The blueprint's becoming more and more obvious: Own the puck and a Stanley Cup may follow.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are champions for the fourth time in franchise history and they were crowned on account of their speed and puck-possession skills:
Pittburgh's 53 percent score-adjusted Corsi For rating at five on five in the regular season trailed only the Los Angeles Kings' 56.8 percent rating. And the Kings have certainly proven over the years that owning the puck correlates into success.
The Penguins finished the playoffs with a 51.6 percent score-adjusted Corsi For rating, which officially ranks fifth behind Florida, Dallas, Chicago, and the New York Rangers. The Panthers, though, played only six games, while the Blackhawks played seven, and the Blueshirts five. The Stars played 13 times, while the Penguins wrapped up their championship in 24 games.
Pittsburgh scored a playoffs-best 42 goals at even strength, while allowing 34. The San Jose Sharks finished the playoffs with a 50.7 percent score-adjusted Corsi For rating at even strength, and had the best goal differential at five on five, at plus-14.
After 30 years in the NHL, Jacques Martin finally got to hoist the Stanley Cup on Sunday night as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins - and nearly dropped it on national television.
Thankfully, head coach Mike Sullivan was there to catch it.
Martin told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun prior to Game 6 that he'd like to bring the Cup to his old neighborhood in St. Pascal, Ont., if given the chance.
It's been an emotional couple of weeks for Malkin, who became a father during the Stanley Cup Final. In his postgame interview, he thanked the Penguins organization for being understanding, especially in light of him not practicing as much as he normally would have been during the final.
The Carolina Hurricanes agreed to a three-year entry-level contract with forward Sebastian Aho on Monday, the club announced.
Aho was drafted 35th overall in 2015, and had 20 goals and 25 assists in 45 games with Karpat in the Finnish Elite League this season, leading his team in scoring. He added four goals and 11 assists in 14 playoff games.
Only 18, Aho finished second in scoring at the World Junior Hockey Championship with five goals and nine assists in seven games, helping Finland win gold on home soil. He had three goals and four assists at the recently completed World Championship, in which Finland went home with silver.
The Hurricanes expect the teen to make the big club next season.
"Sebastian is regarded as one of the top prospects in hockey and is ready to begin his North American career," general manager Ron Francis said in a statement. "He had a tremendous season as an 18-year-old playing against men in Finland’s top league, and was outstanding in international competitions including the recent World Championship. He will play an important role for the Hurricanes moving forward."
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The Pittsburgh Penguins are the 2016 Stanley Cup champions. Details and more in this morning’s collections of NHL headlines. TRIBLIVE.COM: Sidney Crosby set up the game-winning and insurance goals as the Pittsburgh Penguins downed the San Jose Sharks 3-1 in Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final, winning the series and their fourth championship […]
The Stanley Cup went to Trevor Daley second, and for good reason.
After collecting two primary assists in the Pittsburgh Penguins' decisive victory in Game 6, and being handed the shiny reward for his team's accomplishment, Sidney Crosby located the defenseman, hobbled on a broken ankle, because he didn't want his mother to wait any longer.
Crosby explained in his postgame presser that Daley told him between rounds that his mother, Trudy, not doing well in her battle with cancer, wanted nothing more than to see her son lift the Stanley Cup.
The information obviously resonated with Crosby, who after taking his second lap of his career, shared a special moment with Daley, and Trudy, during the exchange.
''It was pretty special,'' Daley said, via the Associated Press. ''He's a great player, but he's an even better person. There's not much more you can say about that guy. He's a special guy.''
For the fourth time in franchise history and second in the Sidney Crosby era, the Pittsburgh Penguins reign as Stanley Cup champions.
Pittsburgh completed its return trek to the summit Sunday night, eliminating the Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks with a 3-1 triumph in Game 6.
The conclusion to Pittsburgh's coronation was quite characteristic of the team's sudden, absolute ascendancy. The Penguins have been the NHL's best team since turning to minor-league head coach Mike Sullivan in mid-December, and while the culminating series remained close on the scoreboard, their supreme dominance shone through.
Here are three keys to the Penguins' title march:
Weapons, galore
Invariably, one team's success creates lessons for 29 others. But with respect to the new champs, their science, through trial and error (after error), was partially accidental.
Jim Rutherford had visions of a nuclear top six when he paid the high price to introduce five-time 30-goal man Phil Kessel to his fleet of wingers. His move had pundits predicting scoring titles and various major awards for Kessel and captain Sidney Crosby, who began the season on the same line.
But for whatever reason, it failed. An inauspicious start saw Crosby default to previous wingers, while Kessel, bumped, was struggling to mesh with another all-world pivot, Evgeni Malkin. Now catering to his summer splash, Rutherford canvassed the market for a player who possessed the tools - namely speed - required to play opposite Kessel and acquired Carl Hagelin.
Even still, it wasn't until Malkin went down with injury did the Pens unearth the formula. Nick Bonino spelled Malkin, and, by chance, the incomparable "HBK line" - a unit of three rookies to the organization - came together.
This "bottom six" line went on to produce a team-best 56 postseason points, but their impact is well beyond direct contributions. The threat of HBK meant that the opposition had three attacking trios, or a veritable top-nine to game plan for. This resulted in interminable mismatches and forced the opposition to deploy secondary options to defend elite talents on essentially every third shift.
Sullivan, and the greater grasp
Sullivan had much greater than an appreciable effect on the Penguins; his hire brought on a comprehensive change in philosophy, mentality, and tactics that clearly meant the difference for the team's stars, a nucleus now welcomed to play to its strengths.
But the difference in this team transforming from contender to title winner was beyond his uncaging big-money contributors. Rather, the difference was on the margins, and the teachings and trust established among professionals while earning minor-league pay.
In a few months in charge of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Sullivan developed a deeper understanding of the organizational assets, and, maybe more specifically, just exactly how Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackl, and of course, goaltender Matt Murray were to assist the big club.
The Penguins aren't champions without their depth, their ancillary contributors, or their coach's detailed appreciation for the capabilities, and weaknesses, of every player on his roster.
Making due with misfit D
A club that employs forwards like Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel must make concessions elsewhere. For the Penguins, that's on the back end.
Kris Letang is the all-world defender championship teams have required over the last half decade. But aside from their lead dog, this defense is truly a patchwork unit, and one that almost inexplicably managed to hold firm long enough to win four rounds. Nothing's more representative of their misfit nature than Trevor Daley, who, after being cast off by the previous title winners, took the second-most minutes before breaking his ankle. An injury that somehow was no detriment to the team's success.
So, how is it exactly that Ian Cole, who doubles as a "Game of Thrones" critic; Ben Lovejoy, a defender whose GM publicly admitted that he wouldn't have acquired had he had the opportunity to do it all over; Brian Dumoulin, who though undeniably talented, we don't know enough about to offer an anecdote; Olli Maatta, a former first-round pick scratched three times in the conference final; and Justin Schultz, who went from "Norris Trophy potential" to absolute liability in Edmonton, manage to fortify the back end?
Inspired by its unflattering label, but at the same time fully understanding of its imperfections, the blue line was steadfast in filling shot lanes, leaping into the rush when the opportunity presented itself, and, when the walls began to close in, this group perfected the art of flipping the puck into neutral territory for Pittsburgh's speedy forwards to collect and take elsewhere.
This fleet-footed unit acknowledged, then performed within its limitations. And they can thank the lengthy list of detractors for outlining the parameters.