The Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators both overcame a slew of injuries to reach the Stanley Cup Final, but they may be getting some relief.
Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist practiced Sunday and could return for Game 1 on Monday after missing six games with an upper-body injury. He's a game-time decision.
Predators captain Mike Fisher, meanwhile, may also be on the ice after missing the past two games of the Western Conference finals. He also practiced Sunday, centering a line with Viktor Arvidsson and James Neal. Predators coach Peter Laviolette said all players who made the trip to Pittsburgh would be available.
"I feel good," Fisher said, according to the Tennessean. "Ready to rock. Excited about Game 1."
Both teams could use some good news on the injury front.
The Penguins knew they would be without top defenseman Kris Letang for the entire playoffs because of neck surgery and winger Chris Kunitz for the start of the postseason, and they lost starting goaltender Matt Murray in warm-ups before Game 1 in the first round.
Along the way, they've dealt with injuries to defensemen Justin Schultz, Trevor Daley and Chad Ruhwedel, wingers Hornqvist, Bryan Rust and Carl Hagelin, and even played -- and won -- a game without captain Sidney Crosby.
The Predators endured the loss of rookie Kevin Fiala to a gruesome broken leg and soldiered on without forward Craig Smith before two potentially devastating injuries in the Western Conference finals. Top center Ryan Johansen needed emergency, season-ending surgery for acute compartment syndrome in his thigh, and an undisclosed injury to Fisher put them in a tough spot.
Yet Pittsburgh beat the Ottawa Senators in double overtime in Game 7, and Nashville eliminated the Anaheim Ducks in six to reach the Stanley Cup Final, battered, bruised and unbowed after overcoming a bevy of injuries.
"It's hard to win," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Saturday. "This is the hardest trophy in sports, in my mind. It's a war of attrition. And I don't think any team has endured more injuries than this group of players has endured, and we continue to find ways to win."
The Ducks fell apart because of series-ending injuries to goaltender John Gibson and forwards Rickard Rakell and Patrick Eaves, and they weren't the same on defense because of shoulder injuries to Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen that will now require surgery. The Senators were weakened by injuries to defenseman Mark Borowiecki and winger Alexander Burrows, and captain Erik Karlsson played through pain and almost carried them past the Penguins.
But few hockey people will blame injuries for playoff defeats. Nashville and Pittsburgh showed that more than any Cup finalists in recent history.
"To take those pieces out is difficult -- those are big pieces," Laviolette said Saturday. "Craig Smith not being there. Kevin Fiala, Ryan Johansen, those are guys we'd like to have in the lineup, but they're not available. So at that point, there's only one choice: You're going to sink or swim.
"And you hear coaches say it so many times, 'Well, with somebody coming out of the lineup, there's an opportunity for somebody else.' That's the truth, but then those players that go in and take those opportunities, they have to make the most of it and respond to those situations."
The Predators got a hat trick in Game 6 of the West final from de facto No. 1 center Colton Sissons, who was a healthy scratch as recently as March, and got valuable contributions from the likes of Pontus Aberg and veteran forward Vern Fiddler. Frederick Gaudreau won 56.5 percent of his faceoffs against Anaheim in Games 5 and 6, his first two career playoff games.
"I just wanted to be a regular guy playing every single night to now arguably 1 or 2 center for us with Joey and Fish out. It's been a wild ride, but it feels good, and I'm just enjoying it," Sissons said.
Nashville general manager David Poile pointed to 10 players scoring game-winning goals as a sign of depth. When he goes into his team's locker room, he sees 25 happy players, even though only 20 can dress each night.
"We're getting fantastic contributions from everybody," Poile said. "That's why we were here today."
The same is true for the Penguins, who got through the first two rounds thanks in large part to backup goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and pressed everyone from Mark Streit to Carter Rowney and Josh Archibald into duty as injuries piled up. Sullivan praised the resilience of his defense corps, which is now led by Schultz and Daley, and will face another challenge against Nashville's star-studded blue line of P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm.
But perhaps the biggest reason the Penguins got past Ottawa was the return to health and return to form of Murray, who led them to the Cup a year ago.
"I think I came back stronger than before," said Murray, who is 3-1 with a 1.35 goals-against average and .946 save percentage since returning. "When I got back in there, I just tried to jump in and not kind of dip your toes in the water, because then you're going to get beat. So just tried to jump in and be confident and just try and play my game."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.