Tonight the Pittsburgh Penguins will look to close out the San Jose Sharks to capture their fourth Stanley Cup in the franchise's history. It also happens to be the seventh anniversary of their last Cup win over the Detroit Red Wings in 2009. That series also began on May 30th like the current series did. Will it end on the same date as well?
This year's Stanley Cup Final has some similarities to both the 2008 and 2009 Final, except this time around it is Pittsburgh playing the role of the powerhouse.
Looking back at 2009 it was Pittsburgh who was the heavy underdog in the series and were fortunate enough to come out on top after losing the previous year to the same Red Wings. Pittsburgh only controlled 46.53% of the play against Detroit in 2009 yet still somehow found a way to win the series. I thought Pittsburgh was lucky to win against that Detroit team. Having the 22ish year old versions of both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin doing the heavy lifting was a very nice luxury to have. The Sharks don't have anything like that at their disposal.
So far in this year's Stanley Cup Final San Jose has only controlled 41.41% of play at even-strength. They will be looking to extend the series to a Game 7 just like the 2008 Penguins.
The 2008 version of the Penguins only controlled a woeful 35.77% against Detroit in the 2008 Final and despite being dominated they somehow found their way to a sixth game. Only Marc-Andre Fleury's career best run was able to thwart Pittsburgh being ousted sooner. The same could be said about this year's Sharks and Martin Jones. The Sharks have been dominated and Martin Jones has bought his team more time to try and figure it out. Will possession domination win out again just like in 2008?
If I were a betting man I would go with the Penguins playing the role of the 2008 Red Wings and the Sharks as the 2008 Penguins. The likelihood of winning four games before your opponent does when being crushed on the possession front isn't a likely outcome (didn't say impossible).
The Penguins should feel confident entering Game 6. They have been the significantly better team in the series. They believe in their process and that process should yield a victory before the Sharks earn two more.
There really isn't much more to analyze. Everything that has needed to be said has already been said.
Pittsburgh continue to dominate possession.
Matt Murray be better than below average
San Jose make the most of your limited high danger chances
Martin Jones continue to sparkle.
The only thing left to do is watch it unfold.
Happy anniversary.
Thanks for reading!