What to watch for: 2016 Stanley Cup Final (Game 6)

During the next few weeks AT&T SportsNet will be airing a series of "Pittsburgh Penguins Classic" content. That includes re-airing the Penguins' four victories against San Jose in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final (Games 1, 2, 4, 6).
To get you set for these games we've provided a quick preview/recap of the game. Obviously, the Penguins won each game and we've all seen them before. So, we tried to highlight some stuff that you may not remember, or other interesting aspects of the game that may have gone under the radar in the grand scheme of things. It's the type of thing that hindsight can really bring into focus.
Enjoy!

PROGRAMMING:Here is AT&T SportNet's schedule for tonight:
6:30PM: In the Room (Hornqvist mic'd vs. Capitals, Fleury mic'd in practice, Malkin goes down with injury)
7PM: Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final - Pittsburgh vs. San Jose
9:30PM: In the Room (Penguins win the Stanley Cup against San Jose and parade)
10PM: Pens Summer Celebration 2016 (Raw footage taken from the Penguins 2016 Stanley Cup celebration)
10:30PM: Pens Pulse (Switching team colors to black and gold, history of resilience, and a day with Chef Geoff)
SETUP: The Penguins had the opportunity of a lifetime in Game 5. Pittsburgh, which had a 3-1 series lead against San Jose in the Stanley Cup Final, had a chance to close out the series and raise the Stanley Cup on home ice at PPG Paints Arena - which would have been a first in franchise history. The team's faithful could sense it and they descended upon the arena with over 20,000 filling the streets outside the building. Main intersections of downtown were forced to close down and even some players and coaches were delayed getting to the rink for their normal gameday routines. The nerves hit the Penguins, and it showed. San Jose scored two early goals to take a quick 2-0 lead. The Penguins fought back to tie the score at 2-2, but goalie Martin Jones made 44 saves and San Jose escaped with a 4-2 win.
SUMMARY: The Penguins struck first with a goal from defenseman Brian Dumoulin. The Sharks tied the game at 1-1 in the second period, but Pittsburgh responded just 1:19 later on Kris Letang's eventual Cup-clinching goal. Pittsburgh shut things down in the third - surrendering only two shots on goal - and Patric Hornqvist's empty-netter sealed the Penguins' fourth Stanley Cup championship in franchise history.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
FIRST PERIOD
20:00: I'll never forget this opening faceoff. Sidney Crosby vs. Joe Thornton. After Thornton won the draw (one of few the Sharks won in the game), Crosby gave him a slash to the back of the legs. Thornton retaliated with a cross check. It was a sneaky dirty move from Crosby. But it also showed his maturation. The slash drew a retaliation and Crosby didn't flinch at the retaliation. Crosby had been on the receiving end of such antics for many years. Now, he had learned to control his emotions and use those tactics to his benefit.
16:18: Nick Bonino picked up his 20th shot block of the series. Yes, of the series. He would finish with two more and 22 total in the Stanley Cup Final.
13:22: Bonino with a rare turnover that led to a 2-on-0 rush. Nice work by Olli Maatta to backtrack and force Matt Nieto to shoot. It was still a high-quality chance from the low circle that goalie Matt Murray gobbled up. It was also San Jose's first shot of the game.
12:11: Brian Dumoulin got Pittsburgh on the power play by drawing a tripping penalty on Dainius Zubrus. Then, Dumoulin…
11:44: SCORES!! Dumoulin finished what he started. A smart play from the blueliner as he lined up a shot, delayed that shot to let a sliding Melker Karlsson shift out of the shot lane and then ripped it behind goalie Martin Jones.
The Penguins scored 15 total goals in the Stanley Cup Final. Four of those came from defensemen: Ben Lovejoy, Ian Cole, Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang. In fact, two defensemen scored for Pittsburgh in this Cup-clinching game.

