel said. “There’s not much room. You’ve got to find different ways to score.”