2016 Stanley Cup Finals

The 2016 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the 2015-16 NHL season and the culmination of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This was the 123rd year of the Stanley Cup's presentation.

The Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks four games to two to win their fourth championship in franchise history (all of them on the road). The Penguins had home ice advantage in the series, being the club with the better regular season record.

The series began on May 30, 2016 and concluded on June 12, 2016.

This was the first Stanley Cup Final since 2007 to feature a team making their first appearance in the Finals in their club history. The Eastern Conference team had home-ice advantage in the Final in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2004 and 2006 Finals.

For the first time since 2011, an Eastern Conference team won the Stanley Cup. Also for the first time since 2011, neither the Chicago Blackhawks or the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup.

Teams

Pittsburgh Penguins

This was Pittsburgh's fifth Finals appearance, the first since winning the Cup in 2009, and 25 years after their first Stanley Cup winning season in 1991.

Since their win in 2009, the Penguins lost in the Conference Finals in 2013 in four games to the Boston Bruins and were eliminated twice by the New York Rangers in 2014 and 2015.

The Penguins made major trades during the off-season, receiving forwards Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino to improve their offense.

Pittsburgh entered the 2015–16 season re-signing defenceman Olli Maatta and forward Bryan Rust. In free agency, the Penguins were able to sign centres Matt Cullen and Eric Fehr.

During the season, the Penguins fired their coach Mike Johnston on December 12, 2015 after compiling a 15–10–3 record. Pittsburgh replaced him with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach Mike Sullivan who went 33–16–5.

The Penguins made two major trades before the trade deadline, receiving defenceman Trevor Daley and forward Carl Hagelin.

After goalie Marc-Andre Fleury suffered a concussion on April 2, the team turned to rookie Matt Murray for the final week of the regular season and throughout the playoffs.

Pittsburgh earned 104 points (48 wins, 26 losses, and eight overtime losses) during the regular season to finish second in the Metropolitan Division.

Centre and team captain Sidney Crosby led the club in scoring during the regular season and finished third in the league with 85 points.

During the playoffs, the Penguins eliminated the New York Rangers in five games after being defeated consecutively by them in 2014 and 2015, defeated the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals in six games and extinguished the defending Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the Conference Final in seven games.

San Jose Sharks

This was San Jose's first Finals appearance in their 25-year history.

During the off-season the Sharks hired former New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer to replace Todd McLellan. The Sharks also traded for goalie Martin Jones, the former Los Angeles Kings backup goalie.

The Sharks also picked up defenceman Paul Martin & right wingers Joel Ward and Dainius Zubrus via free agency.

Before the trade deadline, the Sharks acquired forward Nick Spaling, defenceman Roman Polak as well as goalie James Reimer to help improve defensively.

San Jose earned 98 points (46 wins, 30 losses, six overtime losses) to finish third in the Pacific Division.

Centre Joe Thornton led the club in scoring with 82 points, and finished tied for fourth in the League, followed closely by centre and team captain Joe Pavelski with 78 points and defenceman Brent Burns with 75 points.

In the playoffs, San Jose avenged their previous loss to the Los Angeles Kings in 2014, in which they gave up a 3–0 series lead, by defeating the Kings in five games.

San Jose also eliminated the Nashville Predators in seven games, winning every home game in the series, then defeated the St. Louis Blues in the Conference Final in six games.

Series

Game one

In game one, it remained scoreless until both Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary scored a minute apart for the Penguins midway in the first period.

San Jose came back in the second period with a power play goal by Tomas Hertl at 3:02 and the tying goal by Patrick Marleau at 18:12.

The score remained tied 2–2 through most of the third period even with the Penguins firing off 18 shots on goal and it appeared that the game would go into overtime.

However, Nick Bonino's goal at 17:27 gave the Penguins the lead, after receiving a pass from Kris Letang that went past the Sharks' defencemen Brent Burns (who had just moments earlier lost his stick) and Paul Martin.

The Penguins held off the Sharks in the final minutes to take game one 3–2.

