BACK-TO-BACK

THE PENGUINS TOP THE PREDATORS IN GAME 6 TO WIN THEIR SECOND STRAIGHT STANLEY CUP.

They say dynasties don’t exist anymore. And maybe they are right. Maybe no t eam will win f our straight Stanley Cups like the New York Islanders did back in the day.

But what the Pittsburgh Penguins achieved in back-to-back years is pretty special.

Rookie goalie Matt Murray recorded his second-straight shutout and Patric Hornqvist scored with 95 seconds remaining in the third period, as the Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators 2- 0 in Game 6 to win their second-consecutive Stanley Cup.

It was the first time that a team has repeated as champions in almost 20 years. And for that, the Penguins mostly have Sidney Crosby to thank.

Crosby, who won his second-straight Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, scored eight goals and 27 points in 24 games. He now has three championships. That is one more than Mario Lemieux — and the Penguins captain is not yet 30 years old.

This year’s win might have been harder than a year ago. The team was missing Kris Letang and was missing Murray for the first two rounds. By the time the Penguins reached the final, the team was running on fumes.

But they found that extra gear when they needed it, even if the Predators had been the better team at times.

Evgeni Malkin had 28 points, including three goals in the Cup final. Guentzel, who was in the minors for most of the year, led the playoffs with 13 goals. And Murray came back from injury and played his best when it mattered the most.

But it was Crosby who willed this team to victory.

He might not have scored the game-winner in Game 6, but the Penguins wouldn’t be here without him. He scored seven points in six games against the Predators. In the process, he made a household name out of Guentzel and 36- year- old Ron Hainsey, who Crosby handed the Cup to first after having never played in the post-season before this year.

The Predators were a desperate team. They were also confident, having outplayed the Penguins for most of the series. And they were at home, where they had a near spotless record in the playoffs.

This one was a nail-biter, the first competitive game in the series.

The first three periods were like watching an extended overtime. No one wanted to give up the first goal. No one even wanted to give up a scoring chance.

When they did, the goalies were there to bail them out.

Both Rinne and Murray had been good at times during this series — but never in the same game. In Game 6, we were finally treated to a goalie duel. Both combined for 41 saves in the first and second periods.

On one play, Murray stopped Mike Fisher cutting toward the net and then recovered in time to rob James Neal on the rebound. At the other end, Rinne’s glove hand swallowed would-be goals from nearly every Pittsburgh player.

When Nashville finally put one in the net, it didn’t count. About a minute into the second period, Filip Forsberg took a wrist shot that Penguins goalie Matt Murray got a piece of, but ended up sneaking underneath his arm and dribbling toward the goal line. Nashville’s Colton Sissons poked the puck into the net, but just as the crowd started cheering the referee was waving the goal off.

Apparently, the whistle had gone prematurely and the goal did not count. It was a devastating blow for the Predators, who also had a critical goal disallowed in Game 1. And it was that kind of game for Sissons, who later in the period was stopped on a breakaway.

The refs, of course, were not to blame for Nashville’s lost.

The Predators had four power plays, including back- to- back opportunities midway through the second. It should have resulted in one, if not two goals. But Pittsburgh’s penalty kill, which was basically Murray standing on his head, kept Nashville off the board.

With Murray holding down the fort, the Penguins finally snuck one past Rinne. It was a weird one. A shot from Justin Schultz bounced off the back of the net and Patric Hornqvist somehow banked the puck in off Rinne and into the net.

Carl Hagelin added an empty- netter for good measure.

For a team that had relied on opportunistic scoring in the early part of the series, it was another example of the Penguins pulling one out of their hats when they needed it.

It was what championship teams do.