The 2015-16 NHL season came to a close on Sunday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins became Stanley Cup champions with a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 for a 4-2 series win.
The Penguins were the hottest team in hockey from January on and that momentum carried right into the playoffs to the tune of a 16-8 record.
This is the fourth Stanley Cup title for the Penguins in franchise history, joining back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992 and their most recent championship in 2009.
Here's how they claimed the Cup in Game 6.
A power-play goal at 8:16 of the first by Brian Dumoulin opened the scoring in a period dominated by the Penguins, who held a 9-4 shot advantage through one.
The Sharks rebounded in the second, outshooting the Penguins, 13-11, in the period, but the teams traded goals 1:19 apart. Logan Couture evened things up at 6:27 with his 10th goal and 30th point of the playoffs before Kris Letang scored his third goal of the playoffs at 7:46 to put Pittsburgh back in front.
The 2-1 score held through the third, a period where the Penguins stifling defense allowed just two shots to the Sharks. One of the Penguins seven shots was an empty-net goal by Patric Hornqvist that sealed the series.
Overall, there was the combination of speed, scoring depth, tremendous defense, terrific goaltending and complete team effort from every player in every role that brought the Penguins to this point. For rookies like Conor Sheary and Matt Murray, who played starring roles as well as long-time veterans like Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, this was quite a way to burst onto the NHL scene. This certainly won't be the last we hear of these two young players.
And finally, there is the head coach and GM. Mike Sullivan came on to become the coach of the Penguins on Dec. 12. The Penguins entire season turned around then with Sullivan's guidance leading the way. This was a team that instantly bought in on a change that was necessary and looked more like the beginning of drastic changes rather than a turning point in a season. It proved to be the latter, as the rest of the team assembled by Jim Rutherford, which grew from there as the season progressed, took the momentum of early success and ran with it straight into June.
Sidney Crosby, who scored six goals and added 12 assists for 18 points in the playoffs, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Crosby did not score a goal in the Final, becoming the third player in NHL history to be awarded the Conn Smythe without scoring in the final series.
Next up on the NHL schedule will be the announcement of the 2016-17 regular season schedule which will come in the next week or so followed by the NHL Draft 12 days from now and free agency which begins on July 1.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
