How overlooked prospects became playoff stars for the Penguins

Bonino nets late winner to propel Penguins in Game 1

The coaching change in the middle of December that saw the Pittsburgh Penguins replace Mike Johnston with Mike Sullivan is an obvious turning point in their season. Everything from their style of play, to their record, to their current run this postseason reflects that.

But Sullivan"s promotion from the Penguins" AHL team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton isn"t the only one that has helped spark their turnaround. In the month that followed the coaching change, the Penguins started making a series of call-ups from the AHL to help bring some much needed speed and youth to their lineup.

It was at that point that Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust and Tom Kuhnhackl were given an opportunity to regularly play in the NHL. It was clear from the very beginning that Sullivan trusted them, believed in them, and was going to give them an opportunity to succeed.

Just a few months later, Sullivan and the Penguins are being rewarded for that trust. They are not only playing in the NHL, they are scoring massive goals in the playoffs.

It was Sheary that scored the overtime goal in Game 2 on Wednesday, which came after he scored a goal in Game 1 of the series. Rust has six goals this postseason, including one in the Stanley Cup Final and both tallies in the Penguins" Game 7 win in the Eastern Conference finals.

Together, the trio of Sheary, Rust and Kuhnhackl has 12 goals this postseason, and that does not even begin to get into the contribution of the biggest AHL callup, goaltender Matt Murray.

It has been fascinating to watch the development of the forwards over the course of the season.

At the start of the year they were barely a blip on the radar outside of the Penguins" organization (and maybe even in it).

Sheary was an undersized, undrafted free agent that had a promising debut season in the AHL in 2014-15 and continued it through the first part of this year. Rust and Kuhnhackl were mid-round draft picks in 2010 that had put up decent numbers in the AHL, but nothing that would have indicated they would be major players on a Stanley Cup contending team. They were probably starting to reach a point in their career"s where their status as prospects was starting to run out.

Conor Sheary is one of the young players making a surprising impact for the Pittsburgh Penguins USATSI

But almost as soon as they arrived in Pittsburgh you could see the potential. The production wasn"t always there (and early on that was a concern), but their speed was an immediate issue for opposing teams to defend. It is a trait that Sullivan has repeatedly referred to this season as their "competitive advantage," and it has become the Penguins" calling card over the past five months. Not only because of the callups, but also the additions of Carl Hagelin and Trevor Daley in trades.

Together, they helped give the Penguins a balanced lineup where all four lines could actually play and complement their superstars at the top of the roster, something they had not had in years and had been one of their biggest failings as an organization.

But what has really stood out about players like Sheary and Rust is they are not just bottom-six depth players. They are playing on top-lines, next to some of the best players in the world, and making meaningful contributions. They are not just along for the ride.

Sheary has found a spot this postseason on the Penguins" top line next to Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist, a trio that has combined to score nine goals when they are on the ice together during 5-on-5 play. Even though his hands can"t always catch up with his feet, Sheary"s speed and ability to come away with possession of the puck against bigger, stronger player is always noticeable.

Rust has been a recent addition to a line with Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz, a line that has outscored its opponents by an 8-0 margin since they started playing together just a couple of weeks ago. He was a constant thorn in the side of the Lightning in the previous round, not only scoring three goals in Game 6 and 7 of the series (including both Penguins goals in their Game 7 win) but by blowing past Victor Hedman, one of the NHL"s best defenseman, on multiple occasions to help create goals and chances. Like this play in Game 5.

If there is a lesson here, again, it is that speed and skill can overcome a lot of other shortcomings, and more teams are going to start realizing this. It is hard to imagine players like Sheary or Rust with their skillset and physical build getting an opportunity and having this type success in the NHL 15 years ago.

In a lot of ways it is fitting that these guys are making these plays for the Penguins because they are a perfect representation of what this team has become. Fast players that for one reason or another were counted out, overlooked, or had simply fallen out of favor in some way and have simply found a way to make everything work (and this also applies to a lot of the veteran additions on the team, whether it"s Hagelin, Daley or even Phil Kessel).

After they arrived in Pittsburgh and started to get their opportunity it had been common to simply refer to them as "the Wilkes-Barre guys."

After a game in the middle of February, right around when the Penguins were showing signs of putting everything together on the ice, Ben Lovejoy, one of the more respected veteran players on the team, was asked about "the Wilkes-Barre guys" and their contributions to the team.

