Showing posts with label Penguins 2016-17. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Penguins 2016-17. Show all posts
Monday, July 17, 2017
Friday, July 14, 2017
Sidney Crosby tops Connor McDavid, wins eighth ESPY as Best NHL Player
July 13, 2017
Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby holds the Conn Smythe Trophy following Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 11, 2017, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. GETTY IMAGES/ICON SPORTSWIRE/Danny Murphy
Connor McDavid has the $100 million contract and the NHL's latest Art Ross Trophy, but Pittsburgh Penguins standout Sidney Crosby remained hockey's signature headliner after the 25th anniversary ESPYs show on Wednesday.
Crosby, McDavid, the Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews, the Columbus Blue Jackets' Sergei Bobrovsky and the Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane were nominated for the Best NHL Player honor, but it was Crosby who took the accolade for the eighth -- yes, eighth -- time in his distinguished career.
Was it the right call?
Absolutely.
McDavid may surpass Crosby as the league's premier scorer sooner rather than later, and his 100 points in 2016-17 are hard to ignore. But Sid The (Older) Kid still had 44 goals, his highest mark in eight years, and also played a big part in Pittsburgh's title run. Sound familiar? His second straight Conn Smythe Trophy all but solidified his case for a second straight ESPY.
Crosby, as was the case at the NHL awards show in June, didn't come away with every honor for which he was nominated, though.
The Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook took home the Best Male Athlete award, which featured Crosby, Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant and Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps as nominees.
And Crosby's Penguins, up for the Best Team award after their repeat Stanley Cup title, fell short to the NBA's Golden State Warriors.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Gretzky would get a surprise in today's NHL
By John Steigerwald
June 18, 2017
Former NHL players Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux react during the NHL 100 - Media Availability as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend at the JW Marriott on January 27, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)
I would bet Sidney Crosby wants to throw up when he’s asked about his legacy.
I could be wrong, but I get the feeling most players and coaches — especially the great ones — never use the word and hear it only from the media.
It’s been only fairly recently that the media seem to have developed an obsession for discussions about the effects of a season, a series or a game on a player’s legacy.
I don’t know who’s in charge of North American Sports Legacies, but I’m pretty sure they’re pretty impressed with Crosby’s back-to-back Stanley Cups and Conn Smythe trophies.
The Tom Brady rule that defines the greatest player in a sport by the number of championship teams he plays on isn’t followed here, so I’m still going with Mario Lemieux as the greatest Penguins player of all time, but Crosby is a solid second.
It wasn’t too long ago that Jaromir Jagr was being given that spot.
But what about Crosby’s place on the all-time list?
Is he stuck at no better than fourth for the rest of his life, no matter how many more times his name is carved on a trophy?
The consensus seems to be that Wayne Gretzky, Lemieux and Bobby Orr are the top three, with some discussion allowed for the order.
If Crosby is only the second-best Penguin of all time, he can never go higher than three, right?
Maybe not.
Maybe he’s better than Gretzky.
If it’s only about goals, assists and trophies, nobody will ever move Gretzky out of No. 1, much less down to three.
Sidney Crosby is handed the Conn Smythe trophy by Gary Bettman after the Penguins won the 2017 Stanley Cup on June 11th. (NHL.com)
The possibility that Crosby is better than Gretzky was raised in this space last week, and I apparently haven’t had the space taken away from me, so let’s dive in a little deeper.
Maybe you noticed that Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said this week that he’s going to be looking for muscle between now and October.
He said that, after watching the abuse that Crosby took this season, it’s become obvious to him that the league isn’t going to protect him, so he’ll find players who will.
Anyone who knows anything about hockey knows that Crosby and Lemieux took more abuse in a week’s worth of regular-season games than Gretzky took in his career.
You would have a hard time finding any video of Gretzky being involved in a routine check. And that sets him apart in hockey history every bit as much as his goals and assists.
That’s why I believe Lemieux is the greatest player of all time.
He put up comparable numbers in several categories despite the NHL’s stupidity that allowed him to be hacked, clutched and grabbed all over the ice.
