Pittsburgh Penguins - 2016 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS !!!!
- Thread starter GregInPitt
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They
Pens got ahead, dictated the games, and protected their leads. Looking back, one can see this was not luck, but their strategy in the playoffs. Sullivan. deserves a ton of credit. Instilling the style and selling the players on it.
Pens really did play smart. Another game we never trailed. That's 5 out of 6 games the Sharks were never able to hold a lead(not counting OT Sharks win in game 3 as technically Sharks didn't hold a lead).
Pens got ahead, dictated the games, and protected their leads. Looking back, one can see this was not luck, but their strategy in the playoffs. Sullivan. deserves a ton of credit. Instilling the style and selling the players on it.
Congrats to the Pens. Jones was the better goalie, but the Pens were the better team.
The Sharks know what they have to do now. They have to get some faster skaters. Jeebus, the Pens beat them to every loose puck, and dominated play. One shot on goal (one!) during the third period, when the Sharks absolutely NEEDED a goal, pretty much sums it up. I did not even think they should pull Jones with a minute left. You could see an empty net goal coming from a mile away. Sigh...
The Sharks know what they have to do now. They have to get some faster skaters. Jeebus, the Pens beat them to every loose puck, and dominated play. One shot on goal (one!) during the third period, when the Sharks absolutely NEEDED a goal, pretty much sums it up. I did not even think they should pull Jones with a minute left. You could see an empty net goal coming from a mile away. Sigh...
Four for the Pens, two for the Flyers. Pens went back to back with the Lemieux-Jagr teams, Flyers in the mid-70's back to back with Parent/Clarke.
Pens beat Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit and now SD. Flyers I know beat Boston but I forget who else.
Pens also lost in the Finals to Detroit, I know Phila has lost in the Finals as well, at least once.
Pens just moved into a tie with the Rangers and Islanders for 7th place with 4 cups. Philly has 2. Pens and Flyers both are 1967 expansion teams. Rangers history goes back to 1926 and Islanders were founded in 1972.
So are all of the Flyer jagoff fans going to come on here and try to start a debate about who is the better franchise?
4 Stanley Cups > 2 Stanley Cups
In the words of Shooter McGavin: Choke on that Baby!!!!!
4 Stanley Cups > 2 Stanley Cups
In the words of Shooter McGavin: Choke on that Baby!!!!!
No shit he was the better goalie!!! When SJ tied it up, I was convinced the series was heading back to Pitt for game 7 because there was no way the Pens were going to get anything else past 31. He was OUT-friggin-STANDING! Stole at least 2 from Crosby and did everything he could to steal a series the rest of his team was losing. Had the Sharks completed the improbable comeback, there would have been NO DOUBT who deserved the Conn Smyth.
Congrats to your sharks....helluva team out there and a couple of super-stars in Couture and Jones. Perhaps our teams shall meet again in the finals??
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With the game on the line, down 2-1 in the final period and the Cup at stake...
San Jose, had 1 shot on goal until the empty netter. I. as in ONE. As in one single shot on goal, down a goal, the cup on the line, at home.
They get one shot.
There, my amigos, is your hockey game. Right there.
San Jose, had 1 shot on goal until the empty netter. I. as in ONE. As in one single shot on goal, down a goal, the cup on the line, at home.
They get one shot.
There, my amigos, is your hockey game. Right there.
Oh by the way, it was me, yet again, who said that the Pens would need to win the next game, 2-1 or 3-2 or something like that, due to Jones morphing into Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy, Bily Smith, and Martin Brodeur all in one, for the finals.
We did exactly that; We won an ugly 2-1 game with an empty netter to make it 3-1.
We did exactly that; We won an ugly 2-1 game with an empty netter to make it 3-1.
Flyers suck! There's nothing that franchise has on the the Pens. It just hurts them to admit Pittsburgh has a better franchise. At least the Pens brought the Cup back to PA. That's a good thing for a Flyer fan right?
The 4th win often isn't pretty, and yet it's the one all of those young Ln will remember the most.
I think this is easily the best coaching job I've seen....maybe ever.
Have to consider what Sullivan was confronted with. A 12th place team remade in season with an infusion of young rookies and speedy vets that had not played with any of this core before. It was a core that had not had a true identity in 6 years and been used to coming up short of expectations since winning the Cup 7 yrs ago. They buy in and relentless consistency this team showed is still pretty freaking amazing.
Lose Malkin in the heat of a playoff run? No problem
Lose your #1 goalie with a playoff position still in doubt? No problem
Need your 3rd string goalie to come in and set the tone in your playoff opener? No problem
Lose heartbreaking series opener against President Trophy winner? No problem...we'll win 4 of next 5.