His response: "They are not Wilkes-Barre guys. They are Penguins now. Pittsburgh Penguins."

And they have proven to be more important Pittsburgh Penguins than anybody could have ever imagined at the start of the year.

Source: http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/how-overlooked-prospects-became-playoff-stars-for-the-penguins/

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Rookies Lift Penguins to Another Win in Stanley Cup Finals

Tampa Bay Lightning @ Pittsburgh Penguins. Round 3 Game 7
Photo Conor Sheary, second from right, after scoring in overtime to give Pittsburgh the win. Credit Matt Kincaid/Getty Images

PITTSBURGH The Penguins moved another win closer to claiming the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night, and again it was rookies that helped get them there.

Conor Sheary scored 2 minutes 35 seconds into overtime, and goaltender Matt Murray made 21 saves to give the Penguins a 2-1 home victory over the San Jose Sharks and a two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-seven series. Forty-four of the 49 teams that have lost the first two games in previous Cup finals have lost the series.

The Sharks will host Game 3 on Saturday.

Sharks Coach Peter DeBoer took heart in the closeness of both games.

Game 1 was decided in the last two minutes, he said. Tonight was an overtime game. I think well hold off on the funeral. Weve got a lot of hockey left to play.

Shearys wrist shot from the high left slot off a feed from Kris Letang beat Martin Jones high to the far side. It was the fourth goal of the postseason for Sheary, a 23-year-old rookie.

It usually doesnt work out like that when you draw up a play or even talk about a play, Sheary said. But I think they just lost me when I came off the wall there, and I had a lot of time to shoot, and it just worked out.

Murray, 22, became just the fourth rookie in N.H.L. history to win as many as 13 postseason games even if he was not tested much over the first two periods. The Sharks Justin Braun scored with 4:05 left in regulation to ruin Murrays shutout bid.

Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan, speaking of his teams response to Brauns goal, said: One of the things I really liked about our team and this is something I think weve evolved with over the last five months or so our guys just play. And thats what we told them on the bench when it went into the net: You know what? San Jose is a good team; theyre going to get scoring chances. We liked how our team was playing, we felt like we carried the majority of the play.

Phil Kessel scored 8:20 into the second period for Pittsburgh, which outshot its opponent for the 11th consecutive game. Following a 41-26 advantage in a 3-2 victory in Game 1 on Monday, the Penguins had 23 of the first 32 shots on goal in Game 2. San Jose went without a shot for a span of more than 11 minutes late in the second until it had two during a power play over the final 1:08 of the period.

Although the Sharks did not score during that power play, it did provide a springboard into the third period. San Jose played with a desperation befitting a team that was on the verge of falling into a two-game hole. The Sharks tenacity was rewarded when Brauns slap shot from along the boards just above the right-wing circle made its way through traffic deflecting at least once during its path to the net and beat Murray inside the near post on his glove side. Joel Ward provided a good screen in front of the net.

At that point, it appeared as if Murray was to be outplayed by Jones, who stopped 67 of 70 shots in this series until Shearys winning tally.

Murray said: I thought in this game, we were the better team for the most part of the game. We stuck with what we needed to do, and we got the huge goal from Conor. So, we got the job done.

While the Penguins roster is built on the stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Letang, rookies such as Sheary, Murray and Bryan Rust have played starring roles as the franchise seeks its fourth Stanley Cup, the second of the Crosby era and its first since 2009.

Crosby did have the secondary assist on the winner, winning the face-off from the left wing side back to Letang. Crosby also assisted on a Sheary goal in Game 1 that came minutes after Rust had scored Pittsburghs fourth consecutive goal spanning the final two games of the Eastern Conference final.

Kessels goal came 8:20 into the second period and was the result of a dreadful turnover by defenseman Roman Polak and a deflection of the puck off the skate of Sharks forward Tomas Hertl.

The tally was the 10th time in the Penguins past 10 games that a member of their H.B.K. line scored a goal. Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Kessel all had a hand in a sequence that began when Polak inadvertently set up Kessel for a wide-open chance.

