Leading the Charge

Kris Letang’s game-winner in Game 5 definitely wasn’t the prettiest goal he’s ever scored. It might have been the strangest. But he will absolutely take it.

“I just tried to put it there, obviously, made a crazy bounce,” Letang said. “Sometimes, you create your own luck. It's a good feeling. You want to help your team as best as you can, whether they go in with a perfect play or bank off the wall, doesn't matter. They all count the same.”

Letang also got the game-winner in Game 4, becoming the second defenseman in Stanley Cup Playoff history to score consecutive game-winning goals when facing elimination, joining J.C. Tremblay (Game 6-7 of 1971 Quarterfinal).

Letang, who turned 39 on April 24, became the second-oldest player to score consecutive game-winning goals in Stanley Cup Playoff history behind Ron Francis (39 years, 63 days) in 2002 (Game 6 of Conference Quarterfinal and Game 1 of Conference Semifinal). 

After a somewhat inconsistent season, Letang has found another gear to his game when his team needs it most, as they are trying to claw their way out of a 3-0 series deficit.

Letang has been logging a lot of minutes, bringing offense at key moments along with a ton of compete to the defensive side, which has always been an underrated part of his skillset. The blueliner has also gotten into a solid groove with Sam Girard, acquired from Colorado in March for Brett Kulak, who had been a steady presence alongside Letang.

“He’s a big-time competitor,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “What you don’t see behind the scenes, just the way that he prepares, the way he takes care of himself, his day-to-day at this time of year – it comes as no surprise that he’s put himself in a position to be able to elevate his game.

“This is a guy who’s been doing it for a long time and at a high level. He’s been in a lot of these big moments. He’s got the experience of understanding, too, when it’s time to elevate and how to get to another level. I think you’ve seen that, not just in terms of the goals scored, but just overall play. I think you’ve seen that a lot from our group and definitely a lot from our veterans leading the way.”

That has certainly been evident with Letang’s teammate of 20 years, Sidney Crosby. After scoring a power-play goal off a set faceoff play in the first period of Game 4, the captain went into beast mode to set up Letang’s second-period goal.

Crosby joined Rakell in a battle along the boards of the Flyers zone, managing to kick the puck over to Letang just inside the blue line. Crosby then did a fantastic job of getting inside position on Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale, steering him just far enough away to give Letang time to get into position and pick his spot from the bottom of the slot.

“It's all those little details,” Letang said. “Sometimes it's not the crazy play or the passes, like finding a guy back post. Sometimes it's little details, like picking the guy gave me a lot of time to pick my shot. Was an amazing play. So, it just shows you all how much IQ he has on the ice, and he knows what to do at every moment, in every situation.”

Crosby then earned primary assists on two of Pittsburgh’s three tallies in Game 5. He set up Connor Dewar’s snipe in the second period, before once again assisting Letang.

Crosby’s line with Rakell and Bryan Rust put together some excellent stretches throughout the night. And as the third period went on, Crosby left everything out on the ice to make sure the Penguins protected the one-goal lead they got from Letang.

The effort he made late in regulation to win a race to the puck and swing it towards the empty net was something to marvel at. Unlike Letang, Crosby didn’t get the bounce in that scenario, and ended up hitting the other post of the empty net as well. But while an insurance goal would have been nice, it turned out to be unnecessary.

At the Olympics in February, Crosby sustained an injury he hadn’t experienced before in his career. He missed a good chunk of time, and had to work his way back during an intense time of year. He didn’t always look like himself during that process, but has gotten back to his usual elite level of play with a vengeance. 

“When things get hard, when backs are against the wall, there's no doubt in my mind that he's gonna lead the charge in terms of elevating and finding a way here to do everything possible to help this team win a hockey game,” Muse said.

“And you've seen that the last two games. I think you see it there from the zone time, or the late game special teams. I mean, you've seen it at all levels. He definitely has worked to lead that charge, along with others within our leadership group.”

All the Big Three wanted was to be in this position, competing for a Stanley Cup. And they are going to do all that they can to fight another day.

"I think that it's quite clear, the situation for us. It's win or go home, so I think that urgency, that desperation, whatever you want to call it, I think is brought out in everybody," Crosby said. "It's brought some of our best hockey because of it. We've just got to keep going here."