Prior to their game on Saturday against the New York Rangers, the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrated their 2016 Stanley Cup champion team, as 2026 marks the 10th anniversary of the championship run.
Many of the members of that 2016 team were in attendance for the ceremony, including former GM Jim Rutherford, former head coach Mike Sullivan, Conor Sheary, Patric Hornqvist, Carl Hagelin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley, Eric Fehr, Tom Kuhnhackl, Pascal Dupuis, Chris Kunitz, Jeff Zatkoff, and Ben Lovejoy, in addition to current Penguins' players that were part of the squad in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Bryan Rust.
After the ceremony concluded - it was moving and emotional enough to make Crosby and others tear up - the Penguins capped off their sixth-straight win by defeating the Rangers, 6-5, sending everyone but New York home happy. They held down their spot at second in the Metropolitan Division, and they have the sixth-best points percentage in the NHL.
As special as this year's Penguins feel, that 2016 group had a lot of special moments to offer during their quest for the Stanley Cup. Here are the top-five moments from that 2016 Cup run.
Honorable mention: Bonino! Bonino! Bonino!
Perhaps the most memorable moment from the 2016 run was not even necessarily the the most memorable goal from the Stanley Cup playoffs. But it was certainly the most memorable goal call.
Of course, Nick Bonino's game-winning goal against the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final wasn't the first time that Hockey Night Punjabi play-by-play announcer Harnarayan Singh gave the iconic "BONINO BONINO BONINO!" call, as he also did so during Bonino's overtime game-winner in Game 6 against the Washington Capitals (which, we'll get to later).
But this particular call was the one that went viral and is the most memorable of the bunch, and Singh recreated the call during the Victory Parade, as the Penguins fully embraced it.
5. Zatkoff's W, Patric's hat trick
The intrigue of the 2016 run started right from the jump in Game 1 of the first round against the Rangers. With both Fleury and Matt Murray unavailable to start Game 1, the Penguins turned to Zatkoff, who had never before appeared in a playoff game and had only 14 regular season appearances for them that season.
Well, Zatkoff shined, allowing just two goals on 37 shots and beating Henrik Lundqvist in his playoff debut. He did start Game 2 as well but dropped that contest, allowing four goals on 27 shots.
And the other story in Game 1? That was Hornqvist, who recorded a hat trick and added an assist on a second-period Crosby goal to give the Penguins the 5-2 win and go up 1-0 in the opening-round series.
4. Set-up for Sheary
Sheary's big overtime goal in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Sharks put the Penguins up 2-0 in the series and helped set the stage for them eventually going on to win the series in six games.
Speaking of set, it was revealed afterward that it was a set play devised by the captain just before the drop of the puck in the faceoff dot. Crosby instructed defensemen Letang and Brian Dumoulin to switch spots so he could win the faceoff back to Letang, who would find Sheary with a pass near the slot area.
And, well, the play transpired exactly how Crosby had drawn it up.
This guy isn't one of the five best players of all time by accident.
3. Crosby strikes Lightning
Crosby had a few moments of his own on the way to his first Conn Smythe trophy. And the most memorable was his overtime game-winner against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final.
With the Penguins trailing in the series, 1-0, a loss would have put them in a precarious position. But Crosby wasted no time when the game shifted to the extra frame, as he took a pass from Bryan Rust in the low slot area and wristed a "curveball" top-shelf over Andrei Vasilevskiy's shoulder, tying the series.
The Penguins went on to win in seven games and go to their first Cup final since 2009, when they beat the Detroit Red Wings.
2. HBK Line sends Washington packing
Perhaps the biggest story of the 2016 playoffs was the HBK Line, which consisted of Hagelin, Bonino, and Phil Kessel. The trio combined for 20 goals and 56 points in 24 games, and there was no one play bigger than Bonino's overtime goal in Game 6 against the Capitals.
The third line gained the zone, and Bonino got the puck to Hagelin in the right corner. Hagelin then got it to Kessel in the left corner, who fed Hagelin in the low slot area. Bonino was there to pick up the loose change in front, and the Penguins celebrated a second-round win.
This was also one of the more legendary calls by Doc Emrick.
1. Letang's goal clinches Cup for Penguins
Well, we'll cheat a little bit here and make this a bit of a double moment, as one does not happen without the other.
Near the midway point of the second period in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final - and with the Penguins up in the series on the Sharks, 3-2 - Letang took a feed from Crosby, who was behind the net, low in the right circle. He found the gap between Sharks' goalie Martin Jones and the post, putting the Penguins up, 2-1, and providing the eventual Cup-clinching goal for the Penguins.
They went on to win, 3-1, after an empty-net goal by Hornqvist, taking home the fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history and capping off a dominant run.
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