Crosby has dealt with just as much abuse and has been the best player in the world for 10 of the last 12 years. He’d be 12-for-12 if not for injuries. And he does things on the boards and in the corners as a grinder that Gretzky never dreamed of doing.
I don’t think Gretzky would get the kid-glove treatment in 2017 that he got 30 years ago when he put up a ridiculous 215 points and led the Edmonton Oilers to their third Cup, and the instigator rule would keep his goons unemployed.
I do know something that he would get today that he didn’t get in the 1986-87 season.
A much smaller target.
The nets are the same size but the goalies and their pads are a lot bigger.
The Penguins’ No. 1 goalie in 1987 was Roberto Romano. He was 5-foot-6, 170 pounds. His goals-against average was 3.61 and his save percentage was .884.
Mike Vernon, 5-9, 180, was one of the better goalies in the league and played for the Calgary Flames, who finished in second place in the Smythe Division behind the Edmonton Oilers.
The Winnipeg Jets finished third in the Smythe with Pokey Reddick, 5-8, 170, and Daniel Berthiaume 5-9, 155.
Gretzky and the Oilers swept the Jets in the second round of the playoffs that year.
If Pokey got on Daniel’s shoulders they might not be a bigger barricade than Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators, who’s 6-5, 217 and wears pads big enough for Reddick and his family to live in.
Most of the goalies Gretzky played against were his size or smaller. Most were under 6 feet. Lemieux was bigger than every goalie he played against.
Crosby didn’t see a goalie under 6-2 in the playoffs this year.
During the season he faced Carey Price, Tuukka Rask, Roberto Luongo and John Gibson, all 6-3; Steve Mason, Martin Jones, Robin Lehner and Frederick Anderson, all 6-4; Scott Darling, 6-6; and Ben Bishop, 6-7. I counted two goalies under 6-2.
And these guys are more athletic and better coached than most of the guys Gretzky and Lemieux saw 30 years ago.
In the 1986-87 season, goalies gave up an average of about 3.5 goals per game and not one had a save percentage higher than .889.
In the season just completed, three goalies gave up three goals per game and one had a save percentage under .900.
If Gretzky in his prime showed up in the NHL in 2017, he’d be in for a big surprise.
And he’d be the third-best player in the league.
Friday, June 23, 2017
A fitting farewell for Fleury, a fan favorite
By Kevin Gorman
June 20, 2017
(Andrew Russell/Tribune-Review)
The final farewell was signature Marc-Andre Fleury, smiling while autographing an array of items for Penguins fans who are still sorry to see him go.
A day before he is expected to be selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL expansion draft, the Flower signed everything from No. 29 jerseys and goalie masks to a homemade Stanley Cup and an oil portrait of the Penguins goaltender.
Poetically enough, one woman gave him flowers.
Another arrived at 4 a.m. Tuesday at Dick's Sporting Goods in Cranberry, hoping to be one of the first 250 people to get a wrist band to get in line for Fleury.
“He's my favorite, the way he is with teammates and how caring he is with fans,” said Jordan Maxwell, 20, of Avalon, 18th in line and trembling as Fleury signed her painting. “He's always smiling, no matter what.”
Fleury will go down as one of the most beloved Pittsburgh sports figures. That's what makes this such a difficult goodbye, not just for Fleury but his fans.
Fleury arrived in 2003 as a No. 1 overall pick from Montreal, like Mario Lemieux 19 years before him. The Penguins were rebuilding, but Fleury quickly became a cornerstone in goal.
Now 32, Fleury leaves the Penguins as a three-time Stanley Cup champion, arguably the best goalie in franchise history but unquestionably the most popular.
During the Stanley Cup playoffs, I asked him about being the building block and such a significant part of the team's turnaround.
“When I first came aboard, we couldn't win many games the first few years. We couldn't give tickets away. The team was for sale, right?” Fleury said. “At that time, I wasn't thinking too far ahead. My dream was to be in the NHL, and I was really happy with it.
“I was lucky to play with great guys and made a lot of friends. But your main goal is always to win the Cup, and to be able to do it was very gratifying.”
Just as it was gratifying for Fleury to go out the way he did. He handled his demotion to backup with such class that Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford called him the best team player in sports. And no one could argue with that logic.
