For the second consecutive season, the Pittsburgh Penguins raised Lord Stanley into the sky as Stanley Cup Champions with a 4-2 series triumph over the Nashville Predators. The win marks the third championship for the Pens in the last decade and the fifth overall in franchise history.

Goalie Matt Murray posted 27 saves for his second straight shutout in the clincher and Sidney Crosby once again hoisted the Conn Smythe Trophy as the the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

A back-and-forth series throughout, it seemed as though the first team that figured out how to win on the opponents ice would come out on top. At home in Pittsburgh for the first two games of the series, the Penguins won 5-3 then 4-1 to take a 2-0 to Smashville. But, the Predators would not go down easy as Nashville stormed back with a vengeance winning game three 5-1 then game four 4-1.

Knotted at two headed back up north, the Predators had all the momentum. So they thought. The Penguins looked like a different team back home and destroyed Nashville to the tune of a  6-0 victory. Murray had 24 saves and six different Penguins players scored a goal for the home squad.

With a continuing pattern defining the series, the expectation was that the Predators would be able to defend their home ice in game six. But the reigning Stanley Cup Champions had other ideas as they stymied the Nashville offense and put immense pressure on the Predator defense in which came out to be a 2-0 win. The loss was heartbreaking for Nashville as they allowed both of the goals in the third period.

Despite the loss, the Predators had an outstanding campaign and look to be poised for a return to the Cup next year with the pieces they have in place. As for the Penguins, anything is possible with Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Murray at the core. With yet another exciting Stanley Cup Finals behind us, we can not help but wait for the start of hockey again in October.

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--Senior| Co-Sports Editor Emeritus --

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