How the Pittsburgh Penguins made it back to Stanley Cup finals

PITTSBURGH -- Back in training camp, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust wasn't visualizing being the player whose offense carried his team into the Stanley Cup finals.

"I was just trying to make the team," Rust said.

He didn't finally achieve that until December, about the time the Penguins started playing themselves off the NHL's scrap heap and into postseason discussion.

"Around Christmas, we weren't even in the playoff race, but since January we've been a (heck) of a team and improving every single day," right winger Patric Hornqvist said after the Penguins' 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals Thursday.

"And we're not done yet."

No they're not, and the Penguins play into June -- they play host to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals against the San Jose Sharks on Monday -- largely because of a cast that wasn't around in October.

That includes coach Mike Sullivan, who was promoted from the Penguins' Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club in mid-December to replace the fired Mike Johnston. The Penguins haven't been the same team since, because they're not the same team they've been in the past.

Rookies Rust, Matt Murray, Tom Kuhnhackl, Conor Sheary and Brian Dumoulin -- along with veteran additions such as Phil Kessel, Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Justin Schultz and the injured Trevor Daley -- are a major reason why the Penguins finally made it back to the finals for the first time since 2009.

Back then, with superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in their early 20s, the Penguins looked to be primed for multiple Cup runs. But it didn't happen until now, and it took a return to youth -- and speed -- to help achieve.

None of the Penguins' previous four Cup finalists -- the Mario Lemieux teams of 1991 and 1992, the Crosby-Malkin teams of 2008 and 2009 -- were this fast from end to end, or could fly to a puck carrier or a potential shooter as quickly as this team can.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper already knows what the Sharks must worry about most -- the Penguins arguably are the NHL's fastest team, something they've never been able to say before.

"They're fast, and if you play a little too slow and aren't executing, it's hard when they're playing fast and they're right on you," said Cooper, who team was outscored 7-3 in Games 6 and 7.

Sullivan not only brought discipline, motivation, sound defensive structures and a required accountability with him to Pittsburgh from Wilkes-Barre, he also brought Rust (five playoff goals), Kuhnhackl (two playoff goals, five points), Sheary (two playoff goals, five assists) and Murray (11 playoff wins). Dumoulin began the season in Pittsburgh after playing in the minors last season.

Rust's five goals are the most by a Penguins rookie in the playoffs since Michel Briere also scored five in 1970. Rust and Joonas Donskoi of San Jose are tied for the most goals by a rookie in these playoffs.

"He came ready to play and used his speed to his advantage," Sheary said of Rust, who scored both Pittsburgh goals in Game 7 and another in Game 6. "It's especially good to see this in the young guys coming up."

While the forwards ramped up the Penguins' speed -- as did the exceptionally fast Kessel, who has nine playoff goals -- the 22-year-old Murray brought a calmness, confidence and composure in net that Pittsburgh sometimes lacked in the postseason.

Murray is 11-4 in the playoffs and 18-4 in his last 22 starts -- all this after playing 31 games in the minors earlier this season. And the Penguins are 45-17-5 since losing their first four games under Sullivan.

In all, seven Penguins players appeared in a Game 7 for the first time, an unusually high number in a sport where veteran teams such as the Blackhawks (3) and Kings (2) combined to win five of the previous six Cups.

"I can't say that I imagined it," Sheary said of the rookies' impact. "But, right now, all of this seems right."