June 14, 2016

Pittsburgh Penguins players, coaches, and staff pose with the Stanley Cup trophy after defeating the San Jose Sharks in game six of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Final on June 12, 2016.
Credit: © Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP Photo

On Sunday night, June 12, the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL) defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-1 to win the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final 4 games to 2, capturing their first title in 7 years. The quick, confident Penguins made themselves at home on the ice at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, thoroughly outskating the Sharks to nab the championship series-clinching win. It was the fourth NHL title for the Penguins—often simply called the Pens.

Pittsburgh star forward Sidney Crosby, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player, scored 19 points—6 goals and 13 assists—through the Pens’ 24-game playoff run. He had 2 assists in Sunday’s championship clincher. “It’s special,” Crosby said about the MVP trophy. “It’s the one you play for.” The Penguins also received valuable ice time from forwards Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin, defenseman Kris Letang, and rookie goaltender Matthew Murray.

Penguins owner and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Mario Lemieux (himself a two-time Conn Smythe winner while leading the Pens to back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992) lifted the Stanley Cup during the postgame celebration. “It’s so hard to win it year after year,” Lemieux said, referencing the team’s playoff failures since their most recent title in 2009. “Hopefully there’s a few more for them.”

It was quite a turnaround for the Steel City’s flightless birds, which languished near the bottom of the NHL’s Eastern Conference before firing coach Mike Johnston and hiring Mike Sullivan in December 2015. Sullivan’s changes improved the Penguins’ pace of play and empowered Crosby as a leader. Crosby finished the 2015-2016 regular season ranked third in points behind Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Dallas’s Jamie Benn.

Pittsburgh reached the Stanley Cup Final by defeating the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals in the playoffs’ first two rounds, then dispatching the Tampa Bay Lightning in a hard-fought 7-game series for the Eastern Conference title. The nimble Pens then overwhelmed the Western Conference champion Sharks, taking leads in 5 of the 6 games.

The Sharks, who were playing in their first Stanley Cup Final, looked tired at times against the faster Penguins. Centers Joe Thornton and Logan Couture and goalie Martin Jones were standouts on the losing side. The Sharks reached the Final by defeating the talented St. Louis Blues 4 games to 2 for the Western Conference title. The Sharks had earlier outlasted the burly Los Angeles Kings and the Nashville Predators.