Showing posts with label Stanley Cup 2017. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stanley Cup 2017. Show all posts
Monday, July 17, 2017
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.
Malkin makes case as greatest Russian-born player in NHL history
By Jonathan Bombulie
June 13, 2017
Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins lifts the Stanley Cup after the Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 to win the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
Given the contents of his trophy case, it's hard to believe Evgeni Malkin's reputation as one of the game's all-time greats needs any further reinforcement.
His third Stanley Cup championship secured Sunday night in Nashville added to a collection that already included two Art Ross trophies as the league's leading scorer, a Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2012, a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2009, a Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2007 and gold medals in the World Junior Championships and World Championships.
But given the results of the balloting for the NHL's list of its 100 greatest players of all time released at the All-Star Game this season — Malkin was inexplicably left off — apparently his legacy hasn't been cemented in everyone's eyes in the hockey community.
Perhaps this will help: Given recent events, a case could be made for Malkin as the greatest Russian-born player in NHL history.
No Russian player has won more Stanley Cup championships. With three, Malkin is tied with Sergei Fedorov and Sergei Brylin for the top spot on the list.
Fedorov has recorded more points in both the regular season and playoffs, and Alex Ovechkin is one of the game's all-time great goal scorers, but Malkin has key advantages over both.
Fedorov's numbers were accumulated during an 18-year NHL career. On a points-per-game basis, Malkin's totals of 832 points in 706 regular-season games and 157 points in 149 playoff games are far more impressive.
Ovechkin, of course, has never won a Stanley Cup.
In the immediate aftermath of the Penguins' victory in Nashville, Malkin had little interest in assessing his place in history.
That wasn't because he was too busy celebrating, though. It was because the ending of his story hasn't been written yet.
“I'm not thinking about that because I think we'll still play together for a long time and maybe win,” Malkin said. “When we're retired, we can think about that. Now, we're still young. We're still hungry. We want more.”
At various points in the season — sometimes when the team was going through a particularly grueling stretch of schedule, sometimes when he was coming off an injury, sometimes when he passed another goals or points milestone in his career — Malkin would jokingly remind folks in the locker room that he's getting old.
While Malkin will turn 31 before the puck drops again in the fall, it's not like he's slowing down.
Malkin led the league in playoff scoring, recording 10 goals and 28 points. His offensive consistency was remarkable, hitting the scoresheet in 17 of 25 playoff games.
Malkin finished second to Sidney Crosby in the voting for the Conn Smythe trophy. After Sunday's final game, Crosby was asked where his vote for playoff MVP would have gone if he had one.
“I think Geno comes to mind right away,” Crosby said.
When pundits start to put together their lists of favorites to win the 2018 Stanley Cup, the Penguins will come to mind right away, as well.
With Malkin and Crosby leading the way and most other key players returning, a run for a third championship next season surely isn't out of the question.
Malkin knows it won't be easy.
“It's so hard,” he said. “New teams come with new guys, like Edmonton, Toronto.
“It's an amazing league. Every team has a chance to win. It's so hard.”
After a couple of months to rest up, though, who knows?
“We're tired a little bit, for sure, but now it's over,” Malkin said. “It's an unbelievable feeling. Lots of emotion. Tomorrow, we wake up. It's a new day, an amazing day. Family's here. A great summer for sure.”
Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jbombulie@tribweb.comor via Twitter at @BombulieTrib.
Greatness of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin somewhat overlooked in Penguins' remarkable success
By Chris Mueller
June 13, 2017
Captain Sidney Crosby #87 and Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins kiss the Stanley Cup after Game Six of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Penguins defeated the Predators 2-0. The Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup Final series against the Nashville Predators 4-2. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)
It is still, a few days later, somewhat hard to believe. Hard to believe that the Penguins are back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions. The salary cap era, after all, was supposed to make that difficult, if not impossible.
Yet here we are, with a parade planned for Wednesday morning, rain or shine. At least metaphorically, the sun has never shined brighter on the Pittsburgh Penguins than at this moment.
There are plenty of factors contributing to this pleasant reality. There is the sublime goaltending of both Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray. There is the stunning emergence of Jake Guentzel, goal-scoring machine. There is the steady reliability of Phil Kessel, still occasionally put upon by those in search of a convenient, easy narrative despite his 45 points in 49 playoff games with the Pens.
There was the grit and guts of a depleted blue line, a collection of players without a single Norris Trophy vote — ever — one that, for lack of a better term, found a way to do its job well enough, and sometimes superbly. There was production from role players, the kind that is essential to any successful Stanley Cup chase. Finally, there was Mike Sullivan, now inarguably the greatest coach in Penguins history, pushing all the right buttons at exactly the right times, for the second straight year.
That’s about all of it, right? Am I forgetting anyone?
Ah yes, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Two guys whose contributions aren’t taken for granted, per se, but are somehow still under-discussed. Make no mistake, this run is their crowning achievement. Crosby may have won the Conn Smythe, but both players had a legitimate case for it, and both men could not have propelled this team to these stratospheric heights without the other.
Crosby has elevated himself into the top-five players of all-time discussion with this title and performance, and Malkin is not far behind despite his unconscionable omission from the NHL’s 100 greatest players list released earlier this season.
Crosby has become, now more clearly than ever, the rare talent capable of imposing his will on the game every time he hops over the boards. He has, on more than one occasion, been the best player in the game without registering a point. When he’s on the ice two things seem safe assumptions: that the Penguins will have at least one good scoring chance and they will not allow the opposition much time in the attacking zone.
