2017 Stanley Cup Final
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Nashville Predators 3 1 5 4 0 0 2 Pittsburgh Penguins 5 4 1 1 6 2 4
Location(s)	Nashville:Bridgestone Arena (3, 4, 6) Pittsburgh:PPG Paints Arena (1, 2, 5)
Coaches	Nashville:Peter Laviolette Pittsburgh:Mike Sullivan
Captains	Nashville:Mike Fisher Pittsburgh:Sidney Crosby
National anthems	Nashville:Martina McBride (Game 3) Nashville:Dierks Bentley (Game 4) Nashville:Faith Hill (Game 6) Pittsburgh:Jeff Jimerson
Referees	Wes McCauley (1, 3, 5) Brad Meier (1, 3, 5) Dan O'Halloran (2, 4, 6) Kevin Pollock (2, 4, 6)
Dates	May 29 – June 11, 2017
MVP	Sidney Crosby (Penguins)
Series-winning goal	Patric Hornqvist(18:25, Third, G6)
Networks	Canada: (English):CBC/Sportsnet (French):TVA Sports United States: (English):NBC (1, 4–6),NBCSN (2–3)
Announcers	(CBC/SN)Jim Hughson andCraig Simpson (TVA) Felix Seguin andPatrick Lalime (NBC/NBCSN)Mike Emrick,Eddie Olczyk, andPierre McGuire (NHL International)Steve Mears andKevin Weekes (NBC Sports Radio &NHL Radio)Kenny Albert,Joe Micheletti, andRay Ferraro
← 2016 Stanley Cup Final 2018 →

The2017 Stanley Cup Final was thechampionship series of theNational Hockey League's (NHL)2016–17 season, and the culmination of the2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. TheEastern Conference champion anddefending Stanley Cup championPittsburgh Penguins defeated theWestern Conference championNashville Predators, four games to two to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. Penguins captainSidney Crosby was awarded theConn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs for the second consecutive year. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup in their opponent's rink for the fifth time.

During the regular season, the Penguins finished second in the league with 111 points, which gave them home ice advantage in the series. The series began on May 29 and concluded on June 11.^[1] The Penguins made their second consecutive Finals appearance, marking the third time in their history they had done this, following their appearances in1991–1992 and2008–2009. This was the first time since 2009, a rematch between the Penguins andDetroit Red Wings, that any team appeared in consecutive Finals. The Penguins also became the first team since the Red Wings (in1997 and1998) to win the Stanley Cup in consecutive years and the first to do so since the introduction of thesalary cap. They also became the fifth franchise to accomplish this feat more than once.

This marked the second consecutive season in which a Western Conference team made their first appearance in the Finals; theSan Jose Sharks made their Finals debutthe year prior. This was the first time in NHL history that two United States–born head coaches faced off against each other in the Stanley Cup Final.^[2]

The Penguins won the first two games of the series despite being massively outshot by the Predators in both games. Nashville tied the series at two with a pair of convincing wins at home. However, Penguins goaltenderMatt Murray shut out the Predators for the remainder of the series. Penguins coachMike Sullivan became the third coach in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup in his first two seasons as a coach with his team, joiningPete Green of the originalOttawa Senators (in1920 and1921) andToe Blake of theMontreal Canadiens (in1956 and1957). This was the first Finals since1983 in which no game was decided by one goal, and the second Finals in three years to have none of its games reach overtime.

This was Pittsburgh's second consecutive Finals appearance, and sixth overall. The Penguins did not make any major transactions during the offseason, instead of signing head coachMike Sullivan to a three-year extension. At the deadline, Pittsburgh acquired defensemenRon Hainsey andMark Streit via trade, which proved helpful for depth when starKris Letang suffered a season-ending injury just weeks before the playoffs started.

Pittsburgh finished with 111 points (50–21–11) during the regular season to finish second in the Metropolitan Division and second overall among playoff teams. Center and team captainSidney Crosby led the Penguins with 89 points, which ranked second in the league, and won theRocket Richard Trophy with 44 goals.Phil Kessel led the team in assists with 47.

In the playoffs, the Penguins defeated theColumbus Blue Jackets in five games, eliminated the back-to-backPresidents' Trophy-winningWashington Capitals for a second consecutive year, this time in seven games, and edged theOttawa Senators in seven games in the EasternNHL Conference Finals afterChris Kunitz scored in double overtime of game seven.^[3]

This was Nashville's first Stanley Cup Final appearance in its 19-year history. They were also the firstmajor professional sports team fromTennessee to play for a championship since the also Nashville-basedTennessee Titans madeSuper Bowl XXXIV in 2000.

During the offseason, Nashville traded defenceman and long-time team captainShea Weber toMontreal for defencemanP. K. Subban, and during the regular season, traded for forwardsCody McLeod andVernon Fiddler. The Predators also re-signed forwardFilip Forsberg during the offseason.

