Penguins Beat Sharks to Win Stanley Cup

Back on December 19th, the Pittsburgh Penguins were on a course to be the league’s Underachiever of the Year, with a record of 15-14-3. The Penguins had made several off season moves that were supposed to get them over the hump and deep into the playoffs, but it wasn’t working out. They even made the choice to replace their head coach in mid December, bringing in Mike Sullivan to replace Mike Johnston.

But after that low point, things started to get better, and the Penguins really hit their stride in March and April, compiling a 16-5 record to close out the regular season, including winning 14 of their last 16 games. The momentum carried into the playoffs, where Pittsburgh put away the New York Rangers in five games, followed by the Washington Capitals (owners of the best regular season record in the NHL) in six games, and finally a memorable seven game victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning to advance to the Stanley Cup Final against the San Jose Sharks.

On June 12th, the Penguins beat the Sharks 3-1 in Game 6 to win their fourth Stanley Cup. The series was notable for some excellent goaltending by a pair of outstanding young goalies, Martin Jones for the Sharks, and Matt Murray for Pittsburgh. Jones made 44 saves in Game 5, a 4-2 win for the Sharks, and had three post season shutouts. This is his first year as a starter after being a backup in Los Angeles the last two years. Murray, a rookie, replaced Marc-Andre Fleury, who was injured in March and was ineffective after the long layoff when he returned. But Murray had some help by the outstanding defensive play of the Penguins. The Sharks had just two shots on goal in the third period of the Final.

Sidney Crosby won the Conn Smythe Award as the playoff’s Most Valuable Player.  Some other worthy candidates were Murray, defenseman Kris Letang, and forward Phil Kessel.