Stanley Cup Final schedule provides a break for Sharks and Penguins

But my primary reservation is that well-known syndrome.

We have already looked at how the two teams made it to the Stanley Cup Final when it comes to their play on the ice. That’s potentially not great.

The same could be said about the players in this year’s Stanley Cup Final. It’s the first time they’ve been in this spot since 2009 and a lot of criticism from the media about Crosby and Malkin not showing up will go down if they win it all here. The Penguins trailed 2-0 after the first period, any minimal steps of progress made with Sullivan on the bench suddenly gone. Fans in Pittsburgh are generally used to this vibe.

This series will be close. I finally got it right a year ago, when the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Lightning.

Fortunately, it sounds as if Captain Joseph James Pavelski is at the wheel and dealing with that.

“It’s about the team, it’s not about me or who plays”, he said.

Like the Sharks, the Penguins boast a deep lineup as rookie Bryan Rust scored both goals in the Game 7 clincher to sink the Lightning to give him five goals for the playoffs, while eight players have double-digit points. Vilified at times for the team’s struggles during his days in Toronto, Kessel has been reborn in Pittsburgh. It’s an exciting time. “You know, it’s emotional for him”. You try to help out the people that you can. “You hit a lot of bumps in the road throughout the course of a season and it takes an terrible lot to get here”. You realize how hard you have to work to get to this point. “We know how tough an opponent this is”, Sharks coach Peter DeBoer told reporters. Las Vegas oddsmakers have installed the Penguins as a slight favorite. “When they’re bigger than you, you listen to them”. It never came to pass, though, and in early December players began to grasp DeBoer’s system. But I thought St. Louis’ defensive structure would cause the Sharks problems. Now Pittsburgh will spend the weekend preparing for the franchise’s fifth – and by far most unlikely – Cup appearance. The Sharks beat the Predators in a Game 7 in the second round, their only elimination game so far. “It was the loudest I’ve heard a building in all my years in this league”, said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan of the crowd of 18,600 at the Penguins’ Consol Energy Center. That is the central question of the series. It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the Penguins this season.

Trying to find the right superlatives to describe Bryan Rust this postseason are nearly impossible to do. Evgeni Malkin continually got stronger throughout the series, and even though he didn’t score frequently, he was the Penguins best forward in terms of driving offensive play.

It’s fantastic how good Pittsburgh’s goaltending has been despite the fact Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has used three goalies in the post-season – Jeff Zatkoff started after Marc-Andre Fleury suffered a concussion then Fleury started Game 5 against Tampa Bay when new No. 1 Matt Murray took a night off. Goaltender Roulette has worked for the Penguins but Murray is No. 1 and he’ll have to be exceptional against high-scoring San Jose. Kessel (9-9-18), Bonino (3-12-15) and Hagelin (5-7-12) have combined for 17 of the Penguins’ 58 goals this playoff run and have 45 points between them. The Sharks may regret that deal during this series.

“Off the ice he’s one of the biggest leaders we got”, said Maatta.

The Sharks’ power-play percentage (27.0) ranks second among the playoff teams.

The Sharks definitely should have the blue line edge over Pittsburgh.

Justin Braun is a nice compliment to the Sharks top four defense grouping.

San Jose is also rolling along thanks to a summer pickup in goaltender Martin Jones, who was the Los Angeles Kings’ backup when they won the Cup in 2014.

“I think we’ve always believed in one another. Because if you are, then he becomes very unsafe”. That’s not a huge margin, especially because they split the games, but it’s enough for a win.

And finally, there’s the Pittsburgh goalie issue. The first few games of the Penguins’ second round series against the Washington Capitals turned into a competition to see which team could do the most to get the attention of the NHL’s department of player safety. Veteran Joel Ward has six goals, including four in the past two games. He’s backing up 22-year-old Matt Murray, which has cast doubt on Fleury’s future in Pittsburgh. He won’t have it easy, 5-on-5, either.

The story in San Jose, however, is not Jones so much as it’s Joe Thornton.