Not one Canadian team in the playoffs has kinda got fans up north boycotting this year's playoffs.
Becoming champs is a long grind as a team must get thru 4 teams & get 16 W's.
At home & going to 4 different cities.
It all has to come together.
Owner management coaches players....
Goaltending has to be steady throughout. Pens got it with Murray with exception of having 1 bad outing.
The guy played his angles well & stopped shots from every part of the ice.
Sharks like to get physical in front of the net & take close in shots & bang in rebounds.
He had save after save on close in shots. Sharks got frustrated.
Other teams the goalies fell or got unbalanced & flopped all over the place & Sharks would bury the rebounds.
Then the Pens just skated so fast.
They just broke out of their own end & went on the offensive.
They had solid lines.
Sid the kid is no longer young but a great great mature player who played his guts out.
The whole team played great.
They kept up the energy right to the end.
Joy of victory & sadness of defeat. (Sharks )
Sharks ran out of gas.
Game 6 loss to the Pens they got 2 shots in the third period !!!!
2nd period they got 15 or so shots against Murray.
Give credit where credit is due. Sharks beat out 3 other good teams & won 2 games against the Pens.
They easily could of won 3-4 possibly as games were close & they came up against a hot goalie.
If Fleury was in between the pipes the Sharks are champs in my opinion.
Side note ...ex Leaf & ex Canuck were a big part on the Pens team.
Congrads to a great team with players who wanted it bad & skated their butts off.
Crosby really was a leader with the supporting cast of other talented players.
Stanley Cup goes to the Pens for the 4 th time I believe.
Mario L on the other 2 winning teams & Sid & Malkin winning 2.
2009 & 2016.
Canucks are zillion miles away from having a team that can grind out 4 series wins.
Plus happened with Ali & Mr Hockey Gordie Howe passing on...they were champions!!!!
Had to add or edit this to my post.
Seen both guys in person.
Ali boxed George Chuvalo ( 2 nd meeting between the 2 ) in Vancouver & I seen Gordie play against a Russian team in which he scored on a perfectly placed shot. Skating hard he let the shot go from the top of the face off circle & it found the top far corner of the net over the goalie's blocker arm pad.
My greatest hope these two greats are RIP.
Both had hearts of lions like this 2015/16 Pens team.
As mentioned...at least the Canucks & Leafs had ex players on the Pens.
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Topic: NHL play-offs & general hockey news. (Read 26684 times)