PITTSBURGH (AP) – The chance to make history doesn’t come up in the Pittsburgh Penguins dressing room. It doesn’t have to.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and company understand the stakes: that no team since the New York Islanders of the early 1980s has won three straight Stanley Cups, something the Penguins can do if they can navigate the next nine months with the combination of grit and talent they’ve mustered each of the last two springs.
Yet it’s not that opportunity that is providing the fuel for what the Penguins hope is another short summer in 2018 following another parade through downtown Pittsburgh. They want to win the Cup every year. Thinking this winter might be different just because their names take up a significant portion of their league’s most cherished piece of hardware is silly.
“I think you have to prove it every year,” Crosby said. “Nobody gives you anything. Just because you were able to do something before it doesn’t guarantee anything for next year. We have to have that mindset and we did lose a number of guys.”
Beloved goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, the franchise’s all-time leader in wins, is now with expansion Vegas. Center Matt Cullen, nicknamed “Dad” for the 40-year-old’s paternal presence, is playing one final season back home in Minnesota. Chris Kunitz, who carved out a niche for his ability to create havoc around the net, is in Florida. Third-line center Nick Bonino and his intelligent two-way play is in Nashville. Defenseman Trevor Daley, whose steadiness helped keep the blue line together after Kris Letang was forced to miss the second half of last season with health issues, is in Detroit.