Nashville finished with 94 points (41–29–12) during the regular season, finishing as the eighth seed and second wild card team in the Western Conference, and the 16th overall. Forsberg andViktor Arvidsson tied for the team lead in regular-season goal-scoring with 31 each.Ryan Johansen led the team in assists with 47. Arvidsson and Johansen tied for the team lead in points with 61.

The Predators started the playoffs by upsetting the top-seededChicago Blackhawks in a sweep, becoming the second team in NHL history to be the lowest seed in their conference to sweep the top seeded team in the opening round (1993 St. Louis Blues).^[4] They followed that up by eliminating theSt. Louis Blues andAnaheim Ducks, both in six games.Kevin Fiala and Johansen sustained serious leg injuries in the second and third rounds respectively, and both missed the remainder of the playoffs. The Predators became the third team to be the lowest seed in their conference inNHL history to reach theStanley Cup Final, joining the2006 Edmonton Oilers and the2012 Los Angeles Kings. The Predators were also the third different franchise that head coachPeter Laviolette led to the Stanley Cup Final. He won the Cup with theCarolina Hurricanes in2006, and also took thePhiladelphia Flyers to the2010 Stanley Cup Final.^[5]

Late in the first period, penalties from Nashville forwardsCalle Jarnkrok andJames Neal gave Pittsburgh a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play, andEvgeni Malkin scored to make it 1–0. Just 1:15 later,Conor Sheary scored into an open net after a cross-ice pass fromChris Kunitz caught Nashville's defence off guard. In the final seconds of the period, a centring pass fromNick Bonino deflected offMattias Ekholm and into the net to give Pittsburgh a 3–0 lead. Following Bonino's goal, the Penguins went 37 consecutive minutes without a shot on goal, including the entire second period. The Predators used power-play goals fromRyan Ellis andColton Sissons to make it 3–2, andFrederick Gaudreau scored immediately following a Penguins power play to tie the game midway through the third. Soon afterwards, Pittsburgh's first shot since the first period resulted in aJake Guentzel goal to give Pittsburgh the lead again. Bonino scored again into an empty net to clinch the victory for Pittsburgh.^[6]

Midway through the first, the Predators took their first-ever lead in a Stanley Cup Final game whenPontus Aberg scored aroundOlli Maatta. The Penguins tied it late in the period when a Guentzel tip sneaked pastPekka Rinne. After a scoreless second period in which the Predators took twice as many shots as the Penguins, Pittsburgh came out firing in the third, scoring three goals in 3:18. The first was Guentzel's twelfth of the playoffs, making him the first rookie sinceDino Ciccarelli to score twelve times in a single postseason. The next two goals came 15 seconds apart and prompted Predators head coachPeter Laviolette to replace Rinne with backupJuuse Saros. Nashville never cut into the deficit as Pittsburgh won the game by 4–1.^[7]

Jake Guentzel came within one goal of Dino Ciccarelli's rookie playoff record when a shot 2:46 into the game got past Pekka Rinne. In the second period,Roman Josi and Frederick Gaudreau scored only 42 seconds apart to quickly give Nashville the lead. Neal scored with 23 seconds left in the second to give the Predators a two-goal lead. In the third period, a breakaway byCraig Smith and a goal by Ekholm provided insurance in a 5–1 victory for Nashville. Near the end of the game, several misconducts were assessed after a cross checking byPhil Kessel drew a crowd andfights broke out.^[8]

Calle Jarnkrok gave Nashville an early lead, but a breakaway goal bySidney Crosby tied the score at one. In the second period, after a Penguins breakaway was stopped by Rinne, Gaudreau's wrap-around shot appeared to be stopped byMatt Murray, but video review showed the puck sneak under Murray's paddle and across the goal line before Murray sent it back out. A breakaway goal byViktor Arvidsson gave the Predators their third goal of the game. Rinne would stop all nine shots faced in the third period and an empty-net goal byFilip Forsberg gave Nashville a 4–1 win and tied the series 2–2.^[9]

Justin Schultz scored for Pittsburgh early in the first period on the power play. Two more goals from the Penguins caused Nashville to again replace Rinne with Saros in net to start the second period. Pittsburgh scored three more times in the second, the first fromConor Sheary. Guentzel assisted on Sheary's goal, tying the rookie record for points in a single postseason (21). Kessel andRon Hainsey scored the last of Pittsburgh's six goals; Kessel and Crosby both ended the game with three points. Neither team scored in the third period, making Matt Murray the first rookie sinceCam Ward in 2006 to record a shutout in the Stanley Cup Final. During the third period, 20 penalties were assessed, the most in one period since the third game of the2011 Stanley Cup Final.^[10]

