In a time when Philly sports are still stuck in a rut and the Flyers are still looking more to a bright future than a greater presence in the present, Sunday night was certainly not for the faint of heart.
The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup, their fourth in franchise history, all since 1991.
But this championship for another Philly arch rival didn't come as any surprise. The writing was on the wall as they breezed through the New York Rangers, eliminated the Presidents Trophy winners, rallied against the defending Eastern Conference champions and opened up a 3-1 series lead in the Final. All of that playoff success after a massive turnaround in midseason that sent the Penguins from being a laughable team to the beast of the East and beyond.
With the season over, this is usually as good a place as any to evaluate where the Flyers stand against the rest of the league, or more specifically, how the Flyers rank as opposed to the Stanley Cup champions.
In short, these weren't the same old Penguins the Flyers had come to know. The Flyers found that out quickly enough, in their first three meetings this season. And in the last two months, the rest of the league came to find that out too.
Here's a look at all aspects of the Penguins and what made them the unmatched team to claim this season's title.
Forwards
When the Penguins get the type of national exposure the late rounds of the playoffs offer, it's usually the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin show. And you wouldn't be wrong in saying that despite the fact that both struggled to produce points in the Stanley Cup Final — Crosby had four assists, two in Game 6, while Malkin had two goals and one assist in the final three games after being blanked in the first three.
That said, this is the first place where we'll talk about the overall team effort the Penguins got and the mastery in which they played to their roles. Crosby and Malkin were the focal points of attention, which may be why they were more limited. It was obvious that opponents wanted to keep them out of the play as much as possible.
Now, turn to Phil Kessel and Patric Hornqvist. Kessel led the Penguins with 22 points and 10 goals in the playoffs. Hornqvist was second with nine goals and had 13 points. After Crosby and Malkin, second and third on the team in points during the playoffs, Nick Bonino, Chris Kunitz and Conor Sheary all had double-digit point totals for the playoffs as well. That's seven forwards with at least 10 points in a 24-game span, not factoring in the help of defensemen getting involved in the offense.
Two players not mentioned for having double-figures in points during the playoffs are Matt Cullen and Carl Hagelin. Cullen scored 16 goals in the regular season and Hagelin had 10 in the 37 games he played after the Penguins acquired him this season.
That's really the interesting thing about the Penguins forward depth. It was an ongoing construction process right up to the playoffs. Hagelin played in 37 games. Bonino played in 63. Bryan Rust played in 44 games, Sheary in 41. It should come as no surprise then that the Penguins mid-point of the season was on Jan. 9, roughly two weeks after their turnaround really began.
Success was more than just a struggling Crosby returning to form or Kessel take over with one of his best seasons. It was the depth, players like Cullen, Sheary, Rust, Hagelin, Bonino, Hornqvist; two lines worth of players — stepping in to make Crosby that much more dangerous and make Malkin's absence due to injury a non-factor.
Defense
The Penguins were one of the best coached teams in the NHL after New Year's this season (more on that later) and it really showed in their defense. The standout of the Penguins blue line remains Kris Letang, but the true stars were two more in-season acquisitions, Ben Lovejoy and Trevor Daley.
The Penguins got a huge boost from Daley to the point where his loss due to injury in the playoffs had the potential to sink the team before the Final even happened. Lovejoy, meanwhile, emerged as a more defensive presence. Another emerging blue liner was Brian Dumoulin, who showed a lot of potential in his first extended playoff experience at 24.
What stood out about the Penguins defensively was a strong understanding of a 200-foot game. The Penguins defensemen were as active as the forwards on the offensive attack and yet turned in two of the most efficient period defensively in Game 6, holding the Sharks to six total shots in the first and third periods combined in Sunday's Cup clincher.
That's not just a nod to the six defensemen for the Penguins, but the forward group as well. Defense doesn't always lead to offense, but with a strong grasp on the 200-foot game and a keen eye to the little details, it absolutely makes an offense that much more dangerous.
Goaltending
When the Penguins won in 2009, they owed a lot of it to Marc-Andre Fleury and they still do this season. But there's a new kid in town and his name is Matt Murray. For the rest of the Metropolitan Division, and the rest of the NHL for that matter, meet the new regular netminder for the Penguins, because Murray is here to stay.
Let's put this in perspective: Murray made his NHL debut on Dec. 19, a week after the hiring of Mike Sullivan. Murray lost his first start, came back with two straight wins and lost in a shootout on Dec. 30. After four games, he want back to the AHL and didn't resurface until March 1. He lost his first start of March, then reeled off seven straight wins.
When the playoffs began, Murray wasn't even the go-to starter, despite Fleury's injury. The Penguins actually started with Jeff Zatkoff in the first two games of the series. Murray started Game 3 against the Rangers and never looked back, winning each of the next three games to help the Penguins advance. He started every game in the remaining series as well, except for one, Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against Tampa Bay. The Penguins lost that night to fall behind 3-2 in the series. Murray started the last two games and won both.
Here's the other sense of perspective on Murray: by the time the playoff run came complete on Sunday, he had started 21 playoff games to 13 regular-season games. He lost six games during the playoffs and each time followed it up with a win in the next game, including the clincher in Game 6.