That mattered to Fleury, who said it was important to be remembered “as a good person, not just a goalie.”
Fleury showed that by handing the Stanley Cup to Matt Murray, who replaced him in net in the Eastern Conference final after Fleury played spectacularly.
Fleury sealed that sentiment Monday, when he unveiled a playground at the Sto-Ken-Rox Boys & Girls Club whose construction he financed and donated.
“I love the game. I love playing hockey. I'm very fortunate to be able to do that for a living,” Fleury said. “I've had some success, winning some Stanley Cups. That's very important for me, the success of the team.
“Sometimes, people think athletes are maybe out of reach a bit. It was important to not be like that.”
It's why Penguins fans are hoping Vegas opens next season at PPG Paints Arena, so Fleury can see the Cup banner raised to the rafters.
Perhaps no one captured Fleury as well as my cousin, Mike Moore, did in a Facebook post.
“I don't recall the last time I was this upset about a player leaving the Penguins,” wrote Moore, 40, a season-ticket holder since 2007. “It's not anger nor is it disappointment. This isn't frustration over a trade, injury, illness or retirement. It's simply sadness.
“The NHL is a business, and I understand that. But up through his last moment in a Penguins jersey, Marc-Andre Fleury has exemplified the very essence of what a sports figure can mean to a city, a fan base and a franchise.”
Fleury will be remembered to all three as a great goalie and an even better person.
For that we should say, au revoir, Marc-Andre, and merci beaucoup.
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Friday, June 16, 2017
Fleury Emotional While Reflecting On Career In Pittsburgh
By: Casey Shea
June 15, 2017
Marc-Andre Fleury and the Pittsburgh Penguins participate in the final media availability of the season on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The Pittsburgh Penguins cleaned out their lockers today, marking the end to another incredible season.
For some of the players, it also marked the likely end of their time as a member of the Penguins. One of those players is Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Penguins will be unable to protect both Fleury and Matt Murray in the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft. In February, Fleury waived his no movement clause so that the Penguins could protect Murray.
Despite knowing this is likely the end for him, Fleury reflected on his time in Pittsburgh.
“It’s been such a long time, great memories. I’ve met a lot of great people. It feels like home for me,” Fleury said.
The Penguins selected Fleury with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. The team he initially backstopped wasn’t exactly great and endured plenty of growing pains.
It’s a similar situation to what he could see in Las Vegas, should they select him.
“I think it will be a fresh start for me and for everybody else on the team. Everybody has to start from scratch, but we’ll see what happens in the next week or so,” Fleury said.
The charismatic goaltender continued to flash his trademark smile, but fought back tears as he thought about the future.
“I love to play, I love the game, I love to be in there to compete, the challenge of it. I like everything about it. Obviously, [Murray is] the guy here and he will be for many years,” Fleury said.
Beyond his importance on the ice, Fleury was widely loved by his teammates. That makes his likely departure especially difficult.
“It’ll be tough. It’s something that I don’t even like having to talk about it. I think playing with someone that long, going through what we did is pretty special. We’ve got some great memories and we’ll see what happens with things in the future,” Sidney Crosby said.
“He’s probably the best teammate you can have. He’s always positive and he’s just a great guy in general, I don’t think you’ll find a better personality insports when it comes to being a good friend and being a supportive, positive teammate,” Carl Hagelin said.
“There’s not much you can say about Flower that isn’t great. He’s awesome. He’s one of the best teammates you can ask for. He’s always having a good time, he’s always welcoming guys, he’s always playing little pranks, but I think that helps build chemistry. Having a guy like that on your team is special and makes everyone a little bit closer,” Bryan Rust said.
Of course, should Fleury suit up in a different jersey next season it sets up an interesting scenario of facing his friends and former teammates. It’s a challenge both sides will embrace.
“That’s going to be a lot of fun. I still haven’t scored on him before. Hopefully, that changes,” Crosby said.
“I don’t want to think about [giving up goals to them],” Fleury joked. “I’m sure they’ll give it to me if they score.”
It was different, but was it ever the same for the Penguins
By Mark Madden
June 15, 2017
Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates with the Stanley Cup Trophy after they defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 to win the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Rarely is the Stanley Cup won back-to-back. The Penguins’ victory this year marked the first time since 1998, you may have heard.
