Was this a better Cup Final than last year?

[hockeyfan2k11]

Nashville did better, but they played a worse team. 2016 pens would destroy the 2017 pens.

Also had some of the worst officiating I've seen in a finals. Terrible. Pens the stronger team but Nash really got shafted.

 

[Ozz]

I felt much more unsure about Nashville, FWIW.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Last year was a much better series.
This year I felt we were robbed of a good show by the Johansen/Letang injuries.

In hindsight, the Ducks probably would have made for a better finals. NSH losing their only top quality center put them at a huge disadvantage for the series.

 

[HawkNut]

I would say yes.

In 2016, it felt like the Pens were always a step ahead of the Sharks. This year, I think the biggest factor was home ice. It was very close to going to OT in Game 6 at 0-0 and Nashville demolished Pittsburgh in Games 3 and 4 while the Penguins went circles around the Preds when they were home.

 

[Shockmaster]

Even though the Penguins never blew out the Sharks in any of the games in that series, it never felt like San Jose had a chance. The Predators seemed more dangerous, but Rinne being awful allowed for some lopsided scores in favor of the Penguins.

 

[ncm7772]

As far as things go from a Pens' fans perspective, this year was a "better" series. Last year, I had very little doubt that the Pens would defeat the Sharks. Pens were simply better, by a large margin. Even when Jones was playing like a beast, I had confidence that the Pens would win the series. And they did, pretty easily IMO.

Was certainly different this year. Nashville was the best team in the playoffs up to the SCF I believe. The Pens went up 2-0, but I was never comfortable. Game 1 could've easily been a win for Nashville, and I think Game 2 could've gone either way (I don't buy into the Nashville being the dominant team in that game narrative). Then Games 3 and 4 happened. I was thinking the Pens were out. Then they found a way to win. In a weird way, this year was more satisfying, as it seemed like everyone came out of the woods to hate the Pens (even more than usual). Not a knock on Preds fans, but it was very sweet to see the Pens win after how arrogant many of them became after Game 4. And of course, it's always nice to see the Pens' haters be super salty.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

The 2 games we lost last year we should/could have easily won. The 2 we lost this year we got beat pretty bad. The Preds series was a little better IMO