Although the puck bounced over Kessels stick, Hagelin stripped defenseman Brenden Dillon of the puck as soon as Dillon corralled it. Hagelin fed Bonino who had the winning goal in Game 1 and Boninos shot hit the stick of a sliding Hertl, allowing the puck to trickle past Jones.

It would have gone in anyway, but Kessel finished it into an open net for his team-leading 10th of the postseason.

Continue reading the main story

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/02/sports/hockey/pittsburgh-penguins-san-jose-sharks-stanley-cup-finals-game-2.html

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NHL playoffs: keys to Lightning vs. Penguins Game 7

Crazy penguin HD

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The Tampa Bay Lightning know they let one get away.

Given a chance to close out the Eastern Conference Finals with a win at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6, the Bolts stumbled through 40 minutes of inexplicably dispassionate hockey before finally getting engaged during a raucous third period. By that point, though, it was too late. The Pens made off with a 52 victory, setting up tonight"s Game 7 at Consol Energy Center (8:00 ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS). The winner moves on to face the San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup Final.

"We had a great chance," Tampa Bay forward Brian Boyle said of his team"s Game 6 letdown. "We kind of tiptoed around it. We weren"t aggressive. We weren"t on top of it. We weren"t skating."

It"s the same trap they fell into last spring when they took a 3-2 lead over the Rangers in Game 5 of the ECF but couldn"t close the deal in Game 6 at home. They managed to take Game 7 on the road, though. And the memory of how that worked could get them over the hump this year as well.

"I definitely think there"s a calmness within our group and how we approach games like these," said Anton Stralman, who is 7-0 in career Game 7s. "Just like in Game 5, whenwe got hit by adversity [an early 2-0 deficit], we just kept going and believed in our system and the way we play. That"s what we did in New York in those two games (last spring), 5 and 7 there. We just went in. We believed in ourselves. We played to our structure and to our strength, and we pulled off two really, really good games.

"We know we have it in us. It"s just a matter of finding that emotion and that energy."

That energy was absent early in Game 6, when the Pens outshot the Bolts, 14-4. Finding it, and finding it quickly, will be a key for both teams.

Here"s what else to watch for:

Fascinating to hear how the Lightning respond when asked about the efforts of young goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

He"s been giving us a chance to win every time he"s been in, said Stralman.

If he plays the same way he has been playing so far, he"s going to give us a chance to win, said forward Valtteri Filppula.

It"s a time-worn hockey compliment. The gist being, he"s doing his job well enough, and really, that"s all you can ask of your netminder.

Except it"s not. Especially not in Game 7.

Vasilevskiy has been good to this point, but he"s also allowed at least three goals in each of the past five games. None of them were glaringly soft, and in Games 2 and 3, when his defense all but deserted him, he was pretty special.

But he still lost both of those games. And as a general rule, expecting the offense to crank out at least four goals in reply is an iffy proposition.

He has to be better tonight. Like, Ben Bishop better.

Vasilevskiy hasn"t yet stolen a game. But it feels like that"s what the Lightning might need from him tonight.

The Penguins are looking for something different from Matt Murray. A calm, focused performance might be all they need to get over this hurdle. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan expects him to deliver.

"He has a maturity beyond his years," Sullivan said on Wednesday. "He has a calming influence. He has ... an ability to stay in the moment, not allow any of the adversities or the challenges that the game presents to affect his mindset. If one goes in that he thinks he should have had, he just refocuses and he plays. It"s a real important attribute to have as an athlete, but probably most importantly as a goaltender. And he has it at such a young age."

The Lightning have to make better decisions with the puck in Game 7. They were way too fast and loose with it in Game 6, giving it away 17 times (10 more than the Pens) and having it stripped from their possession another eight times. And that"s probably a conservative countPatric Hornqvist"s takeaway that led to Sidney Crosby"s goal wasn"t acknowledged by league scorers.

Part of that is better protection, keeping the body between the puck and the defender. But a larger issue was their decision-making under pressure. The Pens were hard on the puck in Game 6, forcing decisions to be made under duress. That led to a string of forced errors and extended possession time for Pittsburgh.

The Bolts couldn"t muster up the poise they needed under pressure. The team that does that the best tonight is likely to emerge as the winner.

GALLERY: NHL"s Greatest Game 7s

Seems obvious, but both teams will need their best players to be their best players if they"re going to win this one.