But the Penguins won much differently this season than in 2016.
In ’16, the Penguins were clearly the best team. At times, their skill and speed overwhelmed. None of their series victories was remotely surprising. Even when the Penguins trailed Tampa Bay three games to two in the Eastern Conference final with Game 6 at Tampa, the situation seemed well in hand.
This year, the situation didn’t seem well in hand until Carl Hagelin’s empty-net goal with 14 seconds left this past Sunday at Nashville.
That’s not critical in any remote sense. The Penguins found a way.
Most pro sports leagues have a significant copycat element. But not the NHL. Not this season.
The Penguins’ playoff foes, perhaps because speed and (especially) skill are not readily available, instead chose the battering-ram approach. Even Washington, with a heaping helping of both commodities, tried to separate the Penguins from their heads instead of the puck.
It didn’t work. But it did change the Penguins’ approach.
Their breakout crippled by the unavailability of defenseman Kris Letang, the Penguins didn’t alter their style, not dramatically. But they relied a lot more on guile than dazzle, soaked up some discouraging losses and persevered to bleed out games (and series).
In the 2016 playoffs, the Penguins never lost a game by more than two.
In this year’s postseason, the Penguins absorbed several pastings: 5-2 in Game 6 at home vs. Washington; 5-1 in Game 3 at Ottawa; 5-1 and 4-1 in Games 3 and 4 at Nashville.
But the Penguins were never deterred.
In fact, captain Sidney Crosby says the Game 4 defeat at Nashville was when the Penguins really found their footing in that series.
The last game reflected the Penguins’ entire playoff: Fluky bank shot with 95 seconds left, ENG locks it up. They found a way.
Goaltender Matt Murray delivered mostly by rarely allowing soft goals. The defensive corps overachieved mightily, especially in the last two games. The stars didn’t fill the score sheet, but did what’s necessary.
Exhibit A: Two-time Stanley Cup champion Phil Kessel was oft-criticized for not scoring enough, not shooting enough, etc. But Kessel still had 23 points in 25 playoff games and was a team-best plus-12.
You can win quietly. Save the fanfare for the celebration. It all looks spectacular after the fact.
Crosby’s brilliance acknowledged, this year’s Stanley Cup was a real team victory. That’s often said, but not always true.
Coach Mike Sullivan was a bigger factor this year than last. The Penguins’ focus never wavered. Sullivan’s lineup machinations were impeccable and reaped results tangible and otherwise. No Penguins coach has had his finger more accurately on the pulse of his team since Bob Johnson in 1991.
Can the Penguins possibly three-peat?
Probably not. But how could you bet against them? They can always ask ex-Penguin Bryan Trottier for advice. Trottier played for the last team to win a third Cup in a row, the 1981-82 New York Islanders.
The Penguins led the Islanders 3-1 with less than six minutes left in Game 5 of that season’s best-of-five first-round series. Final score in OT: Islanders 4, Penguins 3. That’s just how the Penguins were then.
That’s not how the Penguins are now. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Penguins thank 'fierce' fans at welcome-home parade for Lord Stanley's cup
By Megan Guza
http://triblive.com/sports
June 14, 2017
(Andrew Russell/Tribune-Review)
Jim Rutherford called it last year.
"We'll try to meet here at this time next year," the Penguins general manager said June 15, 2016, at last year's Stanley Cup victory parade.
The Penguins, led by captain Sidney Crosby, made good on that.
"We worked all year to get to this point," Crosby said on stage at Point State Park, the endpoint of the team's parade through Downtown on a hot, humid day that attracted hundreds of thousands of fans still marveling over the team's fifth championship win Sunday night.
Crosby called the back-to-back Stanley Cup wins a team effort.
"We knew how tough that was going to be," he said.
"What can we say about this group of hockey players here?" head coach Mike Sullivan said. "These guys are fierce competitors."
The fans, he said, are just as fierce.
The magnitude of back-to-back Stanley Cup wins — the first time a team has pulled off such a feat in 19 years — was not lost on the crowd of fans, many of whom arrived early to start the party.
