The parallel with 2009, the last time the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup, is striking.The Penguins of 2008-09 fired their coach during the regular season, replacing Michel Therrien with Dan Bylsma. The Pens were said to have an unhappy superstar in Sidney Crosby, who had underachieved to that point. Under Bylsma, Crosby instantly appeared rejuvenated, and Pittsburgh won the Cup.Here the Penguins are again, in the Final, after Thursday night's 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final at Consol Energy Center. They are a team that fired its coach, Mike Johnston, in December despite a 15-10-3 record. Crosby was said to be bored under the checking philosophy of Johnston, so in stepped Mike Sullivan from the minors, just like Bylsma.Crosby has been sensational since Sullivan took over, and while he was not the guy who scored in Pittsburgh's decisive win over the Lightning, he was as strong of a player as anyone in the black and gold Thursday night.It's been another unlikely and remarkable story in Pittsburgh, which will have home-ice advantage for the Stanley Cup Final against the San Jose Sharks, with Game 1 set for Monday at Consol. The Penguins got the win in Game 7 thanks to two second-period goals from young winger Bryan Rust and strong goaltendingespecially in the late goingfrom rookie Matt Murray. They completed a comeback from a 3-2 series deficit and prevented the Lightning from winning a second straight Eastern Conference title.The final score didn't indicate how one-sided this game was; Pittsburgh outshot Tampa Bay 39-17 and gave the Lightning just one power-play opportunity. Still, it was a 1-1 hockey game until the 10:06 mark of the second period, when Rust scored just 30 seconds after Jonathan Drouin had tied it.When it was over, the Penguins smiled for pictures with NHLDeputy Commissioner Bill Daly, but in going against the grain of current NHL fashion, they actually put their hands on the conference title trophy. The crowd at Consol roared in approval. Sportsnet's Chris Johnston quoted Sullivan on the noise:What a change of scenery from just a few months ago. The Penguins looked like a bloated, uninspiring group entering mid-December. Crosby wasn't scoring. Newcomer Phil Kessel wasn't scoring. General manager Jim Rutherford's every move was being criticized, and heoccasionally lashed backat the local media.There was nothing to suggest the Penguins had the kind of inner resolve that they have, in fact, shown us these past few months. But here they are. They have kept us guessing the whole time.What turned it all around' It's still a bit of a mystery. Sullivan seems like a Svengali now, but keep in mind: This is a guy who went 10 years between his last NHL head coaching job, with the Boston Bruins in 2005-06. If he were a genius, what took him so long to get another job' And yet, the results under him have been undeniable.Pittsburgh went from a team out of the playoffs to one that got 104 points, then knocked off the New York Rangers easily in the first round, beat the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals in the second round and defeated the defending conference champion Lightning.Sullivan did seem to find better chemistry with his line combinations and defensive pairings than did Johnston. One of the first things he did was stop playing top defenseman Kris Letang with newcomer Ian Cole, a pairing that clearly wasn't working. Once Letang was paired with Olli Maatta and, later, Brian Dumoulin, everybody's defensive numbers started getting better. Sullivan also started using Crosby a lot more on a line with Patric Hornqvist, a winger who plays more of a give-and-go game that Crosby seems to prefer.Rutherford made what has turned out to be a great trade so far, moving David Perron to Anaheim for Carl Hagelin in January. Hagelin has been an effective winger on a line with Nick Bonino and Kessel, while Evgeni Malkin has found chemistry with Rust and Chris Kunitz.Then, there is the story of Murray in goal. Keep this in mind: Murray was not even the top no-name rookie to start in goal in these playoffs for Sullivan. Jeff Zatkoff started the playoffs in Round 1, as No. 1 goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was out with a concussion. After Zatkoff started looking mortal, in stepped Murray, and he played all the way until Fleury started the third period of Game 4 in the series with Tampa Bay.After the 4-3 loss in Game 4, Sullivan went back to Fleury for Game 5, but he looked very rusty in another 4-3 loss. Sullivan elected to give Murray another shot, and he did the job in Games 6 and 7. He enters the Stanley Cup Final as the expected starter, a player making $620,000 to Fleury's $5.75 million.Somehow, some way, it has all come together to make sense in Pittsburgh.Despite Pittsburgh having home-ice advantage, the Sharks figure to be slight favorites in the series. Western Conference teams have won the last four Cups and seven of the last nine. The Sharks were the best road team in the league this season, at 28-10-3. Yet, the Penguins have been torrid for several months now. Said Crosby, per Johnston:It should be a great series. Let's count down the hours to Monday night.Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report.
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