Stanley Cup final: 10 things to consider

The Penguins and Nashville Predators provide an intriguing matchup for the Stanley Cup final, which begins in Pittsburgh on Monday night (CBC, CBCSports.ca, CBC Sports app, 8 p.m. ET).

• WATCH LIVE: Predators vs. Penguins, Game 1
• Stanley Cup final: Full schedule

Both teams play an up-tempo game, but the Predators have the edge defensively with the lowest goals-against average (1.81) and the better penalty kill (88.1%) in this year's playoffs. The Penguins, however, have scored a post-season-best 3.05 goals per game and have a much more efficient power play at 25 per cent.

Beyond the stats, there are plenty of storylines to devour before the series begins. Here are 10 tidbits to consider:

Connecting the dots

There are more than a few connections between the Penguins and Predators, but the biggest is the trade the teams made three years ago at the 2014 NHL draft in Philadelphia. Pittsburgh sent forward James Neal to Nashville in exchange for forwards Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling.

Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford made the move because he felt Neal was too much of a perimeter player and wanted more grit.

Neal, a 40-goal scorer playing alongside Evgeni Malkin in 2011-12, suffered through a middling regular season, but in the Predators' playoff run, he has five goals, including two game winners, in 16 outings.

Hornqvist has four goals in 13 games but missed the last six matches of the East final with an upper-body ailment. He'll return for Game 1 of the Cup final, the Penguins confirmed.

Turning back time

Rutherford and Predators head coach Peter Laviolette won the 2005-06 Stanley Cup together with the Carolina Hurricanes. Rutherford took over the Penguins on June 6, 2014, a month after Laviolette was hired by the Predators. Otherwise, Rutherford may have hired his former coach in Pittsburgh.

Mass men

The 52-year-old Laviolette is three years older than his Penguins counterpart, Mike Sullivan. Both grew up south of Boston — Sullivan in Marshfield, Mass., about an hour away from Laviolette's hometown of Franklin.

They are the first American-born coaches to face each other in a Stanley Cup final and they both spent time coaching in the Boston Bruins system.

Laviolette, who also steered the Philadelphia Flyers to the 2010 Cup final, joined some elite company in leading Nashville to the title series. This is his third trip to the final with three different teams, something only Dick Irvin (Chicago, Toronto, Montreal), Scotty Bowman (St. Louis, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Detroit) and Mike Keenan (Philadelphia, Chicago, N.Y. Rangers) have accomplished.

Sullivan, meanwhile, was a teammate on the Calgary Flames with Predators assistant coach Phil Housley.

Poile's pursuit

This is the first Stanley Cup final for Predators GM David Poile, a hockey lifer. Born in Toronto, he played right wing at Northeastern University in Boston in the late 1960s. He began his career as a club executive with the expansion Atlanta Flames in 1972, then spent 15 seasons at the helm of the Washington Capitals and the past 20 years running the Predators.

Poile is the 67-year-old son of the late Bud Poile, a Hockey Hall of Famer who won a Stanley Cup as a player with the 1946-47 Toronto Maple Leafs, and as the first GM of the Flyers, he helped build the Broad Street bullies into a contender.

"I'm trying to take in every moment of it, remember it, enjoy it as best I can," David Poile said. "Maybe after all these years, maybe I have a little bit more appreciation for this than somebody who had done it at a younger, earlier age in their career."

Subban's story

Penguins forward Phil Kessel knows all about being scrapped by a big-market Canadian team and traded in his prime. He went from a Maple Leafs castoff to a Stanley Cup winner with the Penguins a year ago.

Now, Predators defenceman P.K. Subban has the same opportunity after Montreal shipped him out last summer for Shea Weber.

"I know what he's going through and what he dealt with," Kessel said. "Obviously, he wants to win really bad because he got, I'd say, the shaft in Montreal a little bit. That's how it goes. So you want to prove people wrong. I know what he's feeling like."

Kessel and Subban are friends. Subban attended Kessel's Stanley Cup party in Toronto last summer.

Nashville's defence

The Predators swept the Chicago Blackhawks, and then ousted the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks in the second and third rounds, respectively, in six-game series thanks to a stingy defensive unit of Roman Josi, Ryan Ellias, Mattias Ekholm and Subban.

It may be the best top-four defensive unit since the Ducks won the Stanley Cup a decade ago with Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Francois Beauchemin and Sean O'Donnell.

But the Predators also will endure their toughest test yet with the one-two punch down the middle of Crosby and Malkin.

Canadian content

It has been 24 years since Montreal became the last Canadian-based club to win the championship. That drought will extend for at least another year, but if you're wondering which team has more Canadian-born players, Nashville has 12 to Pittsburgh's 10.

Here is the tale of the tape for both clubs:

Penguins

• Average age: 28.8; Height: 6-foot-1; Weight: 193 lbs.
• Roster: Canada (10), U.S. (10), Sweden (2), Finland (1), Germany (1), Russia (1), Switzerland (1).

Predators

• Average age: 27.6; Height: 6-foot-1; Weight: 201 lbs.
• Roster: Canada (12), Sweden (5), Finland (3), Switzerland (3), U.S. (3).

Act of attrition

The Penguins began the playoffs without standout defenceman Kris Letang after season-ending neck surgery and then lost for brief spells Crosby, Hornqvist, Justin Schultz, Conor Sheary, Carl Hagelin, Trevor Daley and Tom Kuhnhackl

The Predators will welcome back veteran forwards Mike Fisher and Craig Smith for the series opener, but still will miss their top centre Ryan Johanssen (thigh) and forward Kevin Fiala (broken leg) in the final.

Fisher will help the cause down the middle, but can fill-ins Colton Sissons and Calle Jarnkrok continue to surprise and get the job done like they did in the West final against the Anaheim Ducks?

Cage match

Nashville's Pekka Rinne, 34, long considered one of the best goalies in the business, has proven himself with a sensational .941 save percentage in 16 playoff games this spring. He's even chipped in three assists.

But the Penguins' young goaltender Matt Murray is no slouch either, especially when it comes to the playoffs. He celebrated his 23rd birthday last Thursday with yet another victory to improve his career post-season record to 18-7 with a 1.94 goals against average, .928 save percentage and two shutouts.

Murray, who missed the first two rounds and the start of the third with an injury, has a 1.35 GAA and a .946 save percentage in five appearances in this year's playoffs.

Defending the Cup

The Penguins are four wins away from accomplishing what has become a rare feat.

There have been 16 teams that have successfully defended Stanley Cup championships, but none since the Detroit Red Wings won back-to-back titles in 1996-97 and 1997-98.

Prediction

I was ready to take the Predators in seven because of the rest factor (they've played 16 playoff games to Pittsburgh's 20 and have been off for six days to Pittsburgh's three), Rinne in goal, the top four on their blue-line and the way different players like Filip Forsberg, Austin Watson and Sissons have stepped up with timely goals.

But a pro scout I trust disagreed with my thought process. He believes the championship experience of Crosby and the Penguins gives them the edge. He likes Pittsburgh's speed, determination, power-play success and fast-break style of play.

"They have this ability to drive the play and recover. They are tough to defend," he said.

He also doesn't like the fact the Predators have more key injuries.

Penguins in six.