Penguins 'need' to win Stanley Cup back from rival Capitals

CHICAGO -- Pittsburgh Penguins centers Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby have additional motivation driving them to win the Stanley Cup again.
They want to take it away from the Washington Capitals.

"We need it back," Malkin said during the NHL Player Media Tour on Thursday. "It's like, who wins? Washington wins. The most hated team in Pittsburgh. Of course we want it back."
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The Penguins won the Cup in 2016 and 2017, becoming the first team to repeat since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. They thought they could be the first team to three-peat since the New York Islanders won the Cup four years in a row from 1980-83.
Washington trashed that dream by defeating Pittsburgh in six games in the Eastern Conference Second Round. It was the Capitals' revenge for the Penguins defeating them on their way to winning the Cup in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
The Capitals then defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games in the Eastern Conference Final and the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Stanley Cup Final.
Crosby and Malkin said they each didn't watch a single minute of the Cup Final.
Crosby was on vacation in Europe. Malkin was home in Russia.
They felt the sting anyway. Now it's turned into fuel.
"It's a great story [for the Capitals], but you don't like the fact that you're kind of that close to moving on and then you don't, and that team ends up going on to win," Crosby said. "That makes you realize how close you actually were."

At first, Crosby said Washington's success shouldn't add any juice to what's already a heated rivalry, but then he smiled and kept talking. As he did, it became clear that he, like Malkin, thinks it absolutely does elevate what might be the best rivalry in the NHL.
"I think that'll definitely light a fire for us," Crosby said. "That's on your mind when you play that team again. It's just the way it is. That's the way it is when you lose. You've always kind of got that feeling of something to prove and when you win, you've got that feeling of, hey, we've got to stay here. That's just the two sides of it. But yeah, that's kind of the approach."
Malkin said he thinks Washington's success last season will also change how each side views the rivalry, because now it's not nearly as one-sided as it used to be.
"We win last year and they win this year," he said. "It's two winners playing against each other and they hate each other."
The talk of a repeat coming out of Washington is also familiar to Malkin and Crosby, who were saying similar things after winning in 2016.
They're ready to put an end to it.
"We see what they say, that they want the same, back to back, that they want to win again," Malkin said. "We understand they try. They want to be in history too. They don't want it just one time, they want it two times. We understand we're a team that can stop them."
NHL.com columnist Nick Cotsonika contributed to this story.