Top 20 Cup Final games since 2000: No. 17

As the NHL prepares for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NHL.com staff selected the best 20 Stanley Cup Final games since 2000. Our 15-writer panel nominated 44 games for consideration before each member voted for his or her favorite 20 from that list. Each favorite game was awarded 20 points, with the selections that followed receiving one fewer point each and so on, down to one point for each 20th-favorite game.Today, we look at Game 6 of the 2017 Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators, which was on nine ballots and received 73 points.

2017 Game 6: Pittsburgh Penguins 2, Nashville Predators 0

Patric Hornqvist broke a 0-0 tie with 1:35 remaining in the third period to lead the Penguins to a second consecutive Stanley Cup championship. Carl Hagelin added an empty-net insurance goal with 14 seconds remaining and Matt Murray made 27 saves for the series-clinching 2-0 shutout.

Game 6 was a high-level goaltending duel between Murray and the Predators' Pekka Rinne (27 saves). The Cup-clinching goal was Hornqvist's first of the series, his fifth goal of the 2017 playoffs and his second game-winning NHL postseason goal.

The series was tied 2-2 after four games, and a key factor for the Penguins became a change in momentum on special teams. Through four games Pittsburgh was 1-for-16 on the power play (6.3 percent) and 8-for-12 on the penalty kill (66.7 percent). But in Game 5 the Penguins scored a power-play goal in their 6-0 victory, and in the final two games went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill, including a 32-second 5-on-3 Predators power play during Game 6.

They said it: "We set out to try to go back-to-back. We knew it was going to be pretty difficult, but I think that's probably where the most joy comes out of, is just knowing how difficult it is to go back-to-back and knowing that we overcame all those things. It's a pretty special group, I'll say that." -- Penguins captain Sidney Crosby

Historical significance: The Penguins were the first back-to-back champions since the Detroit Red Wings won in 1997 and 1998. Crosby, who scored 27 points (eight goals, 19 assists) in 24 games, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP for the second straight year. It was the third time a player won it in consecutive years, joining Mario Lemieux (1991-92) and Bernie Parent (1974-75). ... It was the fifth Stanley Cup championship for the Penguins. Each was clinched on the road. ... The Penguins' Mike Sullivan became the first United States-born coach to win the Stanley Cup twice. ... The 2017 Final was the first with two U.S.-born coaches, Sullivan and the Predators' Peter Laviolette.

Iconic moment:Murray's left-pad save on a breakaway by Predators forward Colton Sissons at 10:15 of the second period highlighted Murray's sharpness and the Predators' inability to convert scoring chances in crunch time during the Final.

Telling stat: Murray shut out the Predators during the final two games of the series. He made 24 saves in Game 5 and 27 saves in Game 6, becoming the fourth goalie in NHL history, and the first since Terry Sawchuk in 1952, to finish the Stanley Cup Final with back-to-back shutouts.