SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sure, talent matters.
More than just about anything, probably.
So a team whose payroll is studded with the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Kris Letang, among others, almost has an almost unfair advantage.
But it takes commitment to forge a champion, as the Penguins proved again in the third period of their 3-1 victory against San Jose in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final Sunday night at SAP Center.
The victory secured the team’s fourth championship and, in the process, etched June 12, 2016, alongside the most celebrated dates in franchise history.
Right next to May 25, 1991, June 1, 1992, and June 12, 2009, when they won their first three Cups.
Just as Crosby scrawled his name beside that of Mario Lemieux (1991, 1992) and Malkin (2009) as the Penguins’ winners of the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
But Crosby’s receipt of the Smythe — to say nothing of the outcome of Game 6 —was far from certain after 40 minutes.
The Penguins had a 2-1 lead on goals by Brian Dumoulin (yes, that Brian Dumoulin) and Letang, but they knew the Sharks were just one shot from tying the score.
And San Jose got that shot.
Singular.
Unfortunately for the Sharks, Penguins goalie Matt Murray stopped it.
They did not get another until the final minute of regulation, and only after Patric Hornqvist had scored into an empty net at 18:58 to purge any lingering suspense about the outcome.
The commitment the Penguins made to winning a championship couldn’t have been more obvious during those first 19 minutes of the third. They blocked shots with every available body part, broke up potential scoring plays by any means necessary.
“That’s the type of team we are,” left winger Carl Hagelin said. “No one cares about individual stats. We want to get the puck out [of the defensive zone] and do our job.”
Murray’s teammates all but completely insulated him, effectively eliminating the possibility of the Sharks pulling even by virtue of a bad bounce off the unpredictable SAP Center ice.
“What an effort by a great team,” Murray said.
Anything less might not have been enough, because Sharks goalie Martin Jones was sensational again, repeatedly thwarting the likes of Crosby and Kessel on high-quality scoring chances when another goal would have allowed the Penguins to put the game out of reach.
“You have to give Jones a lot of credit,” Penguins center Matt Cullen said. “He was outstanding again.”
The one obvious flaw in Jones’ game is that, like most goalies, he isn’t much of a goal-scorer, and the Sharks could have used a few more of those.
As in the first four games of the series, they never led in Game 6.
Dumoulin put the Penguins up, 1-0, with a power-play goal at 8:16 of the first, when he took a cross-ice feed from Justin Schultz, faked a shot to get a clear lane to the net, then pounded the puck past Jones.
Logan Couture got San Jose even at 6:27 of the second, but just 79 seconds later Letang took a feed from Crosby and beat Jones from the bottom of the right circle for what would be the Cup-winner.
Hornqvist’s empty-netter sealed the triumphant end to a season highlighted by a coaching change and a significant roster makeover.
“We went through an awful lot,” Cullen said. “It was an up-and-down season.”
But one in which the Penguins ended up on top.
Because it was all about commitment.
Dave Molinari: Dmolinari@Post-Gazette.com and Twitter @MolinariPG.
First Published: June 13, 2016, 1:02 a.m.
Updated: June 13, 2016, 2:47 a.m.
