No One Saw These Penguins Coming: Roller-Coaster Year Results in Cup Final Berth

May 26th, 2016 by Adrian Dater Leave a reply »

The parallel with 2009, the last time the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup, is striking.

The Penguins of 2008-09 fired their coach during the regular season, replacing Michel Therrien with Dan Bylsma. The Pens were said to have an unhappy superstar in Sidney Crosby, who had underachieved to that point. Under Bylsma, Crosby instantly appeared rejuvenated, and Pittsburgh won the Cup.

Here the Penguins are again, in the Final, after Thursday night's 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final at Consol Energy Center. They are a team that fired its coach, Mike Johnston, in December despite a 15-10-3 record. Crosby was said to be bored under the checking philosophy of Johnston, so in stepped Mike Sullivan from the minors, just like Bylsma.



Crosby has been sensational since Sullivan took over, and while he was not the guy who scored in Pittsburgh's decisive win over the Lightning, he was as strong of a player as anyone in the black and gold Thursday night.

It's been another unlikely and remarkable story in Pittsburgh, which will have home-ice advantage for the St ...

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