External videos
Game 6 Full replay (NHL International's feed) on the NHL's official YouTube channel

Although game six remained scoreless through two periods, aquick whistle prevented a Predators' scoring chance that almost certainly would have resulted in a goal. RefereeKevin Pollock thought Matt Murray had covered a Filip Forsberg shot, but the puck was, in fact, loose in the goal crease, whenColton Sissons tapped it in.^[11] The game remained scoreless until the final two minutes of the third period when former PredatorPatric Hornqvist scored with 1:35 left in the game. Nashville challenged for goaltender interference, but the on-ice ruling was upheld.Carl Hagelin added an empty net goal with 15 seconds remaining whilst thePenguins would win their second consecutive Stanley Cup becoming the first since theRed Wings did it against theFlyers and theCapitals in1997 and1998 respectively. Sidney Crosby was awarded theConn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs for the second consecutive season.^[12][13]

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Age	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
46		Pontus Aberg	LW	R	23	2012	Stockholm, Sweden	first
38		Viktor Arvidsson	LW	R	24	2014	Skellefteå, Sweden	first
14		Mattias Ekholm	D	L	27	2009	Borlänge, Sweden	first
4		Ryan Ellis –A	D	R	26	2009	Hamilton, Ontario	first
83		Vernon Fiddler	C	L	37	2017	Edmonton, Alberta	first
12		Mike Fisher –C	C	R	36	2011	Peterborough, Ontario	second(2007)
9		Filip Forsberg	LW	R	22	2013	Östervåla, Sweden	first
32		Frederick Gaudreau	C	R	24	2016	Bromont, Quebec	first
52		Matt Irwin	D	L	29	2016	Victoria, British Columbia	first
19		Calle Jarnkrok	C	R	25	2014	Gävle, Sweden	first
59		Roman Josi –A	D	L	26	2008	Bern, Switzerland	first
55		Cody McLeod	LW	L	32	2017	Binscarth, Manitoba	first
18		James Neal –A	RW	L	29	2015	Whitby, Ontario	first
11		P. A. Parenteau	RW	R	34	2017	Hull, Quebec	first
35		Pekka Rinne	G	L	34	2004	Kempele, Finland	first
20		Miikka Salomaki	RW	L	24	2011	Raahe, Finland	first
74		Juuse Saros	G	L	22	2013	Forssa, Finland	first
10		Colton Sissons	C	R	23	2012	North Vancouver, British Columbia	first
15		Craig Smith	RW	R	27	2009	Madison, Wisconsin	first
76		P. K. Subban	D	R	28	2016	Toronto, Ontario	first
51		Austin Watson	W/C	R	25	2010	Ann Arbor, Michigan	first
7		Yannick Weber	D	R	28	2016	Morges, Switzerland	first
33		Colin Wilson	LW	L	27	2008	Greenwich, Connecticut	first
26		Harry Zolnierczyk	LW	L	29	2016	Toronto, Ontario	first

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Age	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
45		Josh Archibald	RW	R	24	2011	Regina, Saskatchewan	first
13		Nick Bonino	C	L	29	2015	Hartford, Connecticut	second(2016)
28		Ian Cole	D	L	28	2015	Ann Arbor, Michigan	second(2016)
87		Sidney Crosby –C	C	L	29	2005	Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia	fourth(2008,2009,2016)
7		Matt Cullen	C	L	40	2015	Virginia, Minnesota	third(2006,2016)
6		Trevor Daley	D	L	33	2015	Toronto, Ontario	second(2016)
8		Brian Dumoulin	D	L	25	2012	Biddeford, Maine	second(2016)
29		Marc-Andre Fleury	G	L	32	2003	Sorel-Tracy, Quebec	fourth(2008,2009,2016)
59		Jake Guentzel	C/LW	L	22	2013	Omaha, Nebraska	first
62		Carl Hagelin	LW	L	28	2016	Södertälje, Sweden	third(2014,2016)
65		Ron Hainsey	D	L	36	2017	Bolton, Connecticut	first
72		Patric Hornqvist	RW	R	30	2014	Sollentuna, Sweden	second(2016)
81		Phil Kessel	RW	R	29	2015	Madison, Wisconsin	second(2016)
34		Tom Kuhnhackl	LW	L	25	2010	Landshut, Germany	second(2016)
14		Chris Kunitz –A	LW	L	37	2009	Regina, Saskatchewan	fourth(2007,2009,2016)
3		Olli Maatta	D	L	22	2012	Jyväskylä, Finland	second(2016)
71		Evgeni Malkin –A	C	L	30	2004	Magnitogorsk, Soviet Union	fourth(2008,2009,2016)
30		Matt Murray	G	L	23	2012	Thunder Bay, Ontario	second(2016)
37		Carter Rowney	RW/C	R	28	2016	Sexsmith, Alberta	first
17		Bryan Rust	RW	R	25	2010	Pontiac, Michigan	second(2016)
4		Justin Schultz	D	R	26	2016	Kelowna, British Columbia	second(2016)
43		Conor Sheary	LW	L	24	2015	Melrose, Massachusetts	second(2016)
32		Mark Streit	D	L	39	2017	Bern, Switzerland	first
23		Scott Wilson	LW	L	25	2011	Oakville, Ontario	first

