“The end is like hitting a wall”, DeBoer said, per Shawn P. Roarke of NHL.com. Personalize SI with our new App.
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After assisting on the first three, he scored the big one in Game 6, and it was really something to see.
The Penguins got a 3-1 victory over the Sharks in San Jose, California.
But where to begin with these Penguins?
And then there was Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who wasn’t even named to the NHL All-Star Game back in January, but a strong second half earned him a spot in the final three for Hart Trophy honors as the regular season MVP. They put 52 percent of shots in their favor this past season, the 10th most in the National Hockey League, and won’t turn over a large portion of their roster.
“There’s so many guys who contributed”, Crosby said. “I wouldn’t have gone many places”.
For all the roadblocks, you don’t win a Stanley Cup without years’ worth of good decisions.
Pick any of them. After winning two Stanley Cups with the Penguins as a player, Lemieux now has two as an owner. In Game 4, watching him react to Eric Fehr’s third period goal perfectly captured the moment as his eyes grew large in anticipation as Fehr went in alone on the breakaway, and then the fist pump after he scored. Rookie goaltender Matt Murray was sensational, stopping 127 of his 138 shots faced en route to becoming the second-youngest netminder since 1927 to be the winning goalie of record for a title-clinching game. When Patric Hornqvist added an empty-net goal, it was just a matter of counting down the final seconds.
“It wasn’t easy getting here”, Crosby said. “How can you ask for anything better than this?”
The Penguins controlled the puck in every zone and rarely let the Sharks find a rhythm. In his first Cup run in 2009, teammate Evgeni Malkin won the Conn Smythe.
While the season ended in disappointment, it also was a bit of a breakthrough for Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and the rest of a franchise that had been known for playoff collapses, most notably in 2014 when the Sharks blew a 3-0 series lead in the first round to Los Angeles.
“Well, obviously after a coaching change, I think everyone takes that personal, puts the responsibility on their shoulders to be better”, Crosby said.
This part is inarguable.
Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan raises the Stanley Cup after Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the San Jose Sharks Sunday, June 12, 2016, in San Jose, Calif. I thought he was sensational every game we played.
Power plays have been hard to come by in the final where San Jose and Pittsburgh had combined for 21 penalties in five games.
Crosby finished with four points (all assists) against the Sharks and 19 points in the playoffs. To finish as the Stanley Cup runner-up may not sound appealing, but is a huge accomplishment.
For much of his 10-year career, Phil Kessel has been a seemingly easy target.When Kessel returned to TD Garden in late October of 2010, Bruins fans chanted “Thank You Kessel!” following a Tyler Seguin score (Seguin was drafted with the first-round pick acquired in the Kessel trade). “‘Their defense will be their downfall”. “I’m just super proud of the effort the guys gave all year long”. “I think everyone just stuck together and we found some momentum there in March and just kept going”.
And then Daley handing it to Pascal Dupuis, who thought he was going to cry but held back. Pittsburgh was suddenly playing faster, scoring more and controlling the puck more often after Mike Sullivan took over for Mike Johnston in mid-December.
That play also resulted in Logan Couture starting a two-day discussion about how players cheat on faceoffs.
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“We all played for each other”, Kessel said of his line. The Pittsburgh Penguins won 3-1 to win.
