Crosby’s dominance was evident throughout the final game as Pittsburgh spent most of the time when he was on the ice in San Jose’s zone.
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The seven years of adversity since he last held the trophy were firmly in his past.
The Penguins lead 2-1 at the second intermission thanks in large part to goaltender Matt Murray, who has stopped 16 of the 17 shots he has faced. “He’s a great player, but he’s an even better person”.
The championship in Detroit was supposed to be the first of many for a team led by players like Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
Unheralded defenceman Brian Dumoulin opened the scoring in Game 6 on a power play, later joined on the scoresheet by Kris Letang, who scored the go-ahead goal and eventual game-winner.
“I thought we had a lot of fight and we found a way”, Crosby said. “He has been one terrific player for us”.
“I was just thinking about how hard it was to get to this point and just trying to enjoy every second of it”, said Crosby.
Dumoulin scored his first playoff goal of the season in the Conference Finals, as the Penguins fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5. But he injured his leg after taking a hit in the second period of Game 7 of the final and played just one shift in the third period.
“Sid came up to me before the draw and told me to line up on the wall”, Sheary said after the 2-1 win.
With the Stanley Cup in the building and the champagne on ice, it was the Penguins who came out with desperation in the third and limited the Sharks to two shots while Patric Hornqvist sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 62 seconds to play.
He overwhelmed San Jose early in the Stanley Cup final, stubbornly controlling the puck, fighting off defenders with sudden reversals in direction, creating scoring chances aplenty for himself and his teammates. Pittsburgh won 16 of 24 games in the playoffs, riding fantastic goaltending from rookie Matt Murray.
Crosby won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, posting 19 points (six goals) in the playoffs and dominating with his play at both ends of the ice.
This was the deepest and most prolific playoff run in the franchise’s 25-year history, and the Sharks got breakout performances from Jones and Joonas Donskoi, who was arguably the team’s best skater. “I think we did a fantastic job shutting them down”. In the final minutes of the period, Kessel shot just wide beyond Jones’ right pad. The first five games of the series featured one team leading by one goal or the two tied 87 percent of the time….
Shots on Goal-Pittsburgh 9-11-7-27. Logan Couture scored for San Jose, becoming the fourth player in the past 20 years to reach 30 points in a postseason.
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It was a series filled with offensive frustration for the Sharks, as Brent Burns, Pavelski, Thornton and Marleau combined for nine points.
