PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins’ playoff success this season is rooted in their ability to survive the counterpunch before delivering the knockout blow.
The Penguins squandered a two-goal lead and yet found a way to regain their composure and beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on a goal by Nick Bonino with 2:33 left in regulation of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
“I think we have responded to whatever challenge we have faced,” Penguins center Matt Cullen said. “I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. It was one win. That’s all it was. But I thought it was a good performance by us because of how the guys handled the amplified spotlight that the Stanley Final brings.”
The Penguins outshot the Sharks 15-4 in the first period to build a 2-0 lead, and then were outshot 13-8 in the second period when the Sharks tied the score. The Penguins then outshot San Jose 18-9 in the final period when they produced the winning goal on a perfect pass by defenseman Kris Letang, who had driven deep into the San Jose zone.
“(After the second period), I think we gave our head a shake and I think guys were (angry) that we took a breath and sat back a bit,” Cullen said. “We are not very good when we sit back. But when we are pressuring the puck we are good.”
Over the last eight games, the Penguins have outshot opponents by 106 shots.
“They’re a fast team,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. "But I think if we play our game and execute and play the way we can, we can play with them."
As impressive as the Penguins have been in this postseason, this wasn’t the first time that they’ve had a stressful period in a game, or even the first time they lost a two-goal lead.
“Unfortunately we’ve been in that situation a couple of times,” said Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin. “But we knew how we played well in that first period, and we got back to that.”
Dumoulin said the Penguins “didn’t panic” in the second period, but they were “jittery with the puck”
“We kept trying to make a highlight-reel play to change momentum,” Dumoulin said. “All we needed to do was chip it by them and play hockey.”
The game felt as if it was playing at warp speed. Numerous races for the puck looked like Olympic dashes.
“It was a fast-paced game for sure,” said Penguins winger Carl Hagelin. “Two teams that came out with a lot of intensity. We skated really hard in the first obviously. They kind of caught up to us in the second when we stopped skating a little bit. We have to use our speed to be successful in the series.”
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was visible in the game, setting up Connor Sheary’s goal with a cross-ice feed.
“You could see his hunger to win,” Sullivan said. “He's inspiring. I thought he was a force out there all night. He's so strong on the puck. His speed through the neutral zone. He's a threat. Every time he jumps over the boards, we feel like he's a threat to score, just a threat as far as putting pressure on our opponent's defense.”
The Penguins are 7-3 in one-goal games during the playoffs, another indication of how they have found ways to win pressure-filled games. Pittsburgh’s first two goals were scored by rookies Bryan Rust and Sheary. Rust has scored four goals in the past three games.
Neither team believes there will be any carryover from Game 1 to Game 2.
“We will respond,” Sharks center Joe Thornton said. “We’ve done it all postseason. We will forget about this in 10 minutes and ready for Game 2.”
Contributing: A.J. Perez
