Penguins Take Stanley Cup To Visit With Pirates, Fans At PNC Park

Can the Penguins pull off a Stanley Cup three-peat?

Pittsburgh Penguins Owner Mario Lemieux hoists the Stanley Cup after defeating the Nashville Predators 2-0 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Sunday, June 11, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn.

After both teams went scoreless for nearly all of regulation, Pittsburgh was finally able to draw first blood when Patric Hornqvist scored with just over a minute and a half left in the game. Carl Hagelin sealed the win by scoring into an empty net with 14 seconds left. The problem is that when referee Kevin Pollock did that early in the second period of Game Six, the puck was sitting untouched in the crease in full view of 17,000 fans and not tucked away under Murray’s body.

Murray, Crosby, Nick Bonino and Game 6 hero Patric Hornqvist all missed at least one playoff game with injuries. Oddsmakers made them the early favorite for a three-peat, something that hasn’t been done since the New York Islanders won four straight from 1980-83, a full year before Lemieux made his National Hockey League debut and almost a half decade before Malkin and Crosby were born.

The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t even 24 hours removed from winning and celebrating with the Stanley Cup and we already have some important roster moves to discuss.

The parade for the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins will be held Wednesday in the City of Champions, and it is one that is well-earned by head coach Mike Sullivan’s team. On one hand, the Predators’ run illustrates that truly anything can happen if you make the playoffs. Nashville made the playoffs as the 16th-best team in the regular season before knocking off Chicago, St. Louis and Anaheim.

Anyone who watched the playoffs knows how crucial Jake Guentzel and Matt Murray were to the Penguins’ repeat, but it’s easy to forget that both of these players- one the leading postseason goal-scorer, one the goaltender who put up back-to-back shutouts in the last two games of the Final- were still rookies throughout.

“We set out to try to go back-to-back”, Crosby said. “I think the other thing is the leadership that he has”.

The Penguins ruined Nashville’s big party on the final night of CMA Music Festival, which brought more than 100,000 to downtown Nashville.

While television replays appeared to show that Murray never had control of the puck, the replay also confirmed the whistle was blown before Sissons poked the puck past Murray. “I think we learned a lot as a group, a lot of lessons the guys will carry forward for sure”. They’ve never been in this position before and we know what it takes to get here. Sixteen seed. No one really gave us a chance against anyone and here we are in Game 6.

“I’m hoping that he’s going to save a stick or two from this Cup run”, said Bruce Rainnie, executive director of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in Halifax, whose collection of memorabilia includes the famous puck-marked clothes dryer that is part of the Crosby legend. “We believed all the way”. He stellar play led the Senators to double overtime of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against the eventual champion Penguins.

Tallon described Boughner as adaptable and willing to incorporate outside the box ideas into his coaching saying, “Don’t let the fact that he was a tough player fool you as far as the analytics and the style of play that we’re going to incorporate”.