Go down 2-3 to defending conference champs and need to win back to back starting on the road? No problem....we'll dominate both of those games.
Lose a top D pairing in conference finals? Next man up.
I think last night's game in a nutshell was a very fitting end for this team. SJ had stolen momentum and headed back home. Pens had the champagne iced for a storybook game 5 clincher but had to pack it up and head back across the country. Mentally, I just had no idea where this team would be, and expected SJ to have its best effort. The focus and drive of this team was on full display. While that was the most evenly played game of the series, the Pens never trailed, dictated the tempo in the face of that SJ crowd and - maybe most fittingly - allowed a grand total or 1 shot to get through to Murray before the final minute of the 3rd period. That D performance on a team that was supposed to be extremely challenged in its own end puts perhaps the most under-apprecaited exclamation point on this run. This team could beat you a both ends.
Have to consider what Sullivan was confronted with. A 12th place team remade in season with an infusion of young rookies and speedy vets that had not played with any of this core before. It was a core that had not had a true identity in 6 years and been used to coming up short of expectations since winning the Cup 7 yrs ago. They buy in and relentless consistency this team showed is still pretty freaking amazing.
Lose Malkin in the heat of a playoff run? No problem
Lose your #1 goalie with a playoff position still in doubt? No problem
Need your 3rd string goalie to come in and set the tone in your playoff opener? No problem
Lose heartbreaking series opener against President Trophy winner? No problem...we'll win 4 of next 5.
Go down 2-3 to defending conference champs and need to win back to back starting on the road? No problem....we'll dominate both of those games.
Lose a top D pairing in conference finals? Next man up.
I think last night's game in a nutshell was a very fitting end for this team. SJ had stolen momentum and headed back home. Pens had the champagne iced for a storybook game 5 clincher but had to pack it up and head back across the country. Mentally, I just had no idea where this team would be, and expected SJ to have its best effort. The focus and drive of this team was on full display. While that was the most evenly played game of the series, the Pens never trailed, dictated the tempo in the face of that SJ crowd and - maybe most fittingly - allowed a grand total or 1 shot to get through to Murray before the final minute of the 3rd period. That D performance on a team that was supposed to be extremely challenged in its own end puts perhaps the most under-apprecaited exclamation point on this run. This team could beat you a both ends.
I really didn't know much about Sullivan before his success with the Pens. The NBC sports post game gave a rundown on his 10 year gap between NHL head coaching jobs as well as his previous focus on defensive hockey. The fact that he was able to mesh all the offensive talent into his system and develop a team that was so consistent in it's approach to two way hockey was coaching genius.
One of the more interesting storylines is how a coach with Sully's very strong and forceful way about coaching was able to bring a room of vets into line. I'm sure his time in Chicago last year provided somewhat of a blueprint for playing more up tempo.
I still can't say enough about how awestruck it was to see this team with their laser focus no matter what was thrown at them. Some of this was conditioned by the recent shortcomings of this team the past few years, but also just human nature would have dictated some lapses with all of the emotional swings of a long run.
Nothing at all fazed this group...it was almost robotic how they would take hold of a game and dictate play at both ends. Just extremely impressive job starting at the top with Sullivan.
Yes, that focus was most obvious in the playoffs (especially in the finals) in Malkin not taking the stupid penalties he normally takes, Crosby not retaliating when he got cheap shots from SJ,......
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Enjoy the victory Pens fans. The Flyers are on the rise and Crosby's not getting any younger.
Crosby is 28 and coming off arguably the most complete 6 month stretch of his career in terms of his performance....not like he's a gray beard on the downturn. Given the contract situations of the Pens championship roster, the window for them to succeed is still very much wide open for the foreseeable future.
I like the Flyers young talent but the vet corps up front has not shown it can get it done against the top of the East, which is not getting any weaker. The forwards need depth badly, but the hopes of the Flyers to take the next step (i.e., their young and deep blue line depth) have not really played in the NHL much yet. It will be 2-3 years before that corps can really take hold. Gostisbehere is the exception to the rule of development here. He's 23 as a rookie while the rest of this promising D strength is much younger. You can't reasonably expect a reasonable impact from this position for a while, and the forwards will have trouble keeping scoring pace with the better teams in the meantime.
This team is a lot more than Sidney Crosby. And 28 is not exactly on the downside of his career.
And imagine what the Pens may get in return for Fluery if they deal him in the off season? I'd take Edmonton's 1st round pick and Taylor Hall for Fluery and our 1st round pick. He and a healthy McDavid would make Edmonton a playoff contender in 2016.
