Pekka Rinne knows the chance may never come again.

"I was treating this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," the Nashville Predators goaltender said following the 2-0 defeat that clinched a second straight Stanley Cup championship for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.

"You never know when you're going to get another opportunity," Rinne added. "The only thing I was thinking about was that Cup and dreaming about that and playing for that. Right now, it's tough to accept and tough to handle. But I'm really proud of this team and the way we played, the way we handled things when we faced some adversity throughout the series."

Rinne faced that adversity personally, struggling mightily in Pittsburgh during the series and allowing Patric Hornqvist to bank in the eventual Cup-winning goal from beside the net with less than two minutes left in Game 6.

The 34-year-old netminder had a strong postseason as a whole, posting a 1.96 GAA, a .930 save percentage, and a pair of shutouts, but he was pulled from Games 2 and 5 of the Cup Final and finished with an .888 save percentage over six contests in the series.

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