I respect the San Jose Sharks and they’re a great offensive team, but Pittsburgh is loaded with talent. Perhaps Pittsburgh’s underwhelming play for the first 70 percent of the season and the Sharks taking a back seat to more popular teams who had success in the regular season such as the Kings and Blackhawks in the Western Conference is why both teams flew under the radar this year.
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However, something had been lacking on the Penguins since they brought home the 2009 Stanley Cup. Thornton is playing perhaps the best two-way hockey of his career, posting three goals and 15 assists through the first three rounds and dominating possession against the other team’s top players.
Nieto missed the entire Western Conference final against the St. Louis Blues, which the Sharks won in six games.
Drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 6th round (121st overall) in 1983, the Scarborough, Ontario native spent three seasons with the Soo Greyhounds from 1981-1984, scoring 83 goals and 196 points through 189 career games.
This series packs a punch of stardom.
“It’s two legends”, teammate Brent Burns said.
After losing Trevor Daly to a leg injury for the remainder of the playoffs in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Penguins will be leaning heavily on top defenseman Kris Letang, who logged 28:13 in Game 7 against Lightning, while the third pairing of Justin Schultz and Ian Cole saw just 12:50 and 10:43 of ice time, respectively.
Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Ryan Callahan (24) and center Valtteri Filppula (51), of Finland, attempts to gain control of the puck from Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Patric Hornqvist (72), of Sweden, during the first perio.
The same can be said for the forwards squaring off in the finals.
In 540 games with San Jose over seven years of coaching, McLellan led the Sharks to a 311-163-66 record, with a points percentage of.637.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs have been nothing short of awesome so far, and the Stanley Cup Finals between the Sharks and the Penguins should be no different.
No one on either team is as consistently annoying as Sharks’ Tommy Wingels, who opponents figure should get the annual Greg Louganis award for excellence in diving. There was talk they could be traded the summer after the 2014 playoff collapse, Thornton had a public feud with general manager Doug Wilson last season and there were reports that Marleau was seeking a trade earlier this season. Meanwhile Matt Murray has a almost identical 2.22 GAA with a.924 save percentage.
The Penguins’ offense is producing 35.1 shots on goal per game in the playoffs and they outshot the Lightning 269-178 in the Eastern Conference finals, including margins of 41-21 in Game 2, 48-28 in Game 3 and 39-17 in Game 7.
“I go back to the year that Dave Lowry coached the Hitmen (in 2008-09)”. They finished the season with 28 road wins, a league-high and a franchise record. Pittsburgh isn’t facing a hobbled team that went without both its captain/top scorer and No. 1 goalie for the vast majority of the series.
On Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan, ever-so-slightly favoured to be drinking from Lord Stanley’s old cuspidor while silently celebrating that the man who fired him from his only previous National Hockey League head coaching job, Peter Chiarelli, has since been fired himself and is now trying to solve the Rubik’s cube with 29th-place Edmonton. One of these two first-year goalies will join that admirable list.
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The St. Louis Blues started the season with one goal in mind, winning the Stanley Cup. The Sharks have been on the brink for a few years, but it appeared their window had closed to reach the final for the first time, as well. The Sharks are 1st in goals with the Penguins right behind them in 2nd place. The Sharks pull Martin Jones in favor of James Reimer and things get testy, with numerous penalties in the third period. They’ve done pretty much everything else.
