VIDEO: Pittsburgh Penguins Repeat As Stanley Cup Champions, Sidney Crosby Playoff MVP

By  //  June 12, 2017

First back-to-back champs since 1997 & 98 Red Wings

ABOVE VIDEO: Highlights of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs Nashville Predators in the Stanley Cup Final, Game 6, Sunday night in Nashville, Tennessee. 

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE (FOX SPORTS)  – The Pittsburgh Penguins are the NHL’s first back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in nearly two decades.

The Penguins earned that distinction with a 2-0 victory in Nashville on Sunday, clinching the Stanley Cup Final, four games to two.

Patric Hornqvist’s goal with just over a minute and half left in regulation proved to be the game-winner, with Carl Hagelin’s empty-netter sealing the deal.

The final game of the season will be viewed by many as a controversial one, as the Predators were robbed of a goal when a referee prematurely blew play dead just before Nashville’s Colton Sissons scored what should have been the game’s opening tally.

Instead, the goal didn’t count and the Predators never found the back of the net again.

As a result, it’s the Penguins who raise the Stanley Cup for the second straight season, becoming the league’s first repeat champions since the 1997-1998 Detroit Red Wings.

It marks the third time that the Penguins have won the Cup in the Sidney Crosby era, and the franchise’s fifth championship overall.

The Penguins’ captain was named the Conn Smythe winner as the playoff MVP for the second consecutive year.

ABOVE VIDEO: NHL Referees blow a potential goal for Nashville dead in the opening minutes of second period in Game 6 because he lost sight of the puck.

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STATS TO KNOW 

The Penguins won their fifth Stanley Cup (also 1991, 1992, 2009 and 2016) – tied for the most by any non-Original Six team member. All of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup victories have come on the road – all since 1991, the most in the NHL in that span.

The Penguins, who defeated the Sharks in six games in last year’s Final, became the first team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions since the Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. Prior to Detroit, the last NHL club to repeat was Pittsburgh in 1991 and 1992.

Captain Sidney Crosby, who led the Stanley Cup Final with 1-6—7 and ranked second during the entirety of the postseason with 8-19—27 (24 GP), won his second straight Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to “the most valuable player to his team in the playoffs.” The winner was selected in a vote by a panel of the Professional Hockey Writers Association

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The Penguins won their fifth Stanley Cup (also 1991, 1992, 2009 and 2016) – tied for the most by any non-Original Six team member. All of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup victories have come on the road – all since 1991, the most in the NHL in that span. (NHL.com image)

Crosby became the sixth multiple winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy since it was first handed out in 1965 and the third to win it in consecutive seasons, joining Philadelphia’s Bernie Parent (1974 and 1975) and Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux (1991 and 1992).

Penguins goalie Matt Murray made 27 saves to record his second straight shutout and win his second Stanley Cup in as many NHL seasons.

No other goaltender in League history has won the Stanley Cup-clinching game in each of his first two seasons. In fact, only one other netminder – the Islanders’ Roland Melanson – captured the trophy in each of his first two NHL campaigns. Melanson did so in his first three seasons (1981, 1982 and 1983), but primarily served as the backup to teammate Billy Smith.

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