As a dedicated hockey fan, it’s easy to say that of all the major professional sports playoffs the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the NHL are the most competitive. But this year, there is no doubt that the build-up will be no more sensational than the games of the finals themselves.
When the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks lined up for Game 1 of the best-of-seven finals in Pittsburgh Monday night, true hockey fans had good reason to anticipate a standout series. Pittsburgh, which had faded a bit when the attack became Sidney Crosby & Co., has done an excellent job of bringing back the team concept to the Penguins.

Four solid lines, strong defense and impressive goaltending all came together after a pretty good regular season to carry the Penguins past three strong opponents, including regular-season champion Washington and then Tampa Bay to win the Eastern Conference.

And with their new-found balance, Sidney Crosby will not let anyone forget just who’s team the Penguins are. Crosby played brilliantly against Tampa, and opened the Cup final with a scintillating performance against the Sharks. Evgeny Malkin has always played a stalwart supporter to Crosby, but this time he’s going to have to be at the top of his game to stay on the same scoresheet. Rookie goaltender Matt Murray has been so good as an emergency fill-in for Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion) that he’s won the job and played brilliantly.
San Jose, on the other hand, comes into the finals as a great unknown to all those other than believers in the NHL’s late-night California powerhouses. The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings have previously risen to surprise hockey fans with their skill level at playoff time, but the Sharks had remained frustrated entries that were capable of strong play all season year after year, without ever getting to the finals.

Make no mistake, there is not a better passer than Joe Thornton, a giant playmaker who can skate, score, defend, and make spectacular passes that are sometimes subtle that it takes slow-mo to realize that they must have had radar guidance to get through sticks and legs and make it to the assigned receiver – often for a goal. Brent Burns, the former Wild prodigy, had to go to San Jose to mature and become a big-time star, and he didn’t really emerge until San Jose general manager Doug Wilson went out and obtained former Elk River, Gopher and Penguin defenseman Paul Martin to pair with Burns.

If Thornton is the best passer in hockey, you could make the case that, right now, Brent Burns is the best defenseman. There are a lot of outstanding candidates to be the best defenseman in the NHL, but right now, Burns has my vote. A swift giant, he is a mercurial performer who has a cannon from the point but plays like a wild card – darting in to join rushes and forecheck as a fourth attacker, yet recovering so swiftly that he seems to beat all counter-attacks back to the Sharks zone. In Game 1, he chased down a Pittsburgh skater who appeared to be in free on a breakaway, then snaked his stick around to deftly swipe the puck without ever even bumping his adversary.

Sharks coach Pete DeBoer has supplied the perfect touch to unify this gang that also includes Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau into a constantly hustling and overachieving threat to go all the way in front of young goaltender Marty Jones. They play all four lines and three sets of defense and never seem to break stride or show exhaustion as they dominate third periods in virtually every game. After the St. Louis Blues took out Dallas to become the odds-on favorite to win the West’s berth in the finals, the Sharks took everything the Blues could throw at them and beat them in six.

Mike Sullivan took over the Penguins coaching duties when Mike Johnston was fired in December, and he pulled everything together to get the Penguins all pulling together. Another key part is Matt Cullen, who, like Burns, is a former Wild skater. Cullen, former state high school star at Moorhead and college star at St. Cloud State, has been a pivotal performer at age 39.

With all that setting the stage for the finals, Pittsburgh played up the home–ice advantage to the hilt in Game 1 – nearly blowing the Sharks out of town with a 2-0 first period lead on goals by rookies Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary that was the reward for a 15-4 bulge in shots. The second goal was classic Sidney Crosby, as he sped up the left boards deep, after the puck, got it and whirled for a tight 180 that required him to put his left fingertips down like an outrigger canoe so he could keep his balance. Immediately, he fed a perfect pass across the slot to Sheary for the 2-0 goal.

San Jose, however, came back and got almost all the good shots early in the second, rallying for a 2-2 tie, with Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau scoring. The game raged back and forth, a tribute to speed and skill, until only 2:33 remained. Then Nick Bonino got free in the slot and scored a goal that was late enough to prevent the Sharks from mounting a strong closing rush.

If you’re saving space for a video scrapbook, reserve spots from Game 1 the fabulous set-up by Sidney Crosby on the second Penguin goal, and the amazing catch-and-steal by Brent Burns to prevent a Pittburgh breakaway.

The second game was also in Pittsburgh, Wednesday night, before the teams head for San Jose and the Shark Tank. Hockey doesn’t get much better than what we saw in Game 1, and the long-suffering Sharks fans deserve to celebrate their team’s arrival. For us true hockey fans, we can only hope the series goes the full seven.