“I’ve only been here seven years but those guys have been here longer than I have and they deserve this”.
Advertisement
After that 2-1 victory in Pittsburgh, Crosby had six goals and 15 points in 17 postseason games – including three goals and eight points against the Rangers in the five-game first-round spanking. He returned to the lineup for Game 6 and helped the Penguins advance to the Cup Final for the first time in seven years.
The Penguins, who have been in the National Hockey League twice as long as San Jose, are seeking their fourth championship (1990-91, 1991-92, 2008-09).
“When you are part of something that’s bigger than yourself, it’s a special feeling”, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan says.
The Sharks are playing in the first Stanley Cup Final in their 24-season existence.
Morehouse recalls thinking after the Penguins drafted Crosby they should send him to media training. The Penguins rally with three goals but come up short, and the Lightning tie the series 2-2. The Sharks ability – or inability – to contain Crosby will be one of the main keys to the series.
It feels odd putting Olli Maatta on this list.
There is one man leading the Penguins to victory. The Penguins have gone 41-16-3 over that same stretch. Sullivan put in a system created to capitalize on the team’s speed. Ditto for Murray, who hardly looked shaken while sitting the bench in Game 5 against Tampa Bay. Evgeni Malkin is rounding into form and Pavelski leads the Sharks in points during the playoff. After Letang, though, there are some concerns for Pittsburgh with Trevor Daley out with a broken ankle. To win this series, the Sharks must be persistent and not get flustered if their PDO goes south like in the past. The Penguins are still using this approach while the Sharks have shifted towards using a top heavy look which includes Thornton and Pavelski together and Couture and Marleau together. He seemed to be the choice for the Penguins this postseason. You have a lot of stuff to take care of. Murray just turned 22. However, goalie Martin Jones combined with a team that’s never reached the final before (and, thus, never won the Cup before) combined with Joe Thornton’s (likely) last hurrah just makes us think that San Jose will not be denied. He is 12-6 in the playoffs with a 2.12 goals-against average and.919 save percentage. Final score, 2-1. Series, Pittsburgh.
The Penguins’ forward lines are enough to make anyone blink. He has some tremendous speed, which complements the current system, but he has been “Mr”.
Sullivan helped Crosby and Kessel snap their slumps and the Penguins became the hottest team in the National Hockey League, going 33-16-5 the rest of the way en route to 104 points – second in the Eastern Conference. After Callahan’s goal – assisted by Victor Hedman and T.J. Brown – Tampa built to a 4-0 lead heading into third thanks to goals by Andrej Sustr, Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson.
Thornton on Sidney Crosby: He s a tremendous guy. Over the next six weeks they became a catalyst for Pittsburgh’s late-season surge to the point that when Malkin finally returned for the opening round of the postseason, the 2012 NHL MVP was put on what amounted to a third line alongside Chris Kunitz and rookie Bryan Rust. However, he scored four goals on four shots in the final two games of the WCF. He scored two goals on two shots in game five of their series against the St. Louis Blues, and undoubtedly the Sharks have learned where Matt Murray’s weak spot is by now.
Traded to Chicago last summer after spending more than a decade in the Dallas Stars organization, he never quite found a fit with the Blackhawks and coach Joel Quenneville. Pittsburgh does this by splitting Crosby and Malkin and allowing Bonino to play with Kessel and Hagelin. Patric Hornqvist spoke about this postgame.
“Everything happens so quick”, Heinze said. While these two log significant ice time for the Sharks they can’t play every shift, so DeBoer will have to strategically determine where to employ them and against whom. So we’ll need that again.
Advertisement
And, Mike Sullivan may have summed this up best during his postgame conference. The teams split two meetings this season, with Pittsburgh’s 5-1 victory on December 1 marking its first win at San Jose since October 22, 1997.3. The Pens are doing the right things in getting pucks on net, but against San Jose they’ll have to find a way, or benefit from some good fortune, to finish more of those chances.
