The Penguins earned it — the game and the expected-goals battle both.
The 4-0 rout understates Pittsburgh's dominance: S. Murashov stopped 2.1 goals above expected, a performance so decisive that it alone explains the gap between expected goals and the final score. The Penguins controlled the game through superior shot quality—0.076 expected goals per attempt versus Nashville's 0.040—and converted their chances when it mattered most.
The underlying metrics tell a story of difference masked by shot-attempt parity. Pittsburgh and Nashville fired nearly the same number of shots on goal (22–21), but expected goals finished 3.64–2.10, a 63–37 split. More tellingly: Pittsburgh generated six high-danger chances to Nashville's three. The Predators had moments of quality but failed to finish; the Penguins buried theirs.
Efficiency around the net was the separator. Pittsburgh created three rebound opportunities and converted two; Nashville created three and converted none. Crashing the net was a tactic that worked one way only.
Blake Lizotte's wrist shot from the wing in the third period (17:12) marked the moment Pittsburgh pulled away, though the outcome was decided long before—in shot quality, in positioning, in Murashov's reflexes.