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	PIT	Bryan Rust (6)	Justin Schultz (3) and Chris Kunitz (7)	12:46	1–0 PIT
	PIT	Conor Sheary (3)	Sidney Crosby (10) and Olli Maatta (5)	13:48	2–0 PIT
2nd	SJ	Tomas Hertl (6) – pp	Joonas Donskoi (5) and Brent Burns (15)	3:02	2–1 PIT
	SJ	Patrick Marleau (5)	Brent Burns (16) and Logan Couture (17)	18:12	2–2
3rd	PIT	Nick Bonino (4)	Kris Letang (9) and Carl Hagelin (8)	17:27	3–2 PIT
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	SJ	Dainius Zubrus	High Sticking	8:54	2:00
2nd	PIT	Ian Cole	Hooking	1:14	2:00
	SJ	Joe Pavelski	Tripping	18:52	2:00
	SJ	Joe Thornton	Roughing	18:52	2:00
	PIT	Evgeni Malkin	Slashing	18:52	2:00
3rd	SJ	Patrick Marleau	Illegal Check to Head	4:47	2:00
	PIT	Ben Lovejoy	Hooking	17:51	2:00

Shots by period
Team	1	2	3	Total
San Jose	4	13	9	26
Pittsburgh	15	8	18	41

Game two

In game two, eleven and six shots were taken for the Penguins and Sharks respectively in the first period, but no goals were scored.

In the second period, a series of mistakes led to a Penguins goal starting first with defenceman Roman Polak of the Sharks almost giving it away to Phil Kessel, then Brenden Dillon got stripped of the puck by Carl Hagelin who gave it to Nick Bonino for a tip-in by Kessel.

The Sharks were able to tie the game late in the third on a goal by Justin Braun to send the game into overtime.

Early in overtime, a quick shot by Conor Sheary got past the Sharks goaltender Martin Jones to give the Penguins a 2–0 series lead.

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	None
2nd	PIT	Phil Kessel (10)	Nick Bonino (13) and Carl Hagelin (9)	8:20	1–0 PIT
3rd	SJ	Justin Braun (1)	Logan Couture (18) and Joel Ward (6)	15:55	1–1
OT	PIT	Conor Sheary (4)	Kris Letang (10) and Sidney Crosby (11)	2:35	2–1 PIT
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	SJ	Paul Martin	Delay of Game (Puck over Glass)	12:09	2:00
2nd	SJ	Paul Martin	High-sticking	8:50	2:00
	PIT	Ian Cole	Interference	18:49	2:00
3rd	None
OT	None

Shots by period
Team	1	2	3	OT	Total
San Jose	6	5	9	2	22
Pittsburgh	11	12	6	1	30

Game three

In game three, Ben Lovejoy started off the scoring at 5:29 of the first period after his shot got deflected in off Sharks defenceman Roman Polak.

The Sharks tied it up at 9:34 on Justin Braun's goal after receiving a pass from Joe Thornton. The Penguins got their second lead in the game in the second period with Ben Lovejoy's point shot being tipped in off forward Patric Hornqvist's stick.

In the third period, Penguins forward Nick Bonino high-sticked Thornton (resulting in some blood being spilled) causing a four-minute power play for the Sharks.

In the dying seconds of the power play, Joel Ward fired a slap shot that got past Matt Murray. In overtime, Joonas Donskoi fired a shot that went high over Murray into the net for the game winner.

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	PIT	Ben Lovejoy (2)	Unassisted	5:29	1–0 PIT
	SJ	Justin Braun (2)	Joe Thornton (16) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (11)	9:34	1–1
2nd	PIT	Patric Hornqvist (8)	Ben Lovejoy (4) and Olli Maatta (6)	19:07	2–1 PIT
3rd	SJ	Joel Ward (7)	Joonas Donskoi (6) and Joe Thornton (17)	8:48	2–2
OT	SJ	Joonas Donskoi (6)	Chris Tierney (3)	12:18	3–2 SJ
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	SJ	Joel Ward	High-sticking	2:58	2:00
2nd	PIT	Carl Hagelin	Tripping	10:39	2:00
3rd	PIT	Nick Bonino	High-sticking (double-minor)	4:48	4:00
OT	None

Shots by period
Team	1	2	3	OT	Total
Pittsburgh	14	6	13	9	42
San Jose	6	9	7	4	26

SaveSave

Game four

The Penguins scored first for the seventh consecutive game; at 7:36 of the first period, after receiving a pass from Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel sped into the Sharks zone and fired a shot that rebounded off Martin Jones onto Ian Cole's stick for his first playoff goal.

In the second period, Sharks forward Melker Karlsson got called for interference against Eric Fehr and on the ensuing power play, Malkin tipped in a shot by Kessel for the Penguins' second goal. During the third period, Karlsson was able to cut the deficit to one at 8:07.

However, the Penguins were able to regain a two-goal lead with 2:02 left when Carl Hagelin received a chip pass from Olli Maatta then gave it to Eric Fehr who fired a snap shot past Jones.

