The fact they didn’t makes the bumpy path the franchise and its superstar captain took to get here seem worth it. “We’ve been doing a really good job of staying day to day, shift to shift”. Very similar to Tampa. So we’ll need that again.
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The Penguins have speed and skill up and down the lineup.
During that same span, San Jose ranked fifth, first and second in those respective categories. Since Jan. 9, the Sharks record (including the playoffs) is 40-18-4. But when you get down to this part of the playoffs, I think the chance of a coach making a change for the sake of making a change becomes less and less likely. But the regular season means little in the Stanley Cup playoffs, as San Jose has shown; it eased by the Kings in the first round, outlasted the Predators in seven and bested the Blues in six. This is a much better team now than it was before Christmas. Since Dec. 12, the Pens are 45-22-5 (including playoffs).
DeBoer sees similarities between the two teams he’s guided this deep in the playoffs. Nobody backed into this thing because an opponent had too many injuries or an opposing goalie folded up. Thornton and Marleau, both 36, were taken with the top two picks in the 1997 draft that was held in Pittsburgh while 37-year-old Dainius Zubrus draws stares from younger teammates when he tells them he used to play against Hall of Famer (and current Penguins owner) Mario Lemieux.
Neither team will have an edge at home. Martin and the Sharks will be playing the Pittsburgh Penguins, for whom Martin played for five seasons, in the Stanley Cup finals.
Both teams boast prolific and high-scoring forward lines, but the two starting goaltenders will have a similarly decisive outcome on the destination of the Stanley Cup. Barely a month later he put together another deal, sending forward David Perron to Anaheim for Carl Hagelin, a move that caught Hagelin – who had just signed a long-term contract with the Ducks after coming over in an offseason trade with the New York Rangers – completely off guard.
Great goaltending and solid puck support have the Sharks where they are. “When you’re one and done all the time because the shot is blocked and bouncing out of the zone or they’re getting a rebound, it’s tough to generate offense”.
Ward’s known for being a pretty good team guy and can sometimes fly under the radar. But he’s not just hanging on to win.
“As a staff, we try to look at it as just another series, just another game”, he said. He continued to tinker, acquiring skilled skaters who would play the kind of 200-foot game Sullivan thrives at teaching. If necessary, the final three games returned to NBC. It is, however, the quintessential way to play National Hockey League ’94. Couture is first in assists and points in the postseason, so there’s some risky firepower between the two of them. He is not going through the motions. They also have Phil Kessel playing at a Conn Smythe-level, and their depth players continue to get it done at both ends of the ice. His 227 points over that same span is sixth-best among all skaters, and second only to Patrick Kane (239) among American players. The Sharks, who are in their 25th year in the National Hockey League, are in the final for the first time.
After going through so many ups and downs this season, the Pittsburgh Penguins will look to cap off their magical season as they take on the San Jose Sharks. But it still looms large against a Sharks team that has scored more goals than any other during these playoffs.
He didn’t get a point in Pittsburgh’s 2-1 win in Game 7, but his stretch pass to Evgeni Malkin started the rush that led to Bryan Rust’s first goal. Meanwhile, the trio of Malkin, Kessel, and Crosby have all had their fair share of ghost-like moments, where they’ve disappeared for a game or two and then have reappeared with a pair of goals or assists. His 200-foot game is probably better now than it’s ever been. New coach Peter DeBoer, who formerly coached the Florida Panthers and New Jersey Devils, brought in a system that emphasized pressuring the opponent and giving the team’s stars the time and space to make plays.
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Against San Jose, Pittsburgh needs to get bodies in front of Jones (especially on the power play) so that he can’t see the puck.
