“We have a lot of good leadership in the room and a lot of guys who’ve been through a lot”.
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Marleau, who has played a combined 1,580 regular-season and playoff games for the Sharks, would be the headliner from a group of possible departures.
“We’ve been chasing the game the whole series by not scoring first”, DeBoer said after Monday’s loss.
Forward Logan Couture has a postseason-best 26 points, but both he and defenseman Brent Burns have been limited to two assists in the Finals.ABOUT THE PENGUINS: Center Evgeni Malkin, the Conn Smythe Award victor in Pittsburgh’s 2009 run to the Cup, admitted he wasn’t producing enough through the first three games of the series and responded to his own “I want more” declaration by setting up one tally and scoring what proved to be the game-winner in Game 4.
“I think they’ve done a good job of that because they’ve had the lead, and we haven’t put ourselves in that situation yet”.
Pittsburgh Penguins rookie goaltender Matt Murray has been far from flawless in the Stanley Cup Finals, but he still has his team one win away from lifting a fourth Stanley Cup trophy. “We know the next game will be the toughest”.
There is no magic button, even if the correlation between Mike Sullivan’s deft attempts to a get player’s attention and that player nearly immediately elevating his game is unmistakable.
“There’s a saying that you dance with the girl you brought to the dance. I think that’s the approach we’re going to take”.
It might not be the greatest vote of confidence ever heard with a championship on the line, but San Jose’s leaders haven’t exactly inspired much confidence. Sharks defenseman Justin Braun has two goals in the past two games, matching his total from the previous 40 contests.
Perhaps that video from the Ocean Futures Society posted in 2009 has become a little bit prophetic: instead of the shark eating the penguin as is typical, the penguin pecks the shark on the nose and swims away.
Sudden-death losses don’t count as trailing, so the Penguins haven’t officially trailed since Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, when the Lightning rushed to a 4-0 lead and won 4-3. “It’s different if we’re (up) 3-1, and you don’t have anything”. “If we were up 3-1, it’d be a different story”. But, right now, with the hole we’re (in). you know a goal or two probably changes the outcome. I think our support group has to take a little bit of pressure off them. “I’m going to look to keep that same mindset going forward”. What’s even more unique about the Pens is that if they win tomorrow night, they will hoist the Stanley Cup on their home ice for the first time in franchise history.
And Couture in Game 4 managed just two shots on net, and another that missed. He’s been on the ice for 19 more shot attempts than the Sharks have allowed at even strength. We have a lot of guys that can help with that. You just stay with it, keep trying to have the puck and play with it and get open.
“Anytime you can score the first goal in a game, it really increases your chances”. His team’s rise over the last six months is a collective effort, not a star-driven one.
The Penguins are winning with three balanced scoring lines, with undersized wingers and a no-name defence as well as a rookie goaltender. “I mean, it’s always important to try and get the next one, too”.
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The Penguins will do their best these next two days to ignore all the outside noise and hysteria in Pittsburgh as fans anticipate a second Stanley Cup in the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era.
