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Another Cup of cheer for the Pens

3 min read
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Their injuries were prevalent and severe enough to inspire a change in team colors from black and gold to black and blue. And besides losing one pivotal player after another during an excruciatingly long season, they were confronted by daunting odds. No team in their league had repeated as champion in nearly two decades. Parity reigns in the salary-cap era.

Yet somehow, the Pittsburgh Penguins continually shoved aside adversity and history, not to mention P.K. Subban, to repeat as Stanley Cup winners. They defeated the Predators, 2-0, Sunday night in Nashville to close out the National Hockey League’s championship series in six games.

The Penguins, flightless birds by nature, have soared again. This was their third Cup title in nine years and fifth in their 50-year existence, which until the turn of the 1990s was remarkably unremarkable.

They have outstanding talent. Sidney Crosby is generally acknowledged as the world’s best player, and for the second consecutive year was voted the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoffs’ top player. Evgeni Malkin was the NHL’s postseason scoring leader, rookie Jake Guentzel the top goal producer. Goaltenders Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury were marvelous through most of the playoffs.

But one of their most gifted players, Kris Letang, did not play after mid-February because of a herniated disc in his neck. That left the Penguins without their best defenseman, an excellent skater and a linchpin in the team philosophy of swift puck movement.

To prevail again, however, the Penguins needed to have more than their stars shine. They needed all hands on deck, working efficiently – but many of their hands were tired. The team played 213 games over the past two seasons. Some looked weary at times during the postseason. Some played despite injuries. As a result, a few of the playoff defeats were ugly.

But the players always responded, enabling the Penguins to successfully navigate perilous playoff waters. They had to initially defeat Columbus, the NHL’s most improved team; then the Washington Capitals, winner of the Presidents’ Trophy for most regular-season team points; then surprisingly obstinate Ottawa; and finally Nashville, the feel-good story of these playoffs.

The defending champs twice were on the brink of elimination, going to seventh games against Washington and the Ottawa Senators. Many expected them to lose the finale against Washington, but Fleury shut out his team’s arch-rival. The same against the Senators, whose tight defensive style thwarted the Penguins throughout the series, but 37-year-old Chris Kunitz won Game 7 with a double-overtime goal.

Nashville wrested momentum from the Penguins, rallying from a 0-2 series deficit to tie it 2-2, and appeared to be taking control. The Penguins countered with wins in the next two games, the one Sunday secured with Patric Hornqvist’s “dirty” goal with 1:35 remaining in the third period.

All of the hands responded to their coach, Mike Sullivan, and their captain, Crosby, to defeat four quality one-ice opponents, beat the odds and make up for injuries.

The Penguins get a much-deserved break before doing it all again – in their quest for a three-peat.

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