Penguins appreciate what it took to win pair of Cups
PITTSBURGH The Pittsburgh Penguins don’t expect the sting from their second-round playoff exit to fade quickly.
They also don’t expect it to compel general manager Jim Rutherford to give the roster a thorough makeover after the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions’ bid for a three-peat ended at the hands of Washington.
If anything, the setback has given Sidney Crosby and company a chance to put their remarkable run atop the league in perspective.
No team in a generation had won consecutive Cups until Pittsburgh did it last spring and the Penguins went as far as the 1999 Detroit Red Wings and Mario Lemieux-led 1993 Penguins did in their respective quests for a three-peat.
“I think it definitely allows you to appreciate how difficult that was, but also to know we were that close to moving on, too, that’s the difficult part,” Crosby said Wednesday as Pittsburgh packed up for the summer.
“I think it definitely gives you a greater appreciation how many times it could have went the other way on a pretty good run.”
The margin is always razor thin in the playoffs. And the Penguins somehow found a way to land on the right side of things through nine playoff series across three springs.
Against the Capitals, however, the bounces — and often the energy — went the other way.
Twice Pittsburgh blew a thirdperiod lead in regulation — something that never happened during the regular season.
Goaltender Matt Murray was usually crisp but not dominant. The scoring depth that made the Penguins an impossibly tough out vanished this time around. Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel did not register a point at even strength against Washington.
Derick Brassard — brought in at the trade deadline to be the thirdline centre — was a non-factor.
So were Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary, who played beyond their years and scored pivotal goals in the process while ending their first two seasons in the league with a parade through downtown Pittsburgh with the Cup in hand. Not this time.
The Penguins downplayed the notion they ran out of gas after playing more hockey than any other club over the past 32 months.
Maybe, but there’s ample proof the NHL has caught up with the team that built itself on lightning quick aggression when Mike Sullivan took over as head coach in December 2015.
Now it’s time for Pittsburgh to spend the off-season trying to get that extra gear back.
“We’re a good team,” Rutherford said. “And we will be a good team going forward. We’ll have a chance to win again. We have the nucleus to do that.”
DINGED UP: Pittsburgh had several players make a go of it in the playoffs despite undisclosed or non-characterized injuries that limited their effectiveness. The group includes Kessel, Malkin and Brassard. Sullivan said Kessel was dealing with a health issue but added “it was nothing significant, I can tell you that.”
Penguins rookie Zach AstonReese, who broke his jaw and suffered a concussion following an illegal hit by Washington’s Tom Wilson in Game 2 of the second round, sidestepped when asked if the three-game suspension Wilson received was enough, but does feel it was a positive step.