That"s no knock on support staffers like Tampa Bay"s Ryan Callahan or Pittsburgh"s Bryan Rust, who have found ways to impact games despite lesser roles and could easily do something special to grab the spotlight tonight. But games like this tend to be defined by what the big boys do ... or don"t do.

The Pens" top guns already delivered once in a must-win Game 6. Crosby and Evgeni Malkin assisted on Phil Kessel"s first-period goal. Crosby later scored on a Jerome Bettis Special, driving through three defenders before potting one of the most memorable markers of the postseason. Kris Letang stayed out of the box, tightened up on his defensive zone coverage and chipped in with a goal as well. That"s a level they"ll need to reach again.

Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Jonathan Drouin have been brilliant at times in this series, but they were pushed to the sidelines in that Game 6 loss. More"s expected of them tonight.

"We"ve had 100 games of dress rehearsal for this one," coach Jon Cooper said. "Let"s just give it our best shot."

What you"ve seen is what you"ll get from the Lightning. Don"t expect any last-minute reinforcements from injured reserve.

In other words: no Steven Stamkos in Game 7.

"Nothing"s changed as far as our end," said Cooper. "So that"s all I"ve got for that."

UPDATE: Not so fast, Coop. Stamkos took the ice for the pre-game warmup and appears to be available for Game 7. No telling what impact he can have after sitting out nearly two full months, but just getting the captain in the lineup is a massive emotional boost for the Bolts.

Crosby has a chance to tie an unbreakable mark in Game 7. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hall of Famer Mike Bossy is the only player to record four game-winners in a single series. The Islanders sniper extraordinaire delivered the daggers in the 1983 conference finals against the Boston Bruins. Crosby so far has clinched Games 2, 3 and 6 for the Penguins. No one should be surprised if he finds a way to seal the deal again one more time.

Source: http://www.si.com/nhl/2016/05/26/nhl-playoffs-tampa-bay-lightning-pittsburgh-penguins-eastern-finals-game-7-preview

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By one strange stat, Penguins have advantage over Sharks in Stanley Cup finals quest

Питтсбург – Тампа-Бэй / PENGUINS VS. LIGHTNING MAY 26, 2016

The Stanley Cup finals will pit the two teams with the best records in the NHL over the last 10 seasons.

It will also put to the test an interesting and perhaps odd trend that has carried through the last 15 seasons.

Cup Result?2014 KingsWon2011 BruinsWon2006 HurricanesWon2004 LightningWon2003 DevilsWon2002 Red WingsWon

This will be the seventh time in the past 15 seasons that the Stanley Cup finals features one team that went seven games it its conference finals series and one team that did not.

The team coming off the Game 7 victory went on to win the Stanley Cup each of the previous six times -- so, advantage Pittsburgh Penguins over the San Jose Sharks.

The Penguins got there on the strength of first-year players: a rookie goalie in Matt Murray and a rookie goal scorer in Bryan Rust. They also have a coach in his first season with the team in Mike Sullivan.

Elias Sports Bureau research shows that its the fourth time that a rookie goalie won a Game 7 and a rookie skater scored the winning goal. It last happened in 1986, when both the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames did it.

Elias also notes that Murray will be the sixth rookie goalie to start a Stanley Cup finals game in the past 30 seasons. Coincidentally, the last goaltender to do so was the goalie Murray beat on Thursday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning"s Andrei Vasilevskiy, for the Lightning last season.

Rust scored twice in Game 7 versus the Lightning, making it the first time in his career that he had a multigoal game.

All three Game 7 goals were scored in the second period, when the Penguins logged 32 shot attempts and the Lightning managed only nine. The Penguins outshot the Lightning in all seven games in this series. Elias notes that the last time one team outshot another in all seven games in a series was in the 2011 matchup between these same teams. The Penguins outshot the Lightning but lost the series.

Sidney Crosby didnt score for Pittsburgh on Thursday on the six shots he took in 23 minutes, but he did reach the finals for the third time. Per Elias, Crosby (and possibly Marc-Andre Fleury, if he plays in place of Murray) will join Mike Modano and Patrick Kane as No. 1 overall picks drafted since 1979 (the first draft after the NHL/WHA merger) to make three Stanley Cup finals appearances.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/118974/by-one-stat-penguins-have-an-advantage-in-stanley-cup-finals-quest

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