The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1, in game seven of the Eastern Conference Final to move on to the final round of playoffs. Going into the Stanley Cup Final, there are a few takeaways from last night’s game we can look at.
Last night was pretty exciting. The Pittsburgh Penguins eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning in a fast-paced, high-powered game seven of the Eastern Conference Final. Now they’re one of the two remaining teams in the battle for the Stanley Cup, and will square off against the San Jose Sharks.
Bryan Rust scored both of the goals last night for the Pens while Matt Murray put on an amazing performance in net to keep the home team ahead. Jonathan Drouin notched the only goal for the Lightning in their losing effort. Despite all the big names on each team, it would be these rookies who made the biggest impact of the series.
Drouin had a great playoff run following his rocky regular season and showed the Bolts why he was worth keeping, despite all the trouble he gave their organization. He was definitely one of their best players against the Penguins, and he’ll be even more of a threat as he develops more in the league.
But we don’t have to worry about that any more this season, at least. Now we’ve got a whole new squadron of rookies to meet, across the league. Younger players like Joonas Donskoi, Chris Tierney, and Mirco Mueller have been great for the Sharks this season.
Like we’ve seen all of our season, though, our young guns are just as good as anyone’s. There’s no way the Penguins would have made it this far without their rookies stepping up and filling the holes in the lineup.
This was more evident than ever in last night’s game. Rust more than doubled his regular-season goal count in the playoffs already, including those two goals last night, one in the critical game before it, and adding a beautiful assist on Brian Dumoulin‘s first career playoff goal in game five. The Penguins are a speed-focused team, and Rust’s a big part of that.
Those three games all gave us examples of goals he helped the Penguins get on breakaways. He’s a smaller guy but incredibly fast, making him integral to the Pens’ system of play. Breakaway opportunities are hard for goalies to handle, and I wouldn’t want to be facing Bryan Rust on one.
What more can we even say about Matt Murray that hasn’t already been said? He’s an absolute stud. The day before his 22nd birthday, he kept the Penguins in the playoffs with an important game six win; the day after, he backstopped his team to the Stanley Cup Final. No big deal.
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One thing I worry about, though, is that our opponents have quickly figured out his weakness. True, every goalie has problem spots and every team tries to scout them to know where to shoot most often, but Murray’s been exploited from the second the Washington Capitals learned where to aim. If you shoot high glove-side on him, it’s probably in. And that’s an issue.
Now is probably not the time to worry about that, because trying to switch things up or overthink plays right before the most important round of games in his life isn’t smart. In the offseason, though, he’ll probably need to work on tightening that problem area up.
Still, I’m very confident in Murray leading us to the Cup. He got a much-needed break in this past series, and he’s back where he should be in regard to his play. Based on what we’ve seen from him so far, I think he can continue to stand up to the pressure and get his team another Cup. It’s more than possible.
Major players like Sidney Crosby really stepped up in this past round as well, which was much needed. If he can keep that momentum going, then the Penguins will be very scary. Kris Letang also has slightly improved with taking terrible penalties as the Conference Final progressed, so that’s a start.
The defensemen we’ve got right now are really clicking. Trevor Daley‘s injury was a major blow, but this team is resilient. We know that, and we’ve seen it time and time again – including in this series. Olli Maatta reached the level of play that’s expected of him again, and Dumoulin scored his first ever playoff goal.
The Tampa series presented unique challenges that the Penguins had not seen in the first two rounds. Each of the teams they’ve faced so far have forced them to adapt to different strengths and styles of play. The Sharks will do the same.
By this point, though, experience is in the Penguins’ favor, as is home ice advantage. The Sharks have never made an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final before, while many of the Penguins have been there and won before – if not necessarily in black and gold. The energy of the “Shark Tank” may rival that of CONSOL Energy Center, but we all know that we Pittsburgh fans are just a little bit better.
(I’m joking, I’m joking. Kind of.)
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The Penguins just need four more wins to bring the Stanley Cup back to Pittsburgh. This is the best team that we’ve seen here in years, and there may not be one this strong for a while again. This is our best chance, and this team knows it.
Four wins. That’s it.