"The feeling right now is kind of surreal," said Josh Ray of Pine.
Penguins home-ice announcer Ryan Mill introduced each player, including Nick Bonino, still using crutches but expertly managing to keep hold of his beer regardless.
Crosby, the only player to speak on stage, said the Stanley Cup belongs to the fans just as much as it belongs to the team.
"That Game 5 was something I think we'll all remember," he said. "It's great to be able to share this with all of you."
And fans were happy to share in the celebration as well.
(Andrew Russell/Tribune-Review)
"It feels real good winning back-to-back cups," said Connor Wagner of the North Side. "I think we're spoiled here in Pittsburgh with all the good sports teams and getting to championships this often — a lot of cities don't. So I think we're spoiled and sometimes it doesn't set in."
Nine-year-old Riley Keller traveled from Cuba, N.Y., with her parents to show off her outfit: a homemade Stanley Cup costume, complete with a metal mixing bowl to top it all off.
She led both of her youth hockey teams — one an all-girls team and the other of mostly boys — in not just scoring, but penalty minutes as well.
Charles Jetter of Oil City made sure he'd have one of the best views. Sitting comfortably in his convertible — top down in the sunshine — he was just feet away from the parade route on Boulevard of the Allies. He had claimed the spot the night before.
"I just floated in after all the Pirates folks were gone … I slept right here," he said.
He likened the parade to a holiday.
"This is the real way to finish: Not with a Game 7 or Game 6, but with a victory parade and the whole city," Jetter said.
The dedication of fans like Jetter wasn't lost on coach Sullivan.
"Everybody talked about Nashville (fans) through those finals, but they've got nothing on Pittsburgh," he said.
Then he set the date for next year.
"I wonder if (we) can repeat," he said. "Or three-peat, should I say?"
Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Matthew Santoni and Brian Rittmeyer
Marc-Andre Fleury leaves with adoration in perhaps his last interaction with Penguins fans
By Jeremy Tepper
June 14, 2017
(Kevin Lorenzi/The Times)
PITTSBURGH — If this was the way Marc-Andre Fleury goes out as a Penguin, the final fan interaction he has before the upcoming expansion draft, he'll leave deeply adored. Just like it's always been.
There were few players, if any, who received a warmer applause from fans at the Penguins victory parade than Fleury, the longtime Penguins goaltender. As Fleury came by on his vehicle through the parade route, fans chanted his last name, similar to how they've done time and time again throughout his career.
Fleury's always been a fan-favorite, for a number of reasons. As the first overall pick by the Penguins in the 2003 draft, Fleury has represented one of the building blocks towards the rebirth of the Penguins franchise. Fleury has been praised as a great teammate and generally a nice guy by others. It's that reason, along with his flashes of brilliance in the net, that have endeared him to fans.
Fleury recently waived his no-movement clause that would have prevented the Penguins from exposing him in the expansion draft of the Vegas Golden Knights. Though it's not a guarantee that the Golden Knights will select him or that he'll ask to be traded if they don't, Fleury certainly has appeal to teams. Fleury, who was supplanted by Matt Murray as the Penguins starting goalie, started the first 15 games of the playoffs after Murray got injured. He posted a 2.56 goal against and .924 save percentage in those games.
As Fleury and Murray were introduced to the front of the stage at Point State Park at the end of the parade, former Penguins television play-by-play announcer Paul Steigerwald called the two “a couple guys who had a pretty big role I’d say in winning the Stanley Cup" and "the greatest goalie tandem in the history of the playoffs." After the introduction, Murray and Fleury hoisted the Stanley Cup together, each holding one end. As instructed by Steigerwald, the fans chanted both of their surnames, alternating between the two.
It was perhaps the last time Fleury will hear his name chanted by Penguins fans.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Sidney Crosby and the Penguins proved their mettle on the long road to a Stanley Cup repeat
https://www.si.com/nhl/
June 13, 2017
Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins poses for a photo with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman as he is presented with the Conn Smythe Trophy after they defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 to win the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Out from the locker room emerges Sidney Crosby, victory hat tugged taut, gripping a T-shirt soaked in Coors Light and champagne. There’s a slight limp in each step as he walks down the empty hallway in Nashville, toward the bus bound for another Penguins after-party. Then he stops. Turns. Looks back, but just for a moment. “It’s hard to believe we found a way to do it,” Crosby says. “We talked about it all year, but it was such a steep climb to get here.”
