How ’bout those Pens!
The Penguins鈥� retention of the Stanley Cup really shows you can鈥檛 keep a good man down, or the next man up, either.
Even if that man is Sidney Crosby and he has several opposing defensemen and forwards sitting on him, or imprisoning him to the ice with their sticks and any other hockey paraphernalia they had available.
Or, if that man was Nick Bonino, who gamely played almost 12 minutes after sustaining a broken tibia in his left leg when he turned into a P.K. Subban slap shot in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals. The Penguins won 4-1 for a 2-0 series lead.
Or, if that man was Marc-Andre Fleury, who lost his job as the Penguins鈥� net-minder to sensational rookie Matt Murray (more on the rookie thing in a second), but rode to the rescue like the U.S. cavalry (or, the RCMP) for series wins against Columbus and Washington.
Or, the Penguins themselves, who had arguably the toughest schedule to the hoisting the Cup, defeating Columbus (4-1), Presidents鈥� Trophy-winning Washington (4-3), Ottawa (4-3), and Nashville (4-2). The defeated quartet won 190 regular season games (average of 47陆 wins per team) and finished with 418 points (104陆 each).
Crosby certainly was an important cog in the march through the Stanley Cup playoffs, as witnessed by his second Conn Smythe Trophy.
But, perhaps, as Cady Heron did with the prom princess tiara at the end of 鈥淢ean Girls,鈥� (yes, I enjoy the occasional least common denominator-type movie), Sid the Kid should break off pieces of the massive trophy and toss them around to: Evgeni Malkin, who scored a team-high 28 points (which was one more point than Crosby with one extra game played); Jake Guentzel, who came of age in the playoffs with 13 goals in 25 games (that鈥檚 a 40-plus goal regular season pace); Chris Kunitz, just because; any and all defensemen who wore a Penguins jersey, especially Olli Maatta, who was bounced around like a bowling pin almost every time he took a shift; the management team from General Manager Jim Rutherford through Mike Sullivan鈥檚 coaching staff, who managed to keep the Penguins together through mounting (and key) injuries; the referees and video replay guys who somehow determined the first goal of the series scored by P.K. Subban was a no-goal because the play was offside.聽
(A couple playoff asides: A, Seems strange a man with two Stanley Cup-winning performances is still eligible for Rookie of the Year honors, but, hey, go with it Matt Murray; B, Throw something, be it a hanky or one of God鈥檚 creatures, and warn the crowd. Do it again and enforce a delay of game penalty. Keep it up and make it a major penalty. That鈥檒l keep all types of seafood on a dinner plate, seeped in butter, where it belongs; C, Outside of Pirates and Steelers sitting amid the crowd or in a fancy box, hockey fans show up to Penguins games, not celebrities.)
I won鈥檛 be heading down to Pittsburgh for the victory parade this morning, but I will be there in spirit. If you鈥檙e going, have fun, be careful and enjoy the moment because you don鈥檛 know when it might happen again.
Of course, Penguins fans said that around this time last year and there鈥檚 a real good chance they鈥檒l be saying the same around this time in 2018.