The 2017 Stanley Cup was presented to Penguins captain Sidney Crosby byNHL CommissionerGary Bettman following the Penguins 2–0 win over the Predators in game six

The following Penguins players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

2016–17 Pittsburgh Penguins

• * Played both centre and wing.
• † Did not play or dress in the Final.^[A]
• ‡ Exemption granted to engrave the name of a player who did not automatically qualify.^[a][B]

• ^{^A} #58Kris Letang (D) – played in 41 regular season games, but none in the playoffs due to a herniated disk in his neck that required surgery.^[14][15] As he played in half of the regular season games with Pittsburgh, he automatically qualified to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.^[a]
• ^{^B} #32Mark Streit (D) – played in 19 regular season games and 3 playoff games (all in the Eastern Conference Finals) for Pittsburgh, previously 49 regular season games forPhiladelphia. As he did not automatically qualify,^[a] Pittsburgh successfully requested an exemption to engrave his name. Streit became the third Swiss player (and first non-goaltender Swiss player) to win the Stanley Cup.^[16][17]
• Mario Lemieux is the only one to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup for their titles in1991,1992,2009,2016, and 2017.
• Sergei Gonchar (Defense Coach) was left off the Stanley Cup engraving of the2016 title, but included on the 2017 title engraving.
• The Penguins fill the last spot on the bottom ring of the Stanley Cup. The top ring, featuring winners from 1954 to 1965, was removed after the Capitals were added in 2018.
• Matt Murray became the first goalie to win the Stanley Cup-clinching game as a Rookie 2 years in a row. In 2016 Murray only played 13 regular season games but started all 6 games of the Finals for Pittsburgh. So 2017 he was still a rookie (having not played 25 regular season games in a season) when he started all 6 games of the Finals for Pittsburgh.
• Alex Trinca (Strength & Conditioning Coach) (on Cup in 2016) and Danny Kroll (Assistant Equipment Manager) (on Cup in 2009) were left off the 2017 Stanley Cup engraving, but included in the team picture.

• Fourteen players were on the roster during the playoffs, but left off the Stanley Cup engraving due to not qualifying.^[a][18]
  • #2Chad Ruhwedel (D) – played 34 regular-season games and 11 playoff games. (plus 27 games in the minors). Missed last 2 games of Conference and all 6 games of the finals due to a concussion.
  • #25Tom Sestito (LW) – 13 regular season games and none in the playoffs
  • #24Cameron Gaunce (D) – played 12 regular season games and none in the playoffs
  • #35Tristan Jarry (G) – dressed for 11 playoff games while Matt Murray was injured (Jarry received his second Stanley Cup ring, despite only playing one NHL game) – name not engraved on Cup
  • #51Derrick Pouliot (D) – played 11 regular season games and none in the playoffs
  • #40Oskar Sundqvist (C) – played 10 regular season games and none in the playoffs
  • #5David Warsofsky (D) – played 7 regular season games and none in the playoffs
  • #11Kevin Porter (C) – played 7 regular season games and none in the playoffs
  • #20Frank Corrado (D) – played 2 regular season games and none in the playoffs
  • #49Dominik Simon (C) – played 2 regular season games and none in the playoffs
  • #39Jean-Sébastien Dea (C) – played 1 regular season game and none in the playoffs
  • #19Garrett Wilson (LW) – did not play in the regular season or playoffs
  • #31 Sean Maguire (G) – did not play in the regular season or playoffs
  • #41Daniel Sprong (RW) – did not play in the regular season or playoffs

In Canada, the series was broadcast bySportsnet and simulcast byCBC Television in English,^[19] andTVA Sports inFrench. In the U.S.,NBC broadcast most of the games; games two and three were aired byNBCSN.^[20] In the U.S., the games were seen by an average of 4.762 million viewers, an increase of 19% over the 2016 finals, and the highest-rated finals without anOriginal Six team. Despite competition from the2017 Tony Awards broadcast and the return of ABC's Sunday-nightgame show block, game six achieved a total viewership of 7.086 million.^[21]

The NHL on Westwood One/NBC Sports Radio carried the games throughout the United States on radio and through online streaming,^[22] while the home calls of Nashville (WPRT-FM/Predators Radio Network) and Pittsburgh (WXDX-FM/Penguins Radio Network) was available both over the air in their home markets and through online streaming.

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