A turnaround season for the Pittsburgh Penguins ended with Sidney Crosby once again holding the Stanley Cup.
(FOX)- Crosby set up Kris Letang’s go-ahead goal midway through the second period and the Pittsburgh Penguins won the fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history by beating the San Jose Sharks 3-1 in Game 6 of the final Sunday night.
Brian Dumoulin opened the scoring with a power-play goal and Patric Hornqvist added a late empty-netter. Matt Murray made 18 saves to give the Penguins a championship seven years to the day after they beat Detroit for their third title.
The game ended when Crosby cleared the puck the length of the ice with San Jose on the power play, setting off a wild celebration. All that was left was for Crosby to accept the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP and then the Stanley Cup.
The Penguins were in control for almost the entire Cup final. They did not trail until Game 5 at home and responded to a strong push from San Jose in the clincher to avoid a decisive seventh game. Pittsburgh held San Jose to just one shot on goal in the first 19 minutes of the third period to preserve the one-goal lead.
The Penguins sealed it when Crosby blocked a shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic that set Hornqvist’s empty-netter.
Pittsburgh owner Mario Lemieux pointed to general manager Jim Rutherford and a series of moves made during the season — including acquiring Phil Kessel from Toronto — as the reason the Penguins won it all.
“It’s been an incredible year,” Lemieux said. “We a rough start the first couple months of the season, then we made some changes. … It’s hard to win this Cup. We’re going to enjoy it for a while.”
The Penguins jumped ahead for the fifth time in six games this series after Dainius Zubrus was sent off for tripping when Crosby’s line didn’t allow San Jose to leave its own zone.
Dumoulin took advantage when his point shot beat Jones for a rare soft goal allowed by the Sharks’ netminder. Jones made up for it late in the period with one sequence that started with a save against Crosby on the rush and ended with a pad save that robbed Conor Sheary to keep it 1-0.
Chris Kunitz came up with the defensive play of the period when his speed on a backcheck helped thwart a breakaway chance for Joel Ward. The Sharks tied it early in the period when Couture beat Murray with a big shot for his 30th point of the postseason.
Pittsburgh answered 1:19 later when Crosby sent a pass from behind the net to Letang, who beat Jones from a sharp angle to the short side to make it 2-1.