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Sid and the kids led way for Pens
- Updated: May 31, 2016
12:13 PM ET
PITTSBURGH — If Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals was played at breakneck speed, the postgame vibe in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ locker room was decidedly slo-mo.
Calm. Businesslike. Nobody running around high-fiving anyone else.
No loud celebratory music in spite of Pittsburgh’s dramatic, 3-2 series-opening victory over the San Jose Sharks.
It’s the same kind of juxtaposition the Penguins have showed throughout their long playoff run: Skate like crazy for 60 minutes — or however long it takes — then stop, regroup and move on.
In the wake of the victory Monday night, there was nothing in that locker room to suggest that this night was any different — even though it brought the Penguins to within three wins of a Stanley Cup championship.
Perhaps it was veteran Chris Kunitz who put it best.
“This moment was not bigger than our team,” said Kunitz, who won a Stanley Cup with the core of this group in 2009 and who added an assist on the first goal of the game by rookie Bryan Rust.
The Penguins outshot San Jose 41-26 overall and 33-13 in the first and third periods combined. It marked the 10th consecutive game in which they have outshot their opponent.
Pittsburgh has won three consecutive games, and there is a certain sameness to those wins — games marked by long periods of control and dominance by the Penguins while their opponents seemed to have little answer for the Pens’ speed and skill.
“I don’t want any of us here to get too far ahead of ourselves,” said veteran Matt Cullen, who moved from his normal fourth-line duties to play with Evgeni Malkin and Kunitz after Rust was knocked out of the game early in the third period by a hit by San Jose forward Patrick Marleau. “It’s one win; that’s all it is. But it was a good performance for us. I thought guys handled the amplified spotlight that the Stanley Cup finals bring.”
it wasn’t just guys like Cullen and Kunitz — who have won championships and understand this part of the road, the final stretch — who showed the ability to handle that pressure without giving in to it but seemingly …
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