7:32: After Cole fell down, Joel Ward headed up ice for a breakaway. But an incredible backcheck from Chris Kunitz, who sprinted from the other side of the ice and dove to knock the puck off of Ward's stick, denied even a shot. Not bad for a 36-year-old. If it's not the Stanley Cup Final Kunitz probably doesn't have the same burst of energy. But when a club is that close to drinking from the chalice, these are the plays you see.
3:33: What a sequence of saves by Jones. He stopped Crosby (twice) and Conor Sheary. All great chances. All within seconds of each other. If not for the play of Jones, the Penguins would have won this series in four games.
SECOND PERIOD
20:00: Before the puck dropped in the second period, all the players lined up on the bench and watched a video tribute on the jumbotron above for Gordie Howe, who had passed two days prior to the game.
18:06: Jones with an incredible reverse split pad save on Bonino. I'll say it again: four games.
17:43 to 16:47: The Sharks spent nearly an entire minute in the offensive zone. It was great work by their cycle and grind game. They got off six shot attempts, but three were blocked and the other three were from long distance that Murray easily stopped. That was basically a microcosm of San Jose's offense for the entire series.
13:33: Logan Couture. 1-1 game. Cole dumped the puck out of the zone, but Brent Burns quickly grabbed it and used a quick transition counterattack to re-enter the zone. Couture's curl and drag move (ala vintage Alexei Kovalev) helped him change the angle and beat Murray.
12:54: The Penguins got 40 seconds of offensive zone time, enough for a wholesale change. It started with Kunitz-Malkin-Rust and ended with Sheary-Crosby-Hornqvist. And that lengthy shift resulted in…
12:14: GOAL!! LETANG!! The Penguins answered San Jose in 79 seconds to retake the lead, 2-1. There's a lot to break down here.
First, as Crosby took the puck below the goal line there were three Sharks players on Patric Hornqvist. Yes, three. Second, because Hornqvist was at the side of the crease, Jones was forced to stay on his post to guard against Crosby making a pass to the Swede. Third, Crosby instead passed from the opposite post to Letang in the low circle. Look at this screen shot of the play below:

Look where the puck is and where Jones' head is looking. The puck was coming off of Letang's stick before Jones even had his head turned to track it. Jones smartly pushed off to his other post, but he had no idea a shot was already on its way. In fact, Letang's shot goes off of Jones' blocker and through his legs. And you can tell by Jones' reaction that he never even saw it. He had to look behind him for confirmation that the puck was in the net.
Hornqvist didn't get an assist on the play, but he is the reason the Penguins scored. His presence forced Jones to stay on his far post. Without Hornqvist, Jones would have pushed over sooner and his legs would probably have been closed to swallow that puck. Instead, that split-second delay was enough time for the puck to find its way through for the goal.
Side note: How important was Letang to the Penguins' 2016 Cup? Well, he assisted on the game-winning goal in Games 1, 2 and 4. And he scored the Cup-clinching goal in Game 6. So, he figured in on the winning tally in every game of the series.
And in Game 6 in particular, Letang skated a game-high 29:23 minutes of ice time as Pittsburgh leaned heavily on the blueliner to double shift and protect the one-goal lead in the second and third period.

4:50: Incredible play by Malkin to set up Kunitz for an easy tap-in goal. Except that Kunitz didn't tap it in. He tried to tap it back to Malkin. Of course, if it worked then it'd be a phenomenal and memorable play. But, at that point in the game and series, you have to shoot that puck.
THIRD PERIOD
20:00: Now, sit back and watch the greatest 20 minutes in the history of Penguins hockey. Pittsburgh was so dominant in this third period that they allowed just two shots (TWO SHOTS). In the entire period. In 20 minutes. Against a team that was fighting for its life. San Jose's entire season and championship dream was on the line, and all it could register was two shots.
And the second shot came in the final minute of garbage time. So, the Sharks really only had one shot. That's how dominant the Penguins were in this period. Clinic.
16:15: Couture got a floater shot that glided harmlessly on goal from 52 feet away. No joke, that was San Jose's only real shot of the period. That shot. That really only counted as a shot because it was on net. It was more like a long-distance pass to Murray. Again, clinic.
12:44: The Sharks did have a power play in this period - that, again, registered no shots. Thanks in part to this big faceoff win by Bonino, who went 13-4 in the dot. The Penguins as a whole owned the faceoff circle in the game, going 35-19 for 65 percent.
5:46: Split pad save by Jones on Kessel. Again: four games. Pittsburgh should have swept this series.
1:02: GOAL!! Hornqvist with the dagger to give Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead and a (slight) exhalation. The play started with Crosby blocking a shot (no shock to see the captain leading by example). Crosby then flipped the puck ahead to Hornqvist to seal the Cup.
:09.8: Crosby ended the game by blocking one more shot and lobbing a backhander down the length of the ice to finish the game. It was a special moment for Crosby. When the Penguins won the Cup in 2009, Crosby was a spectator for half of the game and all but 32 seconds of the third period. This time around, he was on the ice in the final minute to set up the dagger goal and to finish a championship season with the puck on his stick.
:00: Cue Queen: "We are the Champions."