The summit had been waiting for him. Three-hundred and sixty-four days earlier, amid the 2016 Stanley Cup celebrations in San Jose, Crosby found Andy O’Brien, his longtime trainer, and firmly told him, “We’re not done. We’re going to get another.” At the time O’Brien wasn’t surprised by the proclamation, “because he always says that, whether after the Olympics or the playoffs or any kind of success. It’s always, ‘Let’s do it again.’ ”
And now, as Sunday night morphs into Monday morning at Bridgestone Arena, as so many disappointed souls stumble out of downtown honky-tonks, everything was coming true. After outlasting the feisty Predators 2–0 in Game 6 of the Cup finals, the Pens became the NHL’s first repeat champs of the 21st century. Their captain, Crosby, earned his second straight Conn Smythe Trophy, becoming just the third player to accomplish that feat. And with it he enters the conversation for hockey’s Mount Rushmore—provided there’s room on the batholith to chisel beside the heads of Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe and Crosby’s boss, Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux.
“He was already heading there, and eventually he would’ve gotten into that conversation,” Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford says. “But we can start talking about it, as of June 11.”
“He’s done everything he could possibly do as a player,” Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman says.
“One of the best all-time,” Lemieux says. “Among the greats of our game.”
Though he would never admit it, the 29-year-old Crosby undoubtedly understands where he ranks among the elite. “A constant student of his environment,” his agent, Pat Brisson, says. Crosby grew up in Nova Scotia, which meant cheering for the Canadiens, but kid Sid revered Red Wings center Steve Yzerman, the last captain to oversee consecutive Cup runs. During Penguins road trips earlier in his career, Crosby would devour Yzerman’s biography. “He was studying his role by looking up to the top,” Brisson says. “He wouldn’t come out and say, ‘I’ll be the best ever, I’ll be this or that,’ but in his mind he was starving for it, he was hungry for it.”
Still, no amount of reading could prepare Crosby to handle what his idol encountered with Detroit in 1997 and ’98—or what Lemieux faced while guiding Pittsburgh to the ’91 and ’92 Cups. “The hardest part is that you can’t understand it until you go through it,” Crosby says.
Not that Crosby seemed burdened by this latest journey. He sustained a concussion against the top-seeded Capitals during the Eastern Conference semis but missed only one game. “Yeah,” he says, sighing with relief, “really happy that it wasn’t anything long-term.” The Senators provided a steady diet of physical punishment in the third round—not to mention some mid-action dousing with a water bottle from their bench—but Crosby nonetheless finished the series with six points, including the primary helper on Chris Kunitz’s goal in double overtime of Game 7. “We could’ve been out easily in the second round, third round,” he says. “It could’ve been different.”
Instead, his powers only seemed to strengthen during the finals, particularly after Nashville star P.K. Subban fibbed to reporters that Crosby had remarked on the defenseman’s bad breath during Game 3. (The actual conversation between Subban and Crosby, picked up by some hot mikes, contained mostly a run-of-the-mill swapping of f-bombs.) With three assists in Game 5, a 6–0 blowout at home, Crosby moved into a tie for fourth all-time with 56 career multipoint playoff outings, while also taking liberties of his own—namely smothering Subban’s head into the ice.
Three days later, returning to Music City with a 3–2 series advantage, Crosby took a power nap on the short flight. Upon waking up, he found himself looking around the cabin, peeking at the card games, taking stock of teammates on their final road trip of the season.
Patric Hornqvist #72 of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores a goal against Pekka Rinne #35 of the Nashville Predators during the third period in Game Six of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
There was Patric Hornqvist, the Swedish forward who would bank the championship-clinching shot off goalie Pekka Rinne’s left shoulder with 1:35 left. And goalie Matt Murray, who would win his second Cup with a 123-minute shutout streak that spanned Games 5 and 6. And winger Jake Guentzel, who would tie the NHL’s rookie playoff scoring record with 21 points while riding shotgun to Crosby.
