Pittsburgh Penguins Journey to the 2016 Stanley Cup

The 2016 Stanley Cup Final is set and the Pittsburgh Penguins will be representing the Eastern Conference as they take on the Western Conference Champions, the San Jose Sharks. 

The Penguins did not get a great start out of the gate during the 2105-2016 season. Around mid-December, general manager Jim Rutherford decided it was time to make a change behind the bench to shake up the team. 

On December 12, the Penguins promoted Mike Sullivan, from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to replace Mike Johnston. The Penguins went 36-16-5 after the coaching change helping turn around their season. They acquired third best points in the standings during that timeframe. 

The Penguins finished the regular season with the second best record in the Eastern Conference, as well as the Metropolitan Division and fourth best in the National Hockey League. 

The Penguins opened the 2016 NHL Playoffs against the New York Rangers and were not sure of their goaltending situation. Marc-Andre Fleury had been out with concussion symptoms, backup netminder Matt Murray was injured in last game of season, so they turned to their third string goalie, Jeff Zatkoff to open the postseason. 

Zatkoff, turned away 35 Rangers shots in the Pens playoff opener as they defeated the Blueshirts at the Consol Energy Center. After losing game two, Sullivan went back with rookie, Murray for game three. The decision proved to pay off, as the Penguins won both games in New York, before returning back home to finish off the Rangers in five games.

In the second round the two best teams in the Eastern Conference were matched up against each other. The Washington Capitals took off, right out of the gate, distancing themselves from their nearest competitor in the East, as well as the league, to capture the President’s Trophy for best record in the NHL. 

Unlike in the matchup with the Penguins cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, who the Capitals had steamrolled in the opening round, the Caps were unable to solve the red hot Penguins in the second round. The Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel line led the way for the Penguins against the Capitals. 

With the exception of game five in the second round, every game between the two Metropolitan rivals, was a one goal game, as three of the six games needed more than 60 minutes to decide a winner.

The Eastern Conference Finals pitted the Penguins against the defending Eastern Conference Champion, Tampa Bay Lightning. The series went seven games with rookie, Bryan Rust scoring twice to help the Penguins capture the Prince of Wales Trophy. 

The Lightning lost goaltender Ben Bishop, to a knee injury in the opening game and backup netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy did some good work, trying to hold the fort against the Penguins.

After the Bolts beat Murray for four goals in game four of the conference finals, Fleury came in relief for the Penguins, but the surge from the goalie change was not enough to help the comeback attempt. For game five Sullivan gambled and unsuccessfully went with Fleury before going back to Murray for games six and seven. 

While Rust became the second rookie, since Jeremy Roenick, to score two multiple goal games in one playoff year, both in series clinchers, Murray became the sixth rookie netminder to win a game seven. The last rookie goalie to accomplish the feat was Cam Ward, 10 years ago. 

The Penguins will be playing in their fifth Stanley Cup Final when they open the 2016 Stanley Cup, against the San Jose Sharks, at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins last won the Cup in 2009, when they beat the Detroit Red Wings, as they got their revenge from the previous Stanley Cup when the Red Wings beat them. They have also won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992.