Much like Villanova's national championship, I didn't see it coming. At the end of the season, you know you have a good team that has the juice to make noise, but I never looked at either as a Championship team. But as the rounds went on, both teams just kept gaining strength. Cumulating in a championship.
Having two of your teams win huge in a three month span - that ain't bad. It's a good time to be me.
I'm pretty sure you know what I'm getting at. Nobody is getting any younger and a talent like Crosby will be hard to replace when he decides to hang up the skates. Who knows when that will be but it will surely happen some day.
Right, but he could play 10+ More years and torment the flyers and possibly win another cup or two. It's not like he's 35. He's 28, and has many top years left.
I wish him all the best. It's always more fun when the Flyers beat the Pens with Crosby on the ice.
Keep telling yourself that big man. Crosby is 29. So enjoy being his bitch for at least another 5 or 6 years. I'm sure 1975 must seem like yesterday to you.
One last thing on Sullivan and the Pens, I think I saw someone else mention, their discipline on penalties. In their 4 wins, I think Pens had 7 penalties. And Sharks only PP score in a Pen win came in the first game. Last night, if looks could kill when Sheary got that late penalty, I thought Sully was going to flip. You know usually you'd see Malkin or Crosby take stupid penalties when they got frustrated not scoring, but it was just good disciplined hockey. Definitely there was an emphasis put on staying out of the penalty box, and not giving Sharks PP opportunities. I think coming in, the Sharks were best PP Playoff, pretty sure I heard that.
BTW......If you're interested, odds on winning the cup next year out today. Pens favorite at 8-1, Washington and Chicago I believe are 10-1, and I think I heard St. Louis at 12-1.
Can you say "One for the Thumb"!!!
Congrats Pens, Stanley Cup Champions!!! "Oh Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley, hand me some Brandy" - Mike Lange
BTW......If you're interested, odds on winning the cup next year out today. Pens favorite at 8-1, Washington and Chicago I believe are 10-1, and I think I heard St. Louis at 12-1.
Can you say "One for the Thumb"!!!
Congrats Pens, Stanley Cup Champions!!! "Oh Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley, hand me some Brandy" - Mike Lange
Right, but they seemed to come up a little short in "winning" recently....
Like the last 40+ years.....
The Gulls played in the Cup Final? LOL...
What I've noticed about how Pens are constructed. 1 winger who can bang in the corners and drives to the net (Hornqvist, Hagelin, Kunitz, Fehr), 1 winger who skate like the wind (Sheary, Kessel, Rust, Kuchnackl), centers who can distribute the puck or shoot and can cycle down low (Crosby, Bonino, Malkin, Cullen). Two fast skaters on each forward line (Crosby and Sheary, Kessel and Hagelin, Malkin and Rust). Each line has one player who likes to possess the puck into the zone (Crosby, Kessel, Malkin, and Cullen). Defensive pairing usually has one stay at home and one offensive minded, but all can move puck up the ice or chip it out. Defensemen play positional hockey with active sticks rather than be physical. Goaltenders tend to leave short rebounds, where defense can clear rebounds, and all collapse around net or down low. The Pens leave the points exposed on defense, but make up for this by shot blocking and speed.
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I hope the Pens draft Peter Pan next week. PSU IE 97 will be stuck watching him fly down the left wing for the next 50 years.
If you are the best player over an 11 year stretch, and the NHL is 100 years old, you would generally at least be in the conversation as being one of the top 10 players in the history of the NHL......
Per Espn:
Sidney Crosby is the most accomplished NHL player of the last 11 years, and the statistics bear out his dominance. During that span, he leads all players in points per game by a large margin, with 1.33, and is second in overall points, 938 to 966, to Alex Ovechkin, though the latter has played 132 more games.
He is also the leading playoff scorer during that time, with 137 points in 124 playoff games, eight points ahead of teammate Evgeni Malkin.
http://espn.go.com/nhl/insider/stor...ythe-trophy-according-advanced-statistics-nhl
Per Espn:
Sidney Crosby is the most accomplished NHL player of the last 11 years, and the statistics bear out his dominance. During that span, he leads all players in points per game by a large margin, with 1.33, and is second in overall points, 938 to 966, to Alex Ovechkin, though the latter has played 132 more games.
He is also the leading playoff scorer during that time, with 137 points in 124 playoff games, eight points ahead of teammate Evgeni Malkin.
http://espn.go.com/nhl/insider/stor...ythe-trophy-according-advanced-statistics-nhl
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