Rookies energize Consol Center
Rust’s goals, Murray’s saves propel Penguins to Stanley Cup Final
There was Bryan Rust, the Game 7 hero, smiling in the spotlights and shaking hands with owner Mario Lemieux in the locker room late Thursday night. He scored both Penguins goals in a 2-1 win to send them to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since they beat the Detroit Red Wings in 2009.
“If there’s a way you want to write it up when you’re a kid,” Rust said, “that’s close.”
What punched the Penguins’ long-awaited return ticket was handiwork from their rookies, not highlight-reel scores from their superstars. Rust’s two goals and 16 saves from goaltender Matt Murray lit up Consol Energy Center and sent the Tampa Bay Lightning packing.
“I’m not sure Rusty would’ve been the guy I picked,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said, smiling.
In the Stanley Cup finals, the Penguins will face the San Jose
Sharks, the franchise Sullivan broke into the NHL with as a rookie in 1991. Game 1 is Monday in Pittsburgh.
After the Penguins reached back-to-back Stanley Cup finals in 2008 and 2009, six consecutive postseason campaigns fell short. Their deepest run, before this year, was a trip to the conference final in 2013, when they were swept by the Boston Bruins. The Penguins have won three of the four Stanley Cup finals reached in their history.
With age, captain Sidney Crosby said, comes a greater appreciation for advancing to the finals. “You love the opportunity to get back.”
The drama building since the Penguins took Game 6 Tuesday reached a peak just before the puck drop Thursday. Out of the Tampa Bay tunnel skated Steven Stamkos, a prolific scorer sidelined since surgery to remove a blood clot April 4. Stamkos had returned.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen,” Crosby said. “We were just worried about us.”
And then Stamkos was missing again, along with the Lightning attack. Tampa Bay had five shots in he first period, and five more in the second. They upped their tempo in a frantic, fast-paced third period, but Murray stood tall. “That third period was some of the most fun I’d have playing hockey,” he said.
Hanging overhead Thursday was the fact that the Penguins entered the night 2-7 in Games 7 played in Pittsburgh. They hadn’t won a Game 7 here since May 18, 1995. The last Penguins goaltender to win a Game 7 in Pittsburgh tended bar Thursday night and tended to look away from TV screens while the game was on. Ken Wregget was surprised to hear he remained the last to take a winnertake-all home game in this city — he did so with a 3-0 shutout of the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals in 1995.
Wregget won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 1992 and hung up his skates in 2001. He now owns “31” Sports Bar and Grille in Bridgeville. During playoff watch parties out on the deck, Wregget stayed quiet, his nerves on edge. “I’m a bad fan,” Wregget admitted before Game 7. “You don’t want to be around me. … If I can't sit there on the ice and participate, which I’m used to, I really have a hard time watching it.”
In Wregget’s opinion, Murray showed “maturity beyond his age” — a tender 22 years and one day — subbing for, being replaced by and ultimately unseating Marc-Andre Fleury. The first roar inside Consol Energy Center Thursday came when Murray was introduced as starter.
Seven years ago, when the Penguins last outlasted three rounds of playoffs to reach the Stanley Cup Final, Murray was a 15-year-old net-minder in the Canadian bantam leagues.
Seven years ago, Sullivan was joining the New York Rangers as assistant coach. He still was three stops away from taking over as Penguins head coach.
Seven years ago, Jim Rutherford, the Penguins general manager, was in year 15 of 20 as general manager of the Hartford Whalers-turned-Carolina Hurricanes franchise.
The Penguins kept a strong core over the years, centered by Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but managed little headway in the postseason. After a secondround collapse against the New York Rangers in 2014, then-head coach Dan Bylsma was fired. His replacement, Mike Johnston, lasted only until Dec. 12, 2015, before Rutherford called for Sullivan.
Something seemed to click. The Penguins finished the regular season 48-26-8. They defeated the Rangers in five games, and the Capitals in six. Now, the Game 7 jinx behind them, they’re back to the finals for a shot at the franchise’s fourth Stanley Cup.
“The biggest challenge is ahead of us here,” Crosby said. “But it’s been a great opportunity, and it wasn’t easy to get to this point.”