The Sharks made it to the first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history by rebuilding themselves on the fly. “They played their game for longer stretches than we did and that’s what happens,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. Marleau and Tomas Hertl scored during San Jose’s dominant second period, but the Sharks spent a large portion of the third period on their heels and their dynamic power play failed to record a single shot when Ben Lovejoy went to the penalty box with 2:09 to play. The Penguins threw 41 shots at Jones, the most he has faced in a regulation game during the playoffs. Jones made 38 stops but couldn’t get over in time on Bonino’s knuckler. Matt Murray - who like Rust and Sheary spent a significant amount of time this season with the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - finished with 24 saves. Rookies Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary also scored for the Penguins, though Rust left in the third period after absorbing a shot to the head from San Jose’s Patrick Marleau. It seems like we find a way to win when he scores.” “Any time you’re in the slot, get him the puck. “He does all the things right and found himself in a great position and capitalized on it,” Pittsburgh forward Chris Kunitz said. Yet it was Bonino, whose hockey IQ is considered his greatest attribute by Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan, who scored the group’s biggest goal of the postseason. Dubbed “HBK” - a chant that occasionally greets them when they flip over the boards and onto the ice - they have powered the Penguins to their first Cup Final in seven years. “It was a shot that wasn’t my hardest shot by any means but I kind of found a way to flip it over him.”īonino has spent much of the last two months as the heady, understated center on Pittsburgh’s hottest line while playing between hard-shooting Phil Kessel and Hagelin. “Tanger put it right on my stick,” Bonino said. Letang and Carl Hagelin took turns digging the puck out of the corner behind the San Jose net when Letang emerged with it and slipped it to Bonino, who collected himself and flicked it past Martin Jones’ blocker for his fourth goal of the playoffs. Pittsburgh recovered after blowing an early two-goal lead and spoiled San Jose’s long-awaited debut on the league’s biggest stage. ![]() Those instincts, honed from years of finding order in the middle of chaos, lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins to the early lead in the Stanley Cup Final.īonino darted to the net and knocked in Kris Letang’s centering pass with 2:33 remaining, lifting the Penguins to a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 on Monday night. The rugged forward has etched out a career making a living in tight spaces, putting his body in places on the ice that aren’t for the meek. Thatchy beard that juts out well below his chinstrap.
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