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	PIT	Ian Cole (1)	Phil Kessel (10) and Evgeni Malkin (12)	7:36	1–0 PIT
2nd	PIT	Evgeni Malkin (5)	Phil Kessel (11) and Kris Letang (11)	2:37	2–0 PIT
3rd	SJ	Melker Karlsson (4)	Chris Tierney (4) and Brenden Dillon (1)	8:07	2–1 PIT
	PIT	Eric Fehr (3)	Carl Hagelin (10) and Olli Maatta (7)	17:58	3–1 PIT
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	SJ	Marc-Edouard Vlasic	Interference	11:37	2:00
	PIT	Ben Lovejoy	Holding the stick	14:45	2:00
2nd	SJ	Melker Karlsson	Interference	2:28	2:00
	PIT	Bryan Rust	Hooking	17:33	2:00
3rd	None

Shots by period
Team	1	2	3	Total
Pittsburgh	6	7	7	20
San Jose	8	4	12	24

SaveSave

Game five

In game five, four goals were scored in the first 5:06 of the game.

Brent Burns started the scoring at 1:04 slipping it past the Penguins goaltender on the right post after receiving a pass from Melker Karlsson.

For the Sharks, it was their first lead in the Finals during regulation. At 2:53, the Sharks scored their second goal; this time Logan Couture scored the goal, deflecting a shot by Justin Braun.

Less than two minutes later, Sharks forward Dainius Zubrus got called for a delay of game after shooting the puck over the glass.

On the ensuing power play, Evgeni Malkin's shot got deflected off Braun's skate, cutting the deficit to 2–1. Twenty-two seconds later, Brenden Dillon gave away the puck to Nick Bonino who shot it on goal then getting deflected in by Carl Hagelin.

In the middle of the first period on the power play, the Penguins shot once on the crossbar and Phil Kessel's shot went off both posts but stayed out. Later in the period, Dillon passed down low for Couture who sauced a backhand pass for Karlsson's goal to regain the lead for the Sharks.

The Sharks then played defensively throughout the second and third period with goaltender Martin Jones stopping all 31 shots. Joe Pavelski provided an empty-net goal to force a sixth game.

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	SJ	Brent Burns (7)	Melker Karlsson (2) and Logan Couture (19)	1:04	1–0 SJ
	SJ	Logan Couture (9)	Justin Braun (5)	2:53	2–0 SJ
	PIT	Evgeni Malkin (6) – pp	Phil Kessel (12) and Kris Letang (12)	4:44	2–1 SJ
	PIT	Carl Hagelin (6)	Nick Bonino (14)	5:06	2–2
	SJ	Melker Karlsson (5)	Logan Couture (20) and Brenden Dillon (2)	14:47	3–2 SJ
2nd	None
3rd	SJ	Joe Pavelski (14) – en	Joe Thornton (18)	18:40	4–2 SJ
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	SJ	Danius Zubrus	Delay of game (shot puck over glass)	4:21	2:00
	SJ	Brent Burns	High-sticking	8:18	2:00
2nd	PIT	Bench (served by Phil Kessel)	Too many men on ice	5:58	2:00
	SJ	Melker Karlsson	Slashing	10:30	2:00
3rd	PIT	Carl Hagelin	Hooking	14:04	2:00
	PIT	Sidney Crosby	Roughing	19:56	2:00
	SJ	Melker Karlsson	Roughing	19:56	2:00

Shots by period
Team	1	2	3	Total
San Jose	7	8	7	22
Pittsburgh	15	17	14	46

Game six

In game six, Brian Dumoulin started the scoring for Pittsburgh on the power play, taking a pass Justin Schultz and Chris Kunitz.

In the second period, San Jose tied it up as Logan Couture took a pass from Melker Karlsson and fired a shot past Matt Murray.

A little over a minute later though, Pittsburgh took the lead again as a shot by Kris Letang ricocheted off Sharks goaltender Martin Jones into the net.

The Penguins played defensively in the third period, limiting the shots by the Sharks to two. The Penguins got an empty-net goal by Patric Hornqvist as insurance.

The Pittsburgh Penguins won their fourth Stanley Cup in their franchise history, winning all on the road.

