Goalies Martin Jones, Matt Murray both Stanley Cup rookies

Earlier both games simulated the entirety of the playoffs and both failed in predicting the teams that would win the Stanley Cup. The NHL’s active leader in games played without appearing in the Stanley Cup final could have been elsewhere.

“They’re one of the best”. He’s expected to be on a line with Logan Couture and Joonas Donskoi in Game 1.

“Sidney Crosby does everything well”, Vlasic said. SJ tied it in the second with a goal from Joe Thornton and it stayed that way until OT. Tomas Hertl scored the game-winner. “If you give them too many opportunities, they’re going to burn you”. Jones would go on to stabilize the position, finishing with a 37-23-3 record with six shutouts.

A semi-regular at Sharks practices and games throughout the season – he’s now a Britannia Arms co-owner – Nolan see one dramatic difference in this Sharks team over previous versions: Depth.

Alex: The Sharks will dominate the series. Sidney Crosby has waited seven long years to get back, but that’s nothing compared to Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, who have waited a lifetime. They jumped ahead 2-0 with goals from Crosby and Tom Kuhnhackl.

Yeah, the Sharks are gonna dominate the series.

Sullivan said the Penguins’ coaching staff spends the majority of its time on its own game, but added: “Certainly when you play a team like San Jose, that we haven’t seen in a while, we spent more time trying to familiarize ourselves with their tendencies”. “They create a lot of momentum off it and a lot of scoring chances”.

Instead of simply running a single series, the development team ran 30 simulations of the final series. One of the greatest players in franchise history, Nolan was in the Shark Tank for the Game 6 victory over St. Louis that sent the Sharks into their first Stanley Cup Final. The game marks the Sharks’ first final appearance in their 25-year history. Is it ironic that it’s against San Jose?

Sharks Coach Peter DeBoer, who guided the New Jersey Devils to the final in 2012 only to lose to the Kings, said he didn’t plan to deliver any Cup-themed pregame speech Monday or otherwise deviate from the team’s playoff routine.

A Penguins defence anchored by Kris Letang, averaging 29 minutes in the playoffs, will have to lean more on Ben Lovejoy as well as the mostly untested likes of Brian Dumoulin, Olli Maatta, and Justin Schultz, the latter two healthy scratches at various points this spring. Pittsburgh won 59 percent of the time if the series averaged less than six goals/game, 63 percent of the time if it was fewer than five. Both teams have good goaltenders and the ability to score in bunches.

Nolan thinks his former team is the one to beat.

The Sharks win with two quick goals midway through the third period to reverse a 4-3 deficit.

Yet Jones is the wise old veteran compared to the Penguins’ Matt Murray. “I think at the end of the day we’ve got to stick to what’s made us successful in this postseason, and just keep rolling with it”. Murray bounces back with a strong 28-save performance. Matt Nieto returned to the San Jose lineup after missing the first game with an upper-body injury.

“When those rumors started swirling like that, you can’t control them, so you just try and control what you can do”, Marleau said.

Marleau hasn’t missed a game in almost eight seasons. The Sharks again dominated on shots, 39-16. “Every round, we played better and better”.

The Sharks win the Cup by reversing the result of the last game.

As the Sharks celebrated their first Western Conference title, Marleau and long-time running mate Joe Thornton congratulated each other.