Mayor promises Stanley Cup parade, but plans unclear so far

But as insane as the tradition has gotten, Pittsburgh fans took the catfish theme to the darkest timeline on Sunday night after the Penguins late victory in Game 6 brought the Cup back their city for a second straight year.

In becoming the first team since the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings to repeat as Cup champs, the Penguins did it with excellent defense and the occasional dollop of luck every title team needs. It's also their third Stanley Cup since 2009.

The Penguins won their fifth title - all of them clinched on the road - to tie the Wayne Gretzky-Mark Messier-era Edmonton Oilers for sixth on the all-time list. The undrafted Gaudreau scored Nashville's game-winning goals in Games 3 and 4 of the Final. By the time the Penguins reached the final, the team seemed to be exhausted, with the Nashville Predators carrying much of the play for the first four games. "I think that we've got so many guys that are going to take experience from this run and use that to propel them over the offseason and come in during the regular season and do what we need to do".

His second Stanley Cup in 2016 was to celebrate with his three sons, none of which were born in 2006, as his wife Bridget was pregnant with their first at the time.

After 87 playoff games, the National Hockey League has finally crowned a champion.

P.K. Subban, brought over from Montreal in last summer's blockbuster swap of All-Star defensemen, said the loss stings and will for a while. "We knew it was going to be hard, but I think that's probably where the most joy comes out of, is just knowing how hard it is now to go back-to-back and knowing that we overcame all those things".

"We better get one more this year", Cullen said to Crosby and Malkin. But just before Sissons poked the puck in, referee Kevin Pollock blew the whistle because he lost sight of the puck.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, addressing his squad before the season, asked "why not" in terms of winning a second straight Cup. They played 25 of a possible 28 games, surviving Game 7s with the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators before fending off the Predators in a series that mostly lived up to expectations in spite of largely lopsided final scores.

As the clock slipped under two minutes, the first overtime period of the series looked like a good possibility. He is the best player in the world, but that designation goes way beyond hockey talent. He finished with a Cup Final-high seven points. But it's likely he'll begin sharing more of the workload with 22-year-old backup Juuse Saros.

The stingy Predators found Pittsburgh was up to the task, with the Penguins taking the first two games on home ice. Letang's neck injury then left the team without one of the league's best offensive defensemen and forced the Penguins to go with a blue-line-by-committee approach in the playoffs.

But to take that goal away from Nashville was flat-out wrong and most certainly had a major impact on the biggest hockey game of the year.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was awarded the Conn Smythe (smyth) Trophy for a second consecutive year after finishing second to teammate Evgeni Malkin with 27 points.

In the last 10 years, only one team won the Stanley Cup with a penalty kill below average.

It should also be noted that the Pens' Matt Murray became the first goalie to roll off consecutive shut-outs in the Finals since 2008. In more general terms, the Penguins just won a Stanley Cup without a bona fide No. 1 defenseman on their active roster.