So the Penguins are moving on, after escaping elimination twice. The Lightning were unable to seal the deal, and we won’t have consecutive Stanley Cup Finals for either conference. But Sidney Crosby might have given his team bad luck by touching the Eastern Conference trophy. Never touch the trophy.
The reason the Lightning lost is that Vasilevskiy never got his pad to fully touch the post. That’s the only reason. He gave up a good goal to Rust, but then the force in second goal put the Penguins over the top. If that hadn’t happened I don’t know how OT goes down.
The team were evenly matched throughout much of this game and throughout much of this series, and it’s easy to see why playoff hockey is so different than regular season hockey. Both of these teams were quick, deep, and with some level of defense. Will that hold against the Sharks though, who shut down St. Louis’ defense, LA’s measure of depth, and Nashville’s relative speed?
The Penguins have the advantage of the HBK line, which is the best line still in these playoffs. It’s better than the Joe Show by just a pinch of Phil Kessel. They also have a starting goaltender who should have regained his confidence, because let’s not mistake it, Matt Murray won that game for Pittsburgh, and Crosby-Malkin-Bonino as their center depth. What they don’t have is a healthy and intact defense, and that will end up hurting them.
The Lightning were unable to close because they were unable to produce offensively. Only Jonathon Drouin got a goal past Matt Murray, with the Triplets coming up with nothing – a recurring trend the last two games – and Steven Stamkos, the emergency start for the Lightning – coming up with a -1. Not a great way to end with a team who was considering re-signing you.
The Lightning will need to do something, and fast, if they want to get back to the SCF. The Penguins just proved in two games that they were better than Tampa. The Capitals will get stronger, because they want to keep Ovechkin and Ovechkin wants that cup. The Triplets is a great (perhaps greatest) second line, but they weren’t able to pull their weight throughout the entire series as a first. Whether it’s trading up to draft a young centerman or re-signing Stamkos to play with Drouin on the first, the Lightning need to improve this summer.
With all this being said, you really shouldn’t have touched the trophy Sidney. Sharks in 6. Don’t touch the Butt.
In this case, Mike Sullivan was the one telling Crosby not to touch it. And if we’re going the whole movie as a hockey metaphor, the Sharks are the human who catch Nemo and take him hostage. Joe Pavelski is Darla.