“A lot of different things [went] through my mind,” the captain says. He shuffles farther down the Bridgestone hallway, pausing every so often to thank another well-wisher. It’s almost 1 a.m. The bus is waiting. “Thinking about a great opportunity, and being excited, and just trying to soak everything in.”
Moments of reflection are nothing new. Having trained Crosby since he was an apple-cheeked 13-year-old, O’Brien was hired as Pittsburgh’s director of sport science and performance in July 2015. The months that followed marked perhaps the toughest stretch of Crosby’s career, certainly since suffering two concussions in 2010–11. His offensive output sagged. Coach Mike Johnston was fired that December, replaced by minor league call-up Mike Sullivan. Where consecutive conference titles in ’08 and ’09 once sparked talk of a dynasty—a 21-year-old Crosby hoisting the Cup in the latter season served as the primary flint—the Penguins were suddenly facing outside questions about their star’s future.
“I remember him really being affected by all the things that were going on,” O’Brien says. “But he’s always got that positive spin on things. He said, ‘Maybe this is the adversity that needs to happen for something amazing to come around.’ ”
No cheering may be the first rule of the press box, but an exception could be granted for the bushy-bearded gentleman in seat 64 at PPG Paints Arena. With a medical boot hugging his broken left tibia, Nick Bonino seemed anxious at the start of Game 5, leaning forward with his head bowed and hands clasped. But the Penguins center (nicknamed Bones) had no reason to feel rattled. From the very first shift—when Crosby split Nashville defensemen Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi, drew a holding penalty and hit the post while falling down—it was clear that Pittsburgh remained in safe hands down below.
Twelve months ago Bonino had been anchoring wingers Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel on Pittsburgh’s HBK line, a trio so toothsome that it inspired a sandwich stuffed with ham, bacon and kielbasa at the local establishment Primanti Bros. Bonino’s presence in the press box was a reminder that—like Charles Barkley, who crashed a presser before Game 4 in Nashville to preach the virtues of playoff hockey—the Penguins know how to rebound. No Bonino, shelved after blocking a Subban shot in Game 2? No Kris Letang, the minutes-gobbling defenseman who needed neck surgery on April 13 to repair a herniated disc? No problem.
On the one hand, these injuries were mere speed bumps compared with what other Cup repeaters have had to overcome. In November 1991, Penguins coach “Badger” Bob Johnson died from brain cancer. Six days after the Red Wings won the ’97 Cup, the drunk driver of a limousine carrying three members of the organization hit a tree, leaving two of the passengers—defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov and team masseuse Sergei Mnatsakanov—critically injured. “Terrible, terrible tragedies,” recalls Bowman, who took over in Pittsburgh when Johnson fell ill and similarly steered Detroit through its glory years. Yet even Bowman says that, at least on the ice, “We also didn’t have the same grind as the Penguins are going through right now.”
Consider: Sunday marked Pittsburgh’s 213th game since the start of the 2015–16 season, an enervating total that doesn’t even include last September’s World Cup of Hockey, in which seven Penguins competed and Crosby (who else?) won MVP for Team Canada. “I might be sleeping for about a week now after this,” defenseman Ian Cole says. “We’ll see if I make it to the parade or not.”
A first-round win over Columbus might have seemed breezy on paper, but the Penguins were steadily outshot throughout the series and needed 49 saves from goalie Marc-André Fleury in the clincher. “I thought we played really well against them,” laments Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella. “Their quick-strike offense just capitalized.”
If not issuing an outright rebuttal to the value of attempting shots in bulk—Pittsburgh ranked 15th out of the 16 playoff teams in five-on-five shot attempt percentage—the Penguins proved that opportunism can prevail. Nashville never recovered after allowing three goals in 4:11 during the first period of Game 1. The third period of Game 2 brought an even swifter shelling—strikes from Guentzel, forward Scott Wilson and center Evgeni Malkin spanning 3:18. As Sullivan texted Tortorella, a close friend, “We’re ugly, but we find a way.”
