Sidney Crosby Jersey
Sidney Crosby JerseyAt the outset of the 2008 months, there weren't many who would have thought the Pittsburgh Penguins would the team to beat inside NHL. Certain, they had a great crop of players and also the heroic ownership represented as a result of Mario Lemieux, but this was a team still finding its wings. Future superstars abound, nevertheless making the playoffs together with performing respectably was a superb goal to have.
But which wasn't enough for a lot of these Pens. They made it all the way to the Stanley Mug finals, tantalizingly in close proximity to putting the finishing touches to the Cinderella story.
The Penguins had a superb unit of players. Positive, everyone had heard of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who have been battling it for your NHL scoring race. Nevertheless players like Marc Andre Fleury and Jordan Staal were the key to their success in the first taste of play-off accomplishment. How quickly the Penguins had emerged from the dark days of 60 loss seasons, to your post lock-out spending spree ended up wrong, to just about the best team in the league.
We've seen Cinderella's come close, and never to return to your dance again. There was clearly Anaheim in 2004 when they lost to New Jersey in 7 games. That's as close as we can come, in advance of hoisting the cup which has a different cast in 2007. That Buffalo Sabres losing to the Dallas Stars in 1999, and never competing again, their team dismantled in the process. Would the same happen to Pittsburgh after losing to the Detroit Red Wings within 2008?
Not by the long shot. While every great team that pertains to the brink of a championship has to be lead by tremendous performances of skill but will, Sidney Crosby has an other-worldly glow associated with him. He is the "Next-One" after all, together with he's been breaking reports since before he was at the NHL, or simply declared for the draft. Winning a Hart Trophy with 20, leading a great turnaround story of the Penguins organization, were already great feats.
But stars are ultimately measured by team hardware, and that means championships. Your Stanley Cup.
After unusual many observers by getting to the Cup Final which means that soon, this Penguins were rather disappointing early in 2008-09 months. Inconsistent play, bad special teams, and injuries had the Writing instruments reeling, in danger of missing the play-offs let alone being a contender. A mid season change behind the bench to bring in Dan Bylsma was a jolt in the arm they needed.
Sidney Crosby can have finished behind Evgeni Malkin in league scoring, but there would be no doubt where their focus was heading in the "second" season.
First in place were the Philadelphia Flyers, and they proved not be a formidable challenge especially as compared to their much more ruckus selection in 2008. The Penguins handily removed the Flyers and were on to Round 2.
That contest proved to be much more challenging. This Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin looked forward to them. This was what the NHL and hockey fans were just dreaming of when Ovechkin together with Crosby first entered this league in 2005.