Let's leave this right here: Crosby may be the MVP and Hart winner this season for his resurgence during the regular season which helped make a playoff run possible. But the MVP of the playoffs for the Penguins was Murray and there really is no question. It's hard to overlook a 15-6 record, a 2.08 GAA and a .923 save percentage, a Stanley Cup before just 19 days after your 22nd birthday and an NHL rookie record for wins in the playoffs, but somehow Crosby walked away with more hardware. He's important, no question, but Murray proved to be more valuable.
Coaching
Now to the real MVP of the Penguins. When the change was made behind the bench, it sparked a fire under this team like nobody's business. Mike Sullivan deserves as much credit as any player for that.
The captain of the team was reeling. There was defensive problems, goaltending problems, scoring problems, issues with effort and consistency that made the Penguins downright laughable. No one is laughing now.
Sullivan not only snapped the Penguins out of whatever funk they were in, he instituted that strong 200-foot game, tremendous work ethic and made the Penguins do it faster than before, to the point where no one could keep up with them. It was machine-like.
The Penguins were 15-10-3 when Mike Johnston was fired. New systems don't become effective overnight, so before the Penguins could get rolling, they had to fall farther. At the end of December, they really weren't much better, going 4-6-2 in Sullivan's first 12 games.
Before a 5-0 win over Carolina on Jan. 17, the Penguins were 20-16-7 with 39 games to go. They finished the season with a 28-10-1 record. From March 11 on, the Penguins lost two games in the final month of the regular season — a 3-0 defeat to the New Jersey Devils and the final game of the regular season, meaningless to them, a 3-1 loss in Philadelphia that clinched a playoff berth for the Flyers.
Management
Now to factor in Jim Rutherford's part. After winning the Cup, Rutherford gave a nod to those before him, Craig Patrick and Ray Shero, who helped construct the nucleus of the team.
But Rutherford's work this season was tireless and he pulled all the right strings to make the end result possible.
Among the acquisitions the team made from one year to the next: Nick Bonino, Eric Fehr, Carl Hagelin, Phil Kessel, Trevor Daley and Matt Cullen. Daley was acquired in December, Hagelin in January, Justin Schultz in February.
But the biggest move made here was the choice to move on from Johnston and turn to Sullivan. To move on from a coach with roughly one and a half seasons behind the bench is a tough thing for management to do. It essentially admits failure, but it was completely necessary for the Penguins.
Sullivan was hired as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach in the offseason. Half a season later, he was behind the bench in the NHL and ran with the opportunity.
Rutherford and the Penguins front office made a lot of moves in constructing such a solid team, but the move that really changed the game was the coaching change in December.
What the Flyers Can Learn
So now comes the part that applies to the Flyers and what can they learn from the Penguins championship season. For one, if it wasn't learned in the four games between the two teams this season, these weren't the same Penguins the Flyers had been used to seeing. For two seasons, the Penguins couldn't get a win against the Flyers. The Flyers brought out the worst in them. The tables turned this season, as a refined and polished Penguins team with tremendous composure showed just what they are capable of when the game doesn't get away.
Where do the Flyers need to improve? Quite frankly, everywhere. The Flyers have a nice goaltending situation to deal with, two capable starters. They have a host of goalies in development, potentially waiting to be the next Matt Murray. There are no problems there.
But offensively, the Flyers need the scoring depth. Now, for some of the Penguins, momentum breeds momentum. Matt Cullen is 39 years old and scored 16 goals this season. Production for players dips as age catches up. So not all of the Penguins who had stellar seasons are going to repeat it in the coming years. And that's where the Flyers meet their biggest problem.
This season was almost like a welcoming party for many young players. By the time the Stanley Cup Final hit and the regulars could really be determined, Pittsburgh had 10 players age 27 or younger with many more well below age 27 that didn't see regular time. Their depth is in great shape.
The Flyers, meanwhile, don't seem to have that forward group that appears to be the heir apparent. Draft weekend could change that. So could a little bit of spending room in free agency when the time is right.
Shayne Gostisbehere's great rookie season aside, the Flyers need to find that minutes logger and they may have him in Ivan Provorov. Provorov has top defensive pairing potential and could become to the Flyers blue line what Kris Letang is to the Penguins. When the Flyers needed big minutes from a defenseman this season, they also turned to Michael Del Zotto and that proved effective.
In a way, when you look at the Flyers right now, you see the Penguins from maybe three or four years ago. The young talent like Murray and Sheary didn't just develop overnight, but there was no rush with Crosby and Malkin producing night in and night out. The Flyers are working to get to that point, get that next class of talent to the NHL and make any waiting game feel effortless by the product on the ice already.
You look at what Jim Rutherford did and you wonder what Ron Hextall could do once the Flyers are in a position to make buying moves at the right price instead of constantly setting up the future. You look at Mike Sullivan and how quickly his system grew effective and you see the potential of Dave Hakstol and how the Flyers bought in.
The Flyers are there in a lot of ways. They possess the right qualities. But at the end of the day, it's not about what system you have, or what individuals you have. It's about the team. These weren't the same old Penguins. Because after years of being about individuals, many talented individuals, no one player stood out bigger than the other.
The Stanley Cup was rightfully awarded on Sunday to the best team in hockey this season.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