Sullivan, a Marshfield, Mass., native, never sugarcoated hard truths after replacing the laissez-faire Johnston. Cameras once even captured Sullivan telling his players to “shut the f‑‑‑ up” on the bench last year. “To step in and set the standard for how it’s going to be, that was huge,” Tortorella says. “That’s who Mike is. He’s secure in his skin, but he also has a humbleness that attracts players to him.”
No doubt this mettle helped when, for the second straight postseason, Sullivan passed over the 32-year-old Fleury in favor of the 23-year-old Murray. Made midway through the Ottawa series, the decision might have opened rifts on less sturdy teams. But after Murray posted a playoff-high .937 save percentage in 10 starts, it was Fleury who passed him the Cup on the ice in Nashville. “He’s been such a mentor for me,” Murray told NHL Network, fighting back tears. “That was huge.”
And when Sullivan asked an unheralded blue line, arguably the weakest on a Cup champion since the Hurricanes’ in 2006, to pick up the slack for Letang, they responded. “A simple bunch,” Sullivan says. “They understand where their limitations are.” Translation: The likes of Hainsey and Cole weren’t driving play like Nashville’s blueliners, but their hot-potato approach to flipping pucks from the defensive zone allowed for brisk enough breakouts. “Everybody pretty much wrote us off, saying we didn’t have a chance without Kris,” says Cole, “and understandably so.”
Indeed, as an Eastern Conference head coach framed his doubts, “I wasn’t sure how far [Sullivan] would get with that back end, but look at them now.”
Yes, look at them now.
Carl Hagelin #62 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates the puck on a break away to score an empty net goal as P.K. Subban #76 of the Nashville Predators trails during Game Six of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images)
Look at Hagelin, who won a footrace to pot an empty-netter with 14 seconds left on Sunday, cranking out celebratory pull-ups on a bar in the hallway while still wearing his skates after the Cup-clinching victory. And a shirtless Bonino, injected with painkillers for the occasion, hobbling around on crutches. And Malkin and Kessel dousing each other with champagne, as if the Brut bottles were Super Soakers and the locker room their front lawn.
See Sullivan work the room with his 79-year-old father, George, congratulating everyone in sight. Listen to Kunitz croon an NHL-themed lullaby as he lugs the silver chalice to the bus:
And down will come Stanley, cradle and all. . . .
The Predators, meanwhile, struggled to put their magical season to bed. In advancing beyond the second round for the first time, they had exposed the wider world to their own brand of fandom: booming soccer-style chants and an affinity for hurling catfish. The official club of country music, they lured celebrity anthem singers like Martina McBride and Faith Hill, while tens of thousands of fans, sardined on Broadway, watched Luke Bryan perform atop Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge before Game 6.
And yet everything fell apart from the sharp blast of a whistle on Sunday. Sixty-seven seconds into the second period Nashville’s leading scorer, Filip Forsberg, sneaked a short-side wrister through Murray’s armpit. Just as center Colton Sissons jammed the loose puck into an open net, referee Kevin Pollock, from an obstructed angle, blew the play dead. Though karma eventually returned to the Preds in the form of three power plays, Sissons’s nongoal was their best chance; they finished the series without scoring over the final 123:23.
As he rode the freight elevator from his box after the Cup presentation ceremony, misty eyes fixed ahead, Nashville GM David Poile could at least take solace in a bright future. A handful of restricted free agents, most notably No. 1 center Ryan Johansen, who missed the finals after undergoing emergency thigh surgery, need new contracts. Otherwise, Nashville can comfortably bring back a similar lineup and challenge again.
And the potential for a Penguins three-peat? That hasn’t happened since the Islanders snatched four straight in the early 1980s, more than two decades before the salary cap ushered in the age of parity. But who would dare doubt Crosby and Malkin, Murray and Sullivan now?
“It’s been a lot of hockey these years,” Crosby says. (Sixty-nine hours and 44 minutes of personal ice time since the start of 2015–16, to be exact.) He’s reached the loading dock, stopping to sign autographs for a few fans in Predators gear. “Might take a little bit of extra time to get some rest. But when you have this feeling fresh in your mind, there’s always a ton of motivation. Just the fact that you’re chasing something keeps you in it.”
Be it hockey history, or simply the bus bound for another party.
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