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	PIT	Brian Dumoulin (2) – pp	Justin Schultz (4) and Chris Kunitz (8)	8:16	1–0 PIT
2nd	SJ	Logan Couture (10)	Melker Karlsson (3) and Brent Burns (17)	6:27	1–1
	PIT	Kris Letang (3)	Sidney Crosby (12) and Conor Sheary (6)	7:46	2–1 PIT
3rd	PIT	Patric Hornqvist (9) – en	Sidney Crosby (13)	18:50	3–1 PIT
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	SJ	Dainius Zubrus	Tripping	7:50	2:00
2nd	None
3rd	PIT	Conor Sheary	Hooking	5:26	2:00
	SJ	Brent Burns	Slashing	11:02	2:00
	PIT	Eric Fehr	High-sticking	19:50	2:00

Shots by period
Team	1	2	3	Total
Pittsburgh	9	11	7	27
San Jose	4	13	2	19

Rosters

Pittsburgh Penguins

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Age	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
19		Beau Bennett	RW	R	Template:Hs24	2010	Gardena, California	first
13		Nick Bonino	C	L	Template:Hs28	2015	Hartford, Connecticut	first
28		Ian Cole	D	L	Template:Hs27	2015	Ann Arbor, Michigan	first
87		Sidney Crosby  – C	C	L	Template:Hs28	2005	Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia	third (2008, 2009)
7		Matt Cullen	C	L	Template:Hs39	2015	Virginia, Minnesota	second (2006)
6		Trevor Daley	D	L	Template:Hs32	2015	Toronto, Ontario	first
8		Brian Dumoulin	D	L	Template:Hs24	2012	Biddeford, Maine	first
16		Eric Fehr	C/RW	R	Template:Hs30	2015	Winkler, Manitoba	first
29		Marc-Andre Fleury	G	L	Template:Hs31	2003	Sorel-Tracy, Quebec	third (2008, 2009)
62	Template:Country data SWE	Carl Hagelin	LW	L	Template:Hs27	2016	Södertälje, Sweden	second (2014)
72	Template:Country data SWE	Patric Hornqvist	RW	R	Template:Hs27	2014	Sollentuna, Sweden	first
81		Phil Kessel	RW	R	Template:Hs28	2015	Madison, Wisconsin	first
34	Template:Country data GER	Tom Kuhnhackl	LW	L	Template:Hs24	2010	Landshut, Germany	first
14		Chris Kunitz  – A	LW	L	Template:Hs36	2009	Regina, Saskatchewan	third (2007, 2009)
58		Kris Letang	D	R	Template:Hs29	2005	Montreal, Quebec	third (2008, 2009)
12		Ben Lovejoy	D	R	Template:Hs32	2015	Concord, New Hampshire	second (2009)
3	Template:Country data FIN	Olli Maatta	D	L	Template:Hs21	2012	Jyväskylä, Finland	first
71	Template:Country data RUS	Evgeni Malkin  – A	C	L	Template:Hs29	2004	Magnitogorsk, Soviet Union	third (2008, 2009)
30		Murray, MattMatt Murray	G	L	Template:Hs22	2012	Thunder Bay, Ontario	first
51		Derrick Pouliot	D	L	Template:Hs22	2012	Estevan, Saskatchewan	first
17		Bryan Rust	RW	R	Template:Hs24	2010	Pontiac, Michigan	first
4		Justin Schultz	D	R	Template:Hs25	2016	Kelowna, British Columbia	first
43		Conor Sheary	LW	L	Template:Hs23	2015	Melrose, Massachusetts	first
40	Template:Country data SWE	Oskar Sundqvist	C/RW	R	Template:Hs22	2012	Boden, Sweden	first
37		Jeff Zatkoff	G	L	Template:Hs28	2012	Detroit, Michigan	first