Malkin’s impact is at times not as obvious. He occasionally has a string of average to bad shifts, and even the stray bad overall game. Still, when at his absolute peak, he is the most physically imposing, dominant offensive force in the league. He’s not Crosby, but he’s very, very close. And when he’s most motivated, he’s capable of playing excellent defensive hockey, as he did on many occasions during this run. All you need to know about Malkin: Despite the first sentence of this paragraph being true, he led the league in playoff points this year.
The Penguins surmounted long odds to get back-to-back titles. They survived the loss of Kris Letang, arguably their most irreplaceable player, as well as a brutal draw, beating the fourth-best and best teams in the league, by record at least, in the first two rounds.
They fought fatigue, injury, valiant opposition and the weight of history, and came out on the other side as winners. The main reason the Penguins were able to do this is simple, even if sometimes taken for granted or ignored in favor of other, less common narratives: They have Crosby and Malkin and everyone else does not. The photographs of the two superstars holding the Cup, sharing it equally, could not have been more apropos.
This run, this incredible display of performance and perseverance, was Crosby and Malkin’s magnum opus. It was better than 2009’s arrival as elites, better than last year’s dominant return to glory. It placed them above Lemieux and Jagr’s Penguins of the early 1990s by the simplest, most important measure: Stanley Cups. It was the pinnacle of their respective careers.
For now, that is. Would you bet against Crosby and Malkin next season?
I know I wouldn't.
Chris Mueller is the co-host of 'The Starkey & Mueller Show" from 2-6 p.m. weekdays on 93.7 The Fan.
Penguins' latest championship was unconventional
BY STEVE SIMMONS, TORONTO SUN
June 12, 2017
Captain Sidney Crosby #87 and Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins stand with the Stanley Cup in the locker room after Game Six of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Penguins defeated the Predators 2-0. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup Final series against the Nashville Predators 4-2. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
NASHVILLE — At the beginning of the Stanley Cup final, I asked Jimmy Rutherford about the combined legacies of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and what it would mean for them to have won one more Stanley Cup than Mario Lemieux managed as a player with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He stopped me before I finished the question: “Just one?” he said. “I think there will be more Stanley Cups in their future. This isn’t the end, you know.”
They now have three championship celebrations, the best 1-2 punch in the National Hockey League, maybe the best 1-2 punch at centre since Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov, since Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, since Lemieux and Ron Francis, since the best pairing ever, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.
And maybe better than some of those combinations.
They now have three championships each and the tendency on the day after the Stanley Cup is presented is to bring in the word dynasty, define what is in these new financially-complicated times, and try and figure just how set up the championship team is to win more crowns.
The Chicago Blackhawks have won three championships in the salary cap era, none of them two in a row like the Penguins. Los Angeles Kings won twice and looked to be all set up with Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick and Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter all signed long-term. Dean Lombardi appeared poised to win more championships. Instead, the team has never been close again, general manager Lombardi and coach Darryl Sutter have been fired, and the Kings are now in fix-it, what-the-hell-happened mode.
Crosby and Malkin aren’t anywhere near old or tired or in any kind of decline. And yet for six years, they were never close really to Cup contention after winning in 2009. This team was different, different from last year even, and not necessarily in a talent-laden way. This team was different the way Joel Quenneville’s Blackhawks were different, the way any of Scotty Bowman’s championship teams were different: They were superbly coached by Mike Sullivan, one of the new masters of his craft.
The Penguins' Cup victory, though, went against conventional thinking in hockey and unconventional thinking also. This playoff year, they didn’t have Kris Letang, their only all-star on defence, in the lineup. They got away with spare part here and spare part there on the blueline and that by itself is extraordinary by today’s standards of what constitutes a championship team.
Chicago won with Duncan Keith on defence. Los Angeles had Doughty. Boston had Zdeno Chara. Anaheim had Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. Detroit had Nick Lidstrom. Colorado had Rob Blake. Lou Lamoriello’s championship teams in New Jersey had Niedermayer and Scott Stevens.
All of them are -- or are going to be -- Hockey Hall of Famers.
Pittsburgh’s first pair on defence was Brian Dumoulin and Ron Hainsey. They will never be on anybody’s ballot, except maybe Crosby.
“That group of guys,” he said, “what they were willing to do and what they bring, it’s all so important. I could go through every guy (the others being Justin Schultz, Ian Cole, Trevor Daley and Olli Maatta) .... There was probably a lot of people thinking the same thing.”
The thing was: how do you win with those guys?
“I think they proved what they’re capable of. I think that the group being together for last year, too, that helped them. You know, Daley was out at some point and guys who filled in did a great job and we picked up a couple of veteran guys (Hainsey, who had never played a playoff game in a rather ordinary career, being one). I can’t say enough about that group. It was pretty difficult what they were able to do night in and night out.”
The encouraging part in a copy-cat world: Every team has to believe they have a defence good enough to win a Cup.
What they don’t have is Crosby and Malkin. The Conn Smythe Trophy winner and the obvious choice as runner up. The rest of the Penguins forwards -- Phil Kessel and Jake Guentzel aside -- are meh. And Kessel’s influence in the final was negligible: He scored once, the fifth goal in a 6-0 Game 5 whitewash by the Penguins. When the bright lights came on, with the two days off playing a huge factor in providing life and health for Pittsburgh, Crosby put on his own personal Tour de Force and Malkin was right behind him.
Crosby and Malkin aren’t leaving, are motivated for more, and with Sullivan’s coaching, with the steadiness of Matt Murray in goal, with Letang returning on defence, Rutherford is right: There should be more championships in the future.
There should be.
But as determined from the last two seasons of the Kings and the Blackhawks, what might look easy or obvious from the outside usually isn’t.
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