Keep Calm and Carry Lord Stanley.
Pittsburgh Penguins diehard Sean Fevrier breaks down how the Pens overcame adversity to win their fifth Stanley Cup.
It doesn’t seem as though the defending Stanley Cup champions,
armed with the best player in the world and another superstar right behind him, have any true adversity to overcome.
What troubles could a championship team that brought back virtually their entire roster have in returning to the promised land?
Let me tell you.
Star defenseman Kris Letang, the puck-moving quarterback of the Penguins powerplay, required neck surgery with the playoffs right around the corner. He’s out for the rest of the season. Pittsburgh had no choice but to stick with the “next man up” mantra and turn their attention to the likes of Justin Schultz, Trevor Daley, and Olli Maatta to help fill the hole.
It’s Game One of the Stanley Cup quarterfinals against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Starting goaltender Matt Murray gets hurt during warm-ups. He was the one that backstopped the Penguins to their Stanley Cup championship last season. That’s two key cogs to their Cup squad already out. “Keep on keeping on” continues to be the motto for the Penguins, and Marc-Andre Fleury comes in and helps lead the Pens over the Blue Jackets in five games.
Next round against the mighty Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, and team captain Sidney Crosby went out with a concussion in the middle of the series. Pittsburgh won the game he misses and Crosby storms back with a vengeance, cleared to play amongst considerable controversy.
That’s a story for another day, but the end result was another failure for Washington as Pittsburgh moved on in seven.
The “pesky” Ottawa Senators had dismantled the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers. Their style of play may have given the Penguins their most trouble in the entire playoffs. Erik Karlsson pushed the Penguins to seven games on a broken foot, while goaltender Craig Anderson played magically during one of the most emotionally-charged seasons in recent history. A Chris Kunitz one-timer in Game Seven overtime sent Pittsburgh back to the big dance.
Chris Kunitz said it himself, “The Predators basically have four Karlssons”. The Penguins had played so much hockey. Everyone was hurt. Everyone was exhausted. There was no way they could win.
Six games later, a Patric Hornqvist bank shot from behind Pekka Rinne and a Carl Hagelin empty net insurance marker ensures that the 2016–17 Pittsburgh Penguins will live forever in immortality. The first back-to-back Stanley Cup champions since the ’97 Detroit Red Wings, and the first of the salary cap era.
Forty year-old Matt Cullen, nicknamed Dad to the Penguins masses, played one of his best games of the year in possibly the last game of his career. Ian Cole came clutch with some defensive plays. Carl Hagelin’s speed came in abundance in Game Six. Sidney Crosby had his most successful Finals ever, earning himself a second consecutive Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP.
Don’t sleep on the Nashville Predators either. The Pittsburgh Penguins may be going back to the Steel City with Lord Stanley’s cup, but they are returning home limping, sweating, and thanking their lucky stars that there wasn’t a Game Seven.
It’s over. Thank God, it’s over.
They did it.
Sean Fevrier is a sports writer for theocho.ca, perennial 5th place in most fantasy football leagues and Tom Brady worshiper. Follow the mayhem that is Sean on Twitter at @seanfevrier.
