Penguins owner – and former player – Mario Lemieux was excited to bring the Cup back to Pittsburgh. He was three months removed from his worst National Hockey League season, the face of all the turbulence that had consumed the Toronto team. The Penguins will face a very tough road if they want to repeat because there are a number of teams who look like they are going to be extremely good next season. A slow start riddled with doubt, anxiety and a coaching change quickly faded as Crosby surged with a brilliant second half that saw him score more points than anyone after January 1.
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Kessel was long a dominant playoff scorer, entering this postseason with 21 points in 22 career postseason games, but had just one trip to the postseason during his six seasons in Toronto. “‘When I came out he said, ‘You’re first to get it.’ It was pretty cool”.
“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.
That followed a playoff collapse in 2014 when San Jose became the fourth National Hockey League team to lose a best-of-seven series after winning the first three games in the first round against Los Angeles. Patric Hornqvist added an empty-net goal with 1:02 left.
Nobody, though, could play Crosby’s role.
He dominated in the face-off circle, causing Logan Couture to call him a cheater after Game 2, blocked shots and took hits.
Despite not scoring a goal in the final, Crosby controlled the play with his committed defense, strong performance in the faceoff circle and playmaking ability that earned him the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP.
In one year the Penguins have traded players David Perron, Rob Scuderi, Simon Despres, Kasperi Kapanen, Brandon Sutter, and Scott Harrington (as well as a 1st and two 3rds), in return receiving Phil Kessel, Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino, Justin Schultz, Trevor Daley, and Ben Lovejoy – Not to mention coach Mike Johnson was replaced by farm team head coach Mike Sullivan.
It’s been quite a turnaround season for the player known as Sid the Kid. I thought they worked well together.
Jones, however, was not rattled and made sparkling saves on Crosby and Conor Sheary to keep the Penguins from extending their lead.
The Cole Harbour, N.S., native was joined on the ice by scratches and one other regular, fourth-liner Eric Fehr. I’ve said all along here through the course of the playoffs, he’s deserving of the Conn Smythe. I just tried to work hard every night and do my job, just like everyone else. “We cared. We cared a lot”. But in the Game 7 win against the Detroit Red Wings, the “C” on his jersey stood more for cheerleader than captain after a leg injury forced him to watch most of the third period from the bench. The Penguins came through and went on to finish off the Lightning. “We hadn’t really done that before”.
“We’ll reflect on it in the next couple days”, he said.
The play transpired as scripted.
“There are so many guys who contributed, to be honest”, said Crosby.
“Their speed, the pressure they put on you with their speed”, DeBoer said. The Sharks seemed to be flat during the series. “I thought we just slowly got better and better”. You don’t think you do at the time.
“You can’t say enough about him”, said Hornqvist. “He sees the game like a handful of people”.
Those are impressive numbers, and that came at big times for the Sharks as well.
“I’ve never changed my game”, Kessel said, per Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com. He plays at both ends of the rink.
The Penguins captain raised the Cup exactly seven years after he did it for the first time.
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The fact that the Cup clincher came on the road did not tiresome the party as Penguins players charged off the bench and mobbed rookie goalie Matt Murray while throwing their gloves and sticks into the air in a wild and boyish celebration.
