Penguins win Stanley Cup opener
Sharks score 2 in 2nd to tie; Bonino nets winner in 3rd
Nick Bonino scored with 2:33 left to help host Pittsburgh and Evgeni Malkin, far right, beat San Jose and Joel Ward 3-2 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night. Matt Murray finished with 24 saves for Pittsburgh, which began its bid for the fourth title in franchise history by peppering San Jose goalie Martin Jones.
PITTSBURGH — Nick Bonino’s main job for the Penguins is to get to the front of the net and create chaos. The bearded forward executed perfectly in his debut in the Stanley Cup Final.
Bonino took a pretty feed from the corner by Kris Letang and beat Martin Jones from in close with 2:33 remaining to lift the Penguins to a 3-2 victory over the Sharks in Game 1 on Monday night.
Rookies Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary staked the Penguins to an early twogoal lead before the Sharks tied it in the second period on goals by Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau. The Penguins responded by upping the pressure in the final period and it paid off with Bonino’s fourth goal of the playoffs after he darted to the Sharks net in time to knuckle Letang’s pass by Jones for the winner.
Matt Murray finished with 24 saves for the Penguins, which began its bid for the fourth title in franchise history by peppering Jones constantly in the first and final periods. Jones made 38 stops but couldn’t get his blocker on Bonino’s wrist shot. The Penguins threw 41 shots at Jones, well over the 28 he faced on average during the Sharks’ playoff run.
The Sharks made it to the first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history by rebuilding themselves on the fly. Two years removed from a brutal collapse from a 3-0 series lead in the first round against the Kings, the Sharks ended a 9,005-day wait to play in the NHL’s championship round by relying on a tough, aggressive style that squeezes opponents with a relentless forecheck while limiting chances in front of Jones.
Yet veterans Marleau and Joe Thornton — the top two picks in the 1997 draft held in Pittsburgh — insisted the Sharks were hardly satisfied after dispatching the Blues in a cathartic Western Conference finals.
Maybe, but the Sharks looked a step slow while searching for their footing against the Penguins, who rallied from a 3-2 deficit to edge the Lightning in seven games to advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2009.
Rust gave the Penguins the lead 12:46 into the first when he slammed home a rebound off a Justin Schultz shot for his sixth of the postseason, a franchise record for playoff goals by a rookie.