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Column: Penguins look to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, but Predators won’t make it easy

Sidney Crosby and the Penguins will try to do something that seems almost impossible: successfully defend the Stanley Cup title.
(Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)
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Navigating the Stanley Cup playoffs requires intensity in each moment and respect for the big picture, quick bursts of energy and a well of endurance, scaling emotional highs and displaying restraint. Winning the Cup is exhilarating but exhausting. Winning twice in a row has become a forbidding challenge.

“The schedule is brutal and it’s demanding,” Pittsburgh Penguins forward Phil Kessel said. “Every year is different. There’s injuries and different things. You can win a round. You can win two rounds. It’s hard to win three, four rounds to get back to the Cup Final.”

The playoffs have become such a war of attrition that no team has repeated as champion since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. But the Pittsburgh Penguins believe the survival skills they developed while prevailing last season will help them against the West champion Nashville Predators, whose resilience and depth have carried them from being the No. 8 seed to their first Cup Final. The series opens Monday at PPG Paints Arena.

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“You take your knowledge from the year before, of knowing that you can lose games, you can have ups and downs, but as long as you can string together four out of seven you can win any series, and we always go in with the belief we can win any series,” said Pittsburgh left wing Chris Kunitz, whose double-overtime goal in Game 7 against Ottawa propelled the Penguins back to the Final.

The Penguins, who had the NHL’s second-best record during the regular season, eliminated the Columbus Blue Jackets in five games and the Washington Capitals in seven games before they broke the Senators’ defensive shackles. They’re prepared for the last and most demanding step.

“We understand what a special position we’re in and what a unique opportunity we have here,” 40-year-old center Matt Cullen said. “The thing that’s impressed me most through these playoffs and through this season of ups and downs is that there’s been a real hunger in this group and it has fueled a group that’s on a mission to get back to where we were.

“You just see when the stakes are the highest this group seems to bring its best game out and that, to me, is a strong show of what kind of character you have in your group.”

The Predators can’t match the Penguins’ Cup Final familiarity — only team captain Mike Fisher reached this stage before while losing with Ottawa in 2007 — but they’re no slouches in terms of character, goaltending, or the mobility and production of their defense corps.

The Predators shocked the Chicago Blackhawks with a first-round sweep and handled the St. Louis Blues and physically punishing Ducks despite losing forward Kevin Fiala and No. 1 center Ryan Johansen to injuries. They are committed to team defense but, like the Penguins, they thrive in an up-tempo game.

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“They definitely have that experience,” Predators defenseman P.K. Subban said. “We’ve also played some experienced teams along the way. Chicago won some Cups and we played some good teams with Stanley Cup experience. I think our team has gained a lot of experience as well.”

The Predators say that stifling Blackhawks forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane was good preparation for facing the Penguins, whose potent attack is led by playoff scoring leader Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. “Both teams have a lot of great players up front and they’re both skilled teams, fast teams. Kind of similar,” Nashville defenseman Roman Josi said. “You make sure you play them hard and they don’t get too much time and space.”

When Crosby, Malkin, Kessel and company get chances, they’ll still have to beat Pekka Rinne. The 6-foot-5 Finn leads playoff goalies with a 1.70 goals-against average and .941 save percentage, and his puckhandling skills force opponents to change how they dump the puck into the zone. “I’ve never been in the finals before, never been in the third round before,” he said, “so as a team I feel like we’ve played the best hockey that I’ve seen in my career.”

This year’s Final also carries a historic note as the first between two American-born coaches. Nashville’s Peter Laviolette is from Franklin, Mass., and Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan is from Marshfield, Mass. There are other ties between the teams: Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford, in the same role in Carolina, hired Laviolette as his coach and they collaborated to win the Cup in 2006. But that’s to ponder later, after someone makes history in this Final.

“The opportunity doesn’t come along often. We said the same thing last year after not being back there for seven years,” Crosby said. “We want another chance at it and we’re excited.”

Said Predators winger Viktor Arvidsson: “I feel like we’re hungry. We’re a young team and we’re mixed with veteran players who are young, too. I feel like we have a great mix of players.”

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helene.elliott@latimes.com

@helenenothelen

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