The Unknown Should be Embraced in the Chase for the Cup

At some point, maybe a couple of times, the Pens are going to have to benefit from something that few if anyone anticipated, from something it would have been impossible for Mike Sullivan and his coaches to script.

It began again Wednesday night, in front of another packed house at PPG Paints Arena and with another thousand or so fans outside watching on a big screen, wanting to somehow be a part of another anticipated run to the Stanley Cup.

You’ll have to be there to believe it.

The organization’s goal is the ultimate goal, and that’s as it should be.

The expectation of the Penguins as they open the postseason portion of their Cup defense against Columbus is that they’re capable of going all the way again.

But even the Penguins can’t be certain as to how they’ll eventually get there.

They’ll need much from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but even that won’t be enough.

At some point, maybe a couple of times, the Pens are going to have to benefit from something that few if anyone anticipated, from something it would have been impossible for Mike Sullivan and his coaches to script.

For instance, who expected starting goalie Matt Murray to skate off the ice during pregame warmups and be replaced by Marc-Andre Fluery who stopped 16 shots in the first period on the way to a 3-1 Penguins' win?

To go all the way you often have to overcome the unforeseen, sometimes by any means necessary.

It worked out that way they first four times the Penguins captured the Cup.

In 1991, backup goalie Frank Pietrangelo came up with “The Save” in Game 6 in Round 1 against New Jersey.

In 1992, the Pens overcame Adam Graves’ assault on Mario Lemieux in Game 2 of Round 2 against New York. The Pens lost the game, which evened the series at a game apiece, and lost Lemieux for the remainder of the series. They also lost Joey Mullen for the remainder of the playoffs to a knee injury. But after losing Game 3 against the Rangers, the Penguins never lost again in the ’92 postseason.

In 2009, the Pens were an overtime goal away from falling into a three-games-to-none deficit in Round 2 against Washington. But Kris Letang averted disaster and, perhaps, saved the playoffs by banking a puck off a Capitals’ defenseman, off a goalpost and into the net in OT in Game 3.

And last season, it was Bryan Rust who became the Penguins’ springtime savior by accounting for the only two goals in the Pens’ 2-1 survival of the Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. No rookie had ever done such a thing in Penguins’ history previously.

Who will it be this season?

The Pens had trailed that series against the Lightning three games to two before winning Game 6 in Tampa.

They had likewise faced elimination in something other than a Game 7 on at least one occasion the first three times they ultimately wound up winning the Cup (in ’91 at New Jersey, in ’92 against Washington at home and on the road and in ’09 against Detroit).

So the ride is likely to get bumpy.

It already has given last week’s confirmation that Letang wouldn’t be available for the duration.

But that type of stuff is to be anticipated at some point in the postseason, when part of the prerequisite price to be paid is almost always extracted in attrition.

Given their season-long battle with injuries, the Pens probably saw such a development coming.

Others are destined to be unexpected if not unimaginable, which is what helps make the chase for the Cup so compelling.