Cup celebration 'special' to Penguins of past and present
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
Nick Bonino, Ben Lovejoy, Pascal Dupuis, Matt Cullen, Trevor Daley, Mike Sullivan, Jason Karmanos, Jim Rutherford
As the PPG Paints Arena videoboard played a lengthy video celebrating the 2016 Stanley Cup-winning team on Saturday, the broadcast cameras caught Sidney Crosby with tears running down his face as he stayed glued to the screen above him:
"I love that group," Crosby said of those emotions. "I love playing. I love the experiences and the memories that I've had. That's how it comes out. I mean, you don't see those moments all the time. It's not like I watch those on YouTube. So when you see them, they they tend to hit you a little harder."
The Penguins welcomed back and celebrated Jeff Zatkoff, Patric Hornqvist, Tom Kuhnhackl, Eric Fehr, Ben Lovejoy, Nick Bonino, Carl Hagelin, Matt Cullen, Pascal Dupuis, Marc-Andre Fleury, Chris Kunitz, Trevor Daley, Jim Rutherford, Mike Sullivan, Conor Sheary and a number of the support staff from the 2016 team in their 6-5 win over the Rangers, recognizing the 10-year anniversary of that championship.
After the game, the members of that team (minus the Rangers' Sullivan and Sheary) and Mario Lemieux gathered outside the locker room, before Hornqvist led them inside with a "Let's go, boys!"
Once inside, the 2016 squad mingled with their former teammates and some who they never got to play with in Pittsburgh -- Letang, Dupuis and Anthony Mantha huddled by the doorway chatting in French, while Hagelin, Hornqvist, Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell gathered around Rakell's stall having animated conversations in Swedish. Fleury stood at the back of the room catching up with an old Wild teammate Connor Dewar, while Zatkoff, Fehr and Kuhnhackl mingled in a group at the front of the room. Lovejoy, whose children are too young to remember him playing in Pittsburgh, showed those children around his old locker room while sharing memories.
Some of the newer Penguins players made some new friends -- Karlsson went and introduced himself to Zatkoff, referring to him as "Mr. Game 1" in reference to Zatkoff's heroic efforts to open that playoff run -- and some were clearly in awe of some of the legends in that room.
"I'm trying to look for (Fleury)," Stuart Skinner said. "I'm trying to get him to come to me, actually. I'm trying to act shy. I'll go talk to him here pretty quickly."
The Penguins have made an effort to celebrate their past this season, from re-introducing the team's Hall of Fame to bringing Fleury in for a preseason game. Those initiatives are more than just a nostalgia tour for the fans, though -- the front office sees those as being a real benefit to the players on the team now as they try to get back to being a team that can make a deep playoff run.
"Championships are so hard to come by," Dan Muse said. "They're so hard to win. The history of this organization, it's amazing how special it is. You think that a little bit when you're coming into a place like this, but now 50 something games in my first season, you feel it so much -- what it means to the players now, what it means to the former players, what it means to the fans, to the city."
Noel Acciari thought that having those players in town gave the current squad an extra boost.
"Having these guys back here 10 years later and celebrating, we didn't want to disappoint them with a loss here," Acciari said. "So we were able to get that and keep their party going for the weekend."
The win solidifies the Penguins' hold of second place in the Metropolitan Division, two points ahead of the Islanders with two games in hand, and five points back of the first-place Hurricanes with a game in hand.
The Penguins have hit their stride over the last few weeks and are looking like a team that could potentially make a run of their own. Celebrating a team that went all the way a decade ago provided a boost that could continue to benefit them down the stretch.
"We needed to get this win," Muse said. "We needed to make it a special day. We need the points for sure, but I think on a day like today, there is some extra meaning."
THE ASYLUM
Cup celebration 'special' to Penguins of past and present
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
Nick Bonino, Ben Lovejoy, Pascal Dupuis, Matt Cullen, Trevor Daley, Mike Sullivan, Jason Karmanos, Jim Rutherford
As the PPG Paints Arena videoboard played a lengthy video celebrating the 2016 Stanley Cup-winning team on Saturday, the broadcast cameras caught Sidney Crosby with tears running down his face as he stayed glued to the screen above him:
"I love that group," Crosby said of those emotions. "I love playing. I love the experiences and the memories that I've had. That's how it comes out. I mean, you don't see those moments all the time. It's not like I watch those on YouTube. So when you see them, they they tend to hit you a little harder."
The Penguins welcomed back and celebrated Jeff Zatkoff, Patric Hornqvist, Tom Kuhnhackl, Eric Fehr, Ben Lovejoy, Nick Bonino, Carl Hagelin, Matt Cullen, Pascal Dupuis, Marc-Andre Fleury, Chris Kunitz, Trevor Daley, Jim Rutherford, Mike Sullivan, Conor Sheary and a number of the support staff from the 2016 team in their 6-5 win over the Rangers, recognizing the 10-year anniversary of that championship.
After the game, the members of that team (minus the Rangers' Sullivan and Sheary) and Mario Lemieux gathered outside the locker room, before Hornqvist led them inside with a "Let's go, boys!"
Once inside, the 2016 squad mingled with their former teammates and some who they never got to play with in Pittsburgh -- Letang, Dupuis and Anthony Mantha huddled by the doorway chatting in French, while Hagelin, Hornqvist, Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell gathered around Rakell's stall having animated conversations in Swedish. Fleury stood at the back of the room catching up with an old Wild teammate Connor Dewar, while Zatkoff, Fehr and Kuhnhackl mingled in a group at the front of the room. Lovejoy, whose children are too young to remember him playing in Pittsburgh, showed those children around his old locker room while sharing memories.
Some of the newer Penguins players made some new friends -- Karlsson went and introduced himself to Zatkoff, referring to him as "Mr. Game 1" in reference to Zatkoff's heroic efforts to open that playoff run -- and some were clearly in awe of some of the legends in that room.
"I'm trying to look for (Fleury)," Stuart Skinner said. "I'm trying to get him to come to me, actually. I'm trying to act shy. I'll go talk to him here pretty quickly."
The Penguins have made an effort to celebrate their past this season, from re-introducing the team's Hall of Fame to bringing Fleury in for a preseason game. Those initiatives are more than just a nostalgia tour for the fans, though -- the front office sees those as being a real benefit to the players on the team now as they try to get back to being a team that can make a deep playoff run.
"Championships are so hard to come by," Dan Muse said. "They're so hard to win. The history of this organization, it's amazing how special it is. You think that a little bit when you're coming into a place like this, but now 50 something games in my first season, you feel it so much -- what it means to the players now, what it means to the former players, what it means to the fans, to the city."
Noel Acciari thought that having those players in town gave the current squad an extra boost.
"Having these guys back here 10 years later and celebrating, we didn't want to disappoint them with a loss here," Acciari said. "So we were able to get that and keep their party going for the weekend."
The win solidifies the Penguins' hold of second place in the Metropolitan Division, two points ahead of the Islanders with two games in hand, and five points back of the first-place Hurricanes with a game in hand.
The Penguins have hit their stride over the last few weeks and are looking like a team that could potentially make a run of their own. Celebrating a team that went all the way a decade ago provided a boost that could continue to benefit them down the stretch.
"We needed to get this win," Muse said. "We needed to make it a special day. We need the points for sure, but I think on a day like today, there is some extra meaning."
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