Penguins take Game 1 vs. Sharks on Bonino’s late goal PITTSBURGH – Nick Bonino’s goal with 2:33 left in third period gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Kris Letang’s pass form the corner found Bonino in front of Martin Jones (38 saves), and he knocked the puck past the Sharks’ goalie for his fourth of the playoffs at 17:27. … [Read more...]

Sharks vs. Penguins: Stanley Cup Final Game 1 Live Blog 9:54 p.m. ET: Brent Burns rips a shot toward the net off a feed from Logan Couture. Patrick Marleau corrals the rebound and warps it around on Matt Murray. It's now 2-2 with under two minutes to go in the first period.  9:53 p.m. ET: "Joe Thornton with that magnificent beard from the Charles Dickens era" - Doc Emrick  9:47 p.m. … [Read more...]

Dainius Zubrus hoping third trip to Stanley Cup Final is the charm PITTSBURGH – While Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks are experiencing their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final, teammate Dainius Zubrus is back for a third time. A year after he was taken in the first round of the 1996 NHL Draft, Zubrus was playing in the Final as a fresh-faced rookie for the … [Read more...]

What We Learned: Oblivious suckers of the NHL offseason (Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.) The NHL is smarter now than it has ever been. Teams use advanced data of many different stripes to try … [Read more...]

Stanley Cup Final Preview: Who has the better goaltending? Leading up to Monday's Game 1, Puck Daddy is previewing every facet of the Stanley Cup Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the San Jose Sharks — on the ice and off the ice. PITTSBURGH As of early February, Matt Murray was still playing AHL hockey for the Penguins’ minor league affiliate in Wilkes-Barre. A little over two months … [Read more...]

Stanley Cup Final Preview: Who has the better aesthetics? Leading up to Monday's Game 1, Puck Daddy is previewing every facet of the Stanley Cup Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the San Jose Sharks — on the ice and off the ice. ANTHEM SINGER The San Jose Sharks don't have a dedicated anthem singer. Instead, they rotate through local singers and occasionally the notable guest singer. … [Read more...]

Stanley Cup Final Preview: Who has the better defense? The San Jose Sharks and the Pittsburgh Penguins are both known for the blazing team speed. That doesn’t just go for their scoring prowess, but also their defense. The Sharks’ team goals-against average for the playoffs is 2.28, while the Penguins is 2.39. The Sharks have given up 41 goals against to the Penguins’ 43. Both teams like to … [Read more...]

Eulogy: Remembering the 2015-16 St. Louis Blues (Ed. Note: As the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue, we're bound to lose some friends along the journey. We've asked for these losers, gone but not forgotten, to be eulogized by the people who knew the teams best: The bloggers and fans who hated them the most. Here are the Chicago Blackhawks bloggers of The Committed Indian, fondly recalling the … [Read more...]

David Backes reveals the ‘something’ Steve Ott gave him that wasn't PEDs David Backes of the St. Louis Blues gave one of the most emotional postgame interviews in recent memory after the San Jose Sharks eliminated them in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final.  His face was haggard. His eyes were red with tears. His voice cracked. And he wanted to take a moment to thank a teammate. “He’ll … [Read more...]

Stanley Cup Final Preview: Who has the better celebrity fans? Leading up to Monday's Game 1, Puck Daddy is previewing every facet of the Stanley Cup Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the San Jose Sharks — on the ice and off the ice. Celebrity sports fans are like super delegates in a presidential election. They don't have to show up for anything but the main event, and people will … [Read more...]