San Jose Sharks

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Age	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
61		Justin Braun	D	R	Template:Hs29	2007	St. Paul, Minnesota	first
88		Brent Burns	D	R	Template:Hs31	2011	Barrie, Ontario	first
39		Logan Couture  – A	C	L	Template:Hs27	2007	Guelph, Ontario	first
4		Brenden Dillon	D	L	Template:Hs25	2014	New Westminster, British Columbia	first
27	Template:Country data FIN	Joonas Donskoi	RW	R	Template:Hs24	2015	Raahe, Finland	first
48		Tomas Hertl	LW	L	Template:Hs22	2012	Prague, Czech Republic	first
31		Martin Jones	G	L	Template:Hs26	2015	North Vancouver, British Columbia	second (2014)
68	Template:Country data SWE	Melker Karlsson	C/RW	R	Template:Hs25	2014	Lycksele, Sweden	first
12		Patrick Marleau	LW	L	Template:Hs36	1997	Swift Current, Saskatchewan	first
7		Paul Martin	D	L	Template:Hs35	2015	Elk River, Minnesota	first
83		Matthew Nieto	LW	L	Template:Hs23	2011	Long Beach, California	first
8		Pavelski, JoeJoe Pavelski – C	C	R	Template:Hs31	2003	Plover, Wisconsin	first
46		Roman Polak	D	R	Template:Hs30	2016	Ostrava, Czechoslovakia	first
34		James Reimer	G	L	Template:Hs28	2016	Morweena, Manitoba	first
16		Nick Spaling	C	L	Template:Hs27	2016	Palmerston, Ontario	first
19		Joe Thornton  – A	C	L	Template:Hs36	2005	London, Ontario	first
50		Chris Tierney	C	L	Template:Hs21	2012	Keswick, Ontario	first
44		Marc-Edouard Vlasic	D	L	Template:Hs29	2005	Montreal, Quebec	first
42		Joel Ward	RW	R	Template:Hs35	2015	North York, Ontario	first
57		Tommy Wingels	RW/C	R	Template:Hs28	2008	Evanston, Illinois	first
9	Template:Country data LTU	Dainius Zubrus	C/RW	L	Template:Hs37	2015	Elektrėnai, Lithuanian SSR	third (1997, 2012)

Pittsburgh Penguins: 2016 Stanley Cup Champions

The 2016 Stanley Cup was presented to Penguins captain Sidney Crosby by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman following the Penguins' 3–1 win over the Sharks in game six.

Defencemen

1. 3 Olli Maatta
2. 4 Justin Schultz
3. 6 Trevor Daley
4. 8 Brian Dumoulin
5. 12 Ben Lovejoy
6. 28 Ian Cole
7. 58 Kris Letang

Wingers

1. 14 Chris Kunitz (A)
2. 17 Bryan Rust
3. 19 Beau Bennett
4. 34 Tom Kuhnhackl
5. 43 Conor Sheary
6. 62 Carl Hagelin
7. 72 Patric Hornqvist
8. 81 Phil Kessel

Centres

1. 7 Matt Cullen
2. 13 Nick Bonino
3. 16 Eric Fehr1
4. 40 Oskar Sundqvist1
5. 71 Evgeni Malkin (A)
6. 87 Sidney Crosby (C)

Goaltenders

1. 29 Marc-Andre Fleury
2. 30 Matt Murray
3. 37 Jeff Zatkoff

Coaching and Administrative Staff

• Mario Lemieux (Chairman/Co-Owner/Alt. Governor), Ronald Burkle (Co-Owner/Alt. Governor), David Morehouse (President/Governor), Travis Williams (Chief Operating Officer/Alt. Governor), Tony Liberati (Director/Alt. Governor), Jim Rutherford (Exe. Vice President/General Manager),
• Jason Botterill (Asst. General Manager), Bill Guerin (Asst. General Manager), Jason Karmoas (Vice President of Hockey Operations),
• Mike Sullivan (Head Coach), Rick Tocchet (Asst. Coach), Jacques Martin (Asst. Coach), Mike Bales (Goaltending Coach),
• Mark Recchi (Player Development Coach), Sergei Gonchar (Defensemen Development Coach), *Andy Sauceir (Video Coach), Jim Britt (Director of Team Operations)
• Dan MacKinnon (Director of Player Personnel), Randy Sexton (Director of Amateur Scouting), Derek Clancey (Director of Pro Scouting),
• Patrik Alivin (Head European Scout), Alex Trinca (Strength & Conditioning Coach), Chris Stewart (Athletic Trainer), Curtis Bell (Asst. Athletic Trainer),
• Patrick Steidle (Asst. Athlectic Trainer), Rick Jozeitz (Physical Therapist), Dana Heinze (Equipment Manager),
• Teddy Richars (Asst. Equipment Manager), Danny Kroll (Asst. Equipment Manager).

Television and Radio

In the United States, the Stanley Cup Finals was split between NBC and NBCSN.

NBCSN aired two games of the series while NBC aired the other five (if necessary).

On May 27, 2016, NBC Sports announced that if the series was tied at 1-1 entering Game 3, then it would have aired on NBC and Game 4 televised on NBCSN.

However, if one team led 2-0 (as this eventually happened), Game 3 moved to NBCSN and then Game 4 on NBC. The games were broadcast nationally on radio via the NBC Sports Radio network.

In Canada, the series aired on CBC Television (through "Hockey Night in Canada" as produced by Sportsnet through a brokerage agreement) in English and TVA Sports in French.