Penguins vs. Predators: Game 6 Live Stream, NBC TV Schedule, Odds, Predictions

Home-ice advantage has been decisive through the first five games of the Stanley Cup Final, and the Nashville Predators are hoping that the pattern holds for Game 6 of the team's series with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Predators will host the Penguins at Bridgestone Arena Sunday night at 8 p.m., and the Stanley Cup will be in the house during the NBC broadcast. If the defending champions can figure out a way to break the series pattern and win on the road, Sidney Crosby and Co. will get to celebrate and hoist the Cup in Nashville.

The situation is familiar to the Penguins and their fans. They won the Stanley Cup last year by winning Game 6 over the San Jose Sharks on the road.

The Penguins took charge early in Game 5 by scoring three goals in the first period as they rolled to a 6-0 win over the Preds. Sidney Crosby broke through the Nashville defense on the first shift of the game, drew a penalty on the move and wristed a shot on Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne that the goaltender stopped.

Crosby's play seemed to light a fuse under the Penguins, and the Pittsburgh captain played a huge role in the game with three assists. Justin Schultz opened the scoring on the man advantage at the 1:31 mark, and Bryan Rust made it 2-0 a little more than five minutes later.

The Preds looked like they would go to the locker room trailing by two goals, but Evgeni Malkin put a knuckling shot into the top corner of the net with 10 seconds to go. Head coach Peter Laviolette pulled Rinne at the start of the second period, and it seemed that Nashville started looking forward to Game 6 at that point because it appeared they knew that their chances of winning Game 5 had disappeared.

While the Predators are going home, they may not be at full strength. Defenseman Ryan Ellis suffered an undisclosed injury early in the second period, and he did not play after that. Forward Colton Sissons cross-checked Olli Maatta in the face with 33.3 seconds remaining, and he received a match penalty for his actions.

League rules indicate that a match penalty comes with a one-game suspension, but that determination will have to be upheld by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Matt Kincaid/Getty Images

Laviolette did not offer any update on Ellis' condition after the game. "Honestly, I don't have any details to share with you," Laviolette said, per Tom Gulitti of NHL.com. "Not that I would."

While he was not forthcoming with information about the defenseman, he thought Sissons deserved to play in Game 6. 

"I watched it play out," Laviolette said (per Gulitti). "I saw Maatta cross-check him. Colton cross-checked him back. Maatta cross-checked him back, and it looked like they were doing it somewhere in the midsection. On the last one, Maatta seemed to slip and his head dropped. I don't think that there was any intention there whatsoever. So I don't think [there will be any supplemental discipline], but it's not my call."

The Predators are minus-137 favorites to win Game 6 and tie the series, according to OddsShark. A Nashville bettor will have to risk $137 to earn a profit of $100. The Penguins are plus-117 underdogs.

Prediction

Confidence should return to a high level in the Nashville locker room as the Preds return to Bridgestone Arena, where they are 9-1 in the postseason.

It's not automatic that they will win and force a seventh game just because they are at home, but it seems quite likely that they will play a much more competitive game than they did in Game 5 in Pittsburgh.

Look for a strong bounce-back game by Rinne in net, and the longer the game stays close, the better it is for the Preds. While none of the games in the series have been close, this should be a tight game.

Nashville should find a way to assert itself in the third period and win the game.

The NHL will get a seven-game Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2011, when the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks.