It was a long regular season followed by an intense playoff run for the Pittsburgh Penguins. While the first post-season round went over fairly smoothly, things started to become more difficult in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals when the Washington Capitals took Pittsburgh all the way to game seven before bowing down. Likewise, the Penguins also needed seven games to get past the Carolina Hurricanes in the Conference Finals including a nail-biter in the elimination game. Once the Pittsburgh Penguins reached the NHL Stanley Cup finals everything reminded the audience of what happened during last year’s finals. More specifically, the Penguins constantly trailed the Red Wings and faced a lot of pressure in every game after losing the series opener.
However, the team around Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby bounced back from 0-2 and 2-3 deficits to force a game seven show down in Detroit. Even though they had to play the final game of the series without franchise centerpiece Sidney Crosby they managed to clinch a clutch 2-1 victory on the road to win the NHL Stanley Cup finals. After the second period Pittsburgh was already up 2-0, but the Red Wings managed to come back into the game when Jonathan Ericsson cut the lead to just one goal with 6 minutes remaining in regulation. Subsequently, Detroit increased the pressure on Pittsburgh’s goal and missed two crucial opportunities that would have sent the game to overtime. Ultimately, the Penguins just were the team with the best nerves in this year’s post-season with three straight game seven wins and will now have plenty of time to celebrate their success over the summer. Before the Stanley Cup was handed over to Penguins’ captain Crosby, Evgeni Malkin was honored with the Conn Smythe Trophy for his outstanding playoff performance that earned him the MVP award.
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