On the sport’s biggest stage, it was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ stars who shone brightest. In an epic Game 6 against the San Jose Sharks, the Penguins won, 3-1, and hoisted Lord Stanley’s Cup at SAP Center. Captain Sidney Crosby was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy as the MVP of the playoffs.
Sure, the Penguins were unable to win the series at home in front of their fans, but over 16,000 people gathered at Consol Energy Center to watch and cheer for Pittsburgh. And they got to see quite the game.
It was fast-paced. It was chaotic. It was tense. It was exciting. It was the Sharks’ best game of the series, and that still wasn’t enough to overcome Pittsburgh’s firepower.
The scoring started on a power play, when Pittsburgh defenseman Brian Dumoulin’s long slapshot found the net 8:16 into the first period. Dumoulin, who was traded to the Penguins in 2012 (among others) for Jordan Staal, has been a revelation in this series.
The Penguins carried that lead into the start of the second period, but it was tied up when Logan Couture continued his playoff tear and put the puck away.
But, 29 seconds later, Kris Letang took the lead back for the Penguins on assists from Conor Sheary and Crosby. Letang, who made a legitimate case for the Conn Smythe trophy, was phenomenal on both sides of the ice. He had three points in consecutive games (1G, 2A) and had five points over the last six games. He also spent more time on the ice than any other Penguin — in Game 5’s loss, he played 28:29 (Dumolin was second with 22:36.)
The game was put away when Patric Hornqvist scored an empty netter with just over a minute left. (Crosby, who made a nice play to get the puck to Hornqvist, got the assist.)
At 28 years old and not exactly a “Kid” anymore, Crosby played phenomenally this series, better than even his stat-line showed. In the playoffs, he had six goals and 11 assists, and he did so many slick things with the puck it should be illegal.
His counterpart, Evgeni Malkin, also had a great series, although it wasn’t quite as strong as he had probably hoped for.
And you can’t talk about the Penguins playoff run without mentioning the dominant HBK Line: Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel.
But, perhaps, the series and the playoff run really belong to general manager Jim Rutherford and head coach Mike Sullivan. In December 2015, the Penguins were out of playoff contention and looked weak, sluggish and out-of-sorts. But Rutherford made some brilliant trades, acquisitions and call-ups, perhaps most importantly naming Sullivan head coach in mid-December.
Sullivan emphasized speed, and he turned it into amazing defense that made Pittsburgh such a threat.
Sullivan also made the decision to stick with rookie goaltender Matt Murray — over veteran netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, who missed the first few games due to a concussion — for all but one playoff game. Murray, at 22 years old, tied the record for most wins by a rookie goalie in a single postseason (15). He was also 6-0 in the playoffs after losing a game.
Over six games, the Sharks played admirably, but they were playing from behind for most of the series. It took a while for San Jose stars Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Brent Burns to show up, and they made little impact. But Couture was sensational — he’s one of four players to record 30 points in the playoffs (Malkin had 36 in 2009, Crosby had 31 in 2009 and Daniel Briere had 30 in 2010.)
But the true hero for the Sharks was goaltender Martin Jones, who had a claim to the Conn Smythe trophy with his out-of-his-mind goaltending. Without Jones, both Game 6 and Game 5 would have very likely gotten out of hand for the Sharks.
The Penguins’ win marked the fourth time the Cup has come back to Pittsburgh. And the team did it with contributions from all over the ice — including one who hadn’t played since December: Pascal Dupuis. Dupuis was forced to retire earlier this year because of a medical condition related to blood clots.
But after Crosby lifted the Cup, and Daley, it was Dupuis’s turn.
And, maybe, when he hoisted the Cup, it meant a little more for the Penguins.
