Evgeni Malkin’s line got shut down by P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm in Game 3

P.K. Subban needed to come out and have a great game against the Penguins. The defenseman had guaranteed a Predators victory in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, and they would have little chance of winning unless the star defenseman was at his best.

That’s precisely what happened as Subban and Mattias Ekholm regularly went up against and dominated a Penguins line featuring Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, and Chris Kunitz. The Predators thrived in that star-studded matchup throughout a 5-1 win on Saturday night, proving Subban’s prediction correct after all.

Malkin played roughly 11 minutes of 5-on-5 action in Game 3, and got matched up against Subban and Ekholm for eight of them, per Natural Stat Trick. Whenever Malkin — the league leader in playoff points — was on the ice at even strength, it was all Predators.

Nashville held a 15-4 advantage in shot attempts and a 10-4 advantage in shots on goal when Malkin was on the ice. The 21.1 percent 5-on-5 Corsi was dead last on the team, with his linemates Kessel and Kunitz narrowly ahead of him. When it was Malkin vs. Subban, the Preds led 7-3 in shot attempts and 4-3 in shots on goal.

In the end, it was a terrible game for Malkin. He finished without a shot on goal for the first time since Jan. 12 during the regular season, won just two of nine faceoffs, and posted those disastrous possession numbers.

This is the same guy who recorded goals in the first two games of the series. It shows the power of changing venues, as the Preds fed off the energy of their fans, but also how strong Nashville’s defense can be.

The Predators’ defense affords them luxuries most other teams could only dream of. By assembling two legitimate top-level defensive pairings in Subban-Ekholm and Roman Josi-Ryan Ellis, which handled most of the minutes against the Sidney Crosby line Saturday, they’re able to handle opponents that often create major mismatches.

(Speaking of Crosby, he also didn’t have the best night. The center posted good possession numbers, so he wasn’t getting cratered into his own end like Malkin, but he also failed to record a shot on goal in the game.)

Usually the Penguins force teams to pick their poison because they can only put their best defenders on the ice so much. If you match up with Erik Karlsson against the Crosby line, then the Malkin line is freed up to do major damage against lesser talents. We saw that firsthand earlier in the playoffs.

But the Predators are uniquely equipped to handle a one-two punch like Crosby-Malkin because they have a one-two-three-four defensive punch that’s unmatched in the NHL. It allows Peter Laviolette to comfortably deploy his top four defenseman in the matchups he likes without feeling like he’s losing something elsewhere.

And when you see a Subban-Ekholm pairing beating back a line featuring as much talent as Malkin, Kessel, and Kunitz, it’s encouraging for what Nashville can do in the remainder of this series. You could see the frustration building for Malkin, who eventually took a bad penalty in the third period as things got a little out of control.

The hardest part of beating the Penguins is shutting down their stars. The Predators seem to be onto a formula to keep them in check, and it could be what swings the series in their favor going forward.