With a Game 2 win that put them up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Final, the odds are now in the Pittsburgh Penguins' favor. Of the 291 NHL playoff teams that have gone up 2-0 in a best-of-seven series, all but 37 of them have gone on to win the series.
2016 Stanley Cup Final: 3 things we learned from the Penguins in Game 2
Pittsburgh is exposing cracks in the Sharks’ lineup.
Don Wright-USA TODAY Sports
So, yeah. Conor Sheary just scored the biggest goal of his life in that 2-1 overtime win. Here's a handful of new things we learned about the Penguins in Game 2.
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3 things we learned about the Penguins
1. Mike Sullivan has found a matchup weakness in the Sharks
The Penguins coach figured out that if you put Phil Kessel's "HBK" lineup against San Jose's third pairing of Brenden Dillon and Roman Polak, these things happen.
Kessel move around Dillon pic.twitter.com/oSEbR5oLDR
— Stephanie (@myregularface) June 2, 2016
Kessel, Nick Bonino and Carl Hagelin have terrorized opponents for the last two rounds. Now they're feasting on Dillon and Polak's defensive deficiencies. Neither are speedy enough to keep Kessel from dancing around them, and Polak's poor puck-movement skills led to the first Penguins goal of the game.
2. The only roads through the Pittsburgh neutral zone are cul-de-sacs
And all the ends are dead. (Good song. Go look it up.) Here’s the best summation of San Jose’s travels through center ice in Game 2:
"And the Sharks start the breakout..." pic.twitter.com/DtuxAQzo1c
— Jason Brough (@JasonPHT) June 2, 2016
Pittsburgh’s speed was the reason. As soon as the Sharks left their own zone, they would often have two Penguins buzzing around the puck almost instantly. If they survived past center ice, two Penguins defensemen met them at the blue-line to force a dump-in. Pittsburgh retrieved and sped back up ice. Rinse. Repeat. No wonder the Sharks trailed so much in shot attempts the whole game. They never could get set up in the offensive zone.
3. Phil Kessel is a playoff beast
Here’s a fun stat:
Phil Kessel’s .547 goals/game in the playoffs (23 in 42) is tied for seventh best all-time, min. 30 GP.
— Playoff Beard Blinn (@NHLBlinn) June 2, 2016
Hard to argue against a dude’s compete level when he’s competing at a better playoff pace than all but seven NHL players ever, huh?
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How did Nick Bonino make his amazing goal to win Game 1?
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