Predators’ latest goalie crisis could cost them the Stanley Cup

Ask any team without a true No. 1 goaltender how their anxiety level is on any given day. Eventually they’ll give you an answer after their pupils un-dilate, their hands stop shaking, and they stop giggling silently to themselves.

In short: goalie problems in hockey are hell.

And goalie problems in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final are a special kind of hockey hell.

That’s the inferno the Nashville Predators find themselves perilously perched above after Pekka Rinne’s meltdown in Game 5. The positivity of two straight home wins lies shattered after the Pittsburgh Penguins iced away a 6-0 win, sending the Predators back home needing an answer to force a deciding Game 7.

And it’s anyone’s guess who’ll start in the Predators’ net. Unlike those nerve-racked teams I alluded to above, the Predators know who their No. 1 goalie is. It’s Rinne. And he’s gone from Conn Smythe favorite to emotional torturer in this series for Nashville. Rinne’s first two games were abysmal as regression arrived unannounced. Then he suddenly turned on a dime in Games 3 & 4.

The Game 5 collapse leaves the Predators without much confidence in Rinne and no room for error. Starting Juuse Saros is still an option, but trusting a rookie with that start is as much of a sure thing as hoping Good Rinne shows up in an elimination game.

It’s times like these where you feel good about being a fan or blogger and not the head coach of a Stanley Cup Final team. Nothing about the upcoming decision for Nashville coach Peter Laviolette is envious. This is the hockey equivalent of Arzt handling decades-old dynamite in Lost.

Allow me to translate his final speech into hockey terms.

Dynamite A Stanley Cup Final team relies on nitroglycerin a goalie stabilized by clay play. Nitroglycerin Goalies is are the most dangerous and unstable explosive hockey players known to man. Did you hear about the guy team who invented nitroglycerin goalies? He They blew his their freakin’ face off chance at a Stanley Cup. His lab assistant Their fans came in the next morning, found his boss’ body their eliminated team, and said, “Huh. I guess this stuff works we should’ve started the other guy.”

Exactly. Thank you, Dr. Arzt.

Nashville’s Game 6 goalie choice is between the stick of dynamite you think you know the best or the stick of dynamite nobody’s really tested before. Home-ice advantage or not, there’s no saving the Predators’ Stanley Cup hopes if their choice blows up in their face.