Kovacevic: This group more gifted than champs

Conor Sheary stumbled over the response for a second.

Which was hilarious, really.

It was mere minutes after the Penguins' latest thrilling-if-not-for-the-start rally, a 4-3 popping of Buffalo's balloon Sunday afternoon. And it was two Sheary moments that mostly made it happen, his tying assist on Jake Guentzel's shoulder-high tip tying the score with 3:46 remaining and his precision finish of Justin Schultz's preposterous shot-pass winning it at the 2:54 mark:



Drop-dead gorgeous, right?

Probably one of the prettiest pure-passing goals scored anywhere in the NHL all winter.

And yet, when I'd asked Sheary what exactly he shouted across the rink to Schultz, who'd independently tell me he was already in the act of shooting from those right boards, the kid drew a blank.



"Honestly, I ... ," Sheary tried with a small smile. "I just yelled."

OK, but yelled what?

"I'm not sure."

Schultz's name or nickname, maybe?

"Yeah! That was it! I just yelled out, 'Schultz-ie!' "

He then shook his head a bit.

"But I don't really think it would have mattered much what I yelled. When you're out there with a player like that, someone who sees the rink like he does, you just get yourself into position and wait."

Wait for something great, he means. Expect the best possible outcome.

That's when it hit me, undoubtedly as hard as at any point all winter: This team is more talented than that team.

Yeah, I know, there are a ton of additional variables between these Penguins and those who raised the Stanley Cup in San Jose. These Penguins occasionally look out of sync or out of breath, as we witnessed again on this day, with the still-rebuilding Sabres somehow running up 49 total shots and a quick 3-0 lead. That's partly understandable, given that those Penguins logged 106 hockey games in 2015-16. But it's also inexplicable at times. As is their maddening propensity to perform well defensively only when they absolutely, positively must.

But I'll take all of that, roll it into a spitball, and fire it into the nearest trash can in exchange for having legitimately more talent.

And they do. They really do.

Think of it this way: The forwards are still the forwards, subtracting Eric Fehr and adding Guentzel, subtracting the shaky-half-season version of Sidney Crosby and replacing him with the best version we've ever seen, subtracting the banged-up version of Evgeni Malkin and replacing him with the most dominant player on the planet when he's soaring as he was Sunday, and with everyone else either performing the same or better, with the gnawing exception of Nick Bonino. And this doesn't even mention that the former Wilkes-Barre kids, notably Sheary and Bryan Rust, are a year older and better.

In Sheary's case alone, for his couple of memorable moments in the playoffs, he wasn't consistently making plays then the way he was against the Sabres.

Rust, too, was more well-rounded before getting hurt and, assuming he returns in time for playoffs, he'll have invaluable fresh legs unaffected by his upper-body injury.

This franchise has always been about scoring, and this group can still outscore, outskate any opponent. Maybe even with greater ease than last summer, at least in that singular context.

Defense is a good bit murkier, given the uncertain health of Kris Letang, Olli Maatta and Trevor Daley. Letang almost surely has a concussion, based on recent descriptions of his status, and that's particularly worrisome based on his history. But he's also been visible enough around the team that optimism is carrying the day. Maatta and Daley are seen as locks to be ready by the end of the regular season.

In the interim, Jim Rutherford smartly added not one but two capable, confident veterans in Ron Hainsey and Mark Streit. And Mike Sullivan, just as smartly, made them a pairing, where they can learn and work with each other how best to fit with their new teammates and system. They were outstanding Sunday. Both individually but even more together, constantly communicating, nodding, switching off before faceoffs, and using each other on breakouts.

The Penguins' top two spare defenseman on that magical night in San Jose?

Steve Oleksy and Derrick Pouliot.

Go ahead and look it up.

Even if all six regular defensemen somehow survive into the Eastern Conference Final -- and I wouldn't bet on that, assuming the bruising Blue Jackets and/or Capitals will be the first two opponents -- Sullivan will be able to replace any spot on the depth chart, including special teams, because this defense is more talented.

In goal?

I've got little to add that wasn't on magnificent display Sunday. When Rutherford's right, he's really right. And the franchise is that much stronger for his conviction that it takes more than one.

Well, now, thanks to Matt Murray's maturity and Marc-Andre Fleury's professionalism, he's got more than one No. 1. And in turn, he's got more talent.

That's the hardest part to acquire, and I hope that never gets forgotten around here, where, for decades now, talent has rained down on us like a blessing from above. When championships are won, stories are spun about grit, determination, adversity, resiliency and all manner of intangibles. All make for seriously emotional material, especially when the deep-voiced narration, pianos and violins come in for accompaniment. But the Penguins beat their opponents last summer principally because they had more talent than the Rangers, Capitals, Lightning and Sharks. They had a Crosby, a Malkin, a Kessel, a Letang, and those other guys didn't.

If they win again, trust me, it'll be the same root cause.

It'll be the same thing they've done to opponents all of this season, as well, even when not at their best, and it's the same thing they did to the Sabres after the three-goal deficit. Kessel set up Schultz. Schultz set up Malkin. Sheary set up Guentzel. And that last goal ... man, I can't get enough of that last goal, so here are three more angles:







Other teams can make that play. Other players can connect like that.

But when those players are Schultz and Sheary, and only a year ago one was perched in the press box and the other was trying to avoid a bus ride back to Wilkes-Barre, and they're now additions to what already was a Stanley Cup cast ... now we're into a distinct discussion that not many, if any, other teams can have.

What's more, just listen to Schultz and Sheary, watch their expressions, when I asked them about the sequence: