Stanley Cup Final: Nashville Predators May Have History On Their Side

NASHVILLE, TN — Spirits are a little low in Smashville after the Pittsburgh Penguins routed the Nashville Predators 6-0 Thursday in the Steel City to take a 3-2 series lead in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final. The Preds now need to win Game 6 at home Sunday and then pull off a Game 7 win Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena to bring the Stanley Cup to Music City.

This is the first time the Preds have faced elimination in this year's playoffs and there's no sugar-coating it: their backs are against the wall. But a review of the history of the Stanley Cup Final indicates that things may not be as dire as they seem. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

In Stanley Cup Final series with a 2-2-1-1-1 format — in other words, where each team hosts two games each and then alternate the final three — teams have entered Game 5 all square with each team winning twice on home ice 12 times including this year. The team hosting Game 5 is now 12-0 after Pittsburgh's win.

In five of those games, the home team has won by shutout, as Pittsburgh did. But only one of the previous four teams has gone on to win the Cup. Indeed, the only three teams that have gone on to lose the Cup are teams that won Game 5 in a shutout at home.

The lone successful team was the 1965 Montreal Canadiens. After splitting the first four games, the Habs won Game 5 6-0 at the old Montreal Forum. Their opponent, the Chicago Black Hawks (the team would drop the infixed space in its nickname in 1986), won Game 6 in the Windy City 2-1, before Montreal won the Cup at home with a 4-0 win in Game 7.

In 1971, the same two teams squared off and again split the first four games. This time it was the Hawks with the shutout in Game 5, winning 2-0. Montreal would then win two one-goal games — 4-3 at home in Game 6 and 3-2 in Chicago in Game 7 — to win the Cup once again.

In 2009, after splitting with Pittsburgh in the first quartet of games, the Detroit Red Wings shut out the Pens 5-0 in Detroit in Game 5, but Pittsburgh won each of the final two games 2-1 to take home the NHL's top prize.

Two years later, the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks were knotted at two games apiece before the Canucks won Game 5 1-0 at home. The Bruins, though, responded with two dominant performances: a 5-2 win in Boston and a 4-0 Game 7 win in Vancouver to win the Cup.