2016 Stanley Cup Final
The 2016 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's 2015–16 season, and the culmination of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks four games to two to win their fourth championship in franchise history. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
The Penguins finished with more points than the Sharks during the regular season, giving them home ice advantage in the series. The series began on May 30 and concluded on June 12. This was the first Finals since 2007 to feature a team making their Finals debut. This was the first playoff meeting between teams from Pittsburgh and the Bay Area since the Penguins swept the Oakland Seals in the 1970 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals.
The Eastern Conference had home-ice advantage in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2004 and 2006 Finals.
For the first time since 2006, a new scheduling format was instituted for the Finals. In previous years, the Finals were played on a Monday–Wednesday–Saturday scheme. However, the league changed its scheduling to ensure an extra day off for both teams. The extra off day, along with the designated travel day, took place after games 2, 4, 5, and 6 in subsequent finals. This scheduling change was necessary as a result of the National Basketball Association instituting a new scheduling format for its championship series that went into effect beginning in 2016.
Paths to the Finals
Pittsburgh Penguins
This was Pittsburgh's fifth Finals appearance, and first since winning the Cup in. The Penguins had made the playoffs every year since their win in 2009, but hadn't won a single game in the conference finals in that span.After losing to the Rangers in the playoffs for the second consecutive year, the Penguins made waves during the 2015 offseason, trading for forwards Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino, re-signing defenceman Olli Maatta and forward Bryan Rust, and signing centres Matt Cullen and Eric Fehr in free agency. General manager Jim Rutherford fired head coach Mike Johnston on December 12, 2015, after the team limped to a 15–10–3 start. Johnston was replaced with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who went 33–16–5 over the remainder of the season. The Penguins made three major trades before the trade deadline, acquiring defencemen Trevor Daley and Justin Schultz and forward Carl Hagelin. After goalie Marc-Andre Fleury suffered a concussion on April 2, the team turned to rookie Matt Murray for the final week of the regular season and the majority of the playoffs.
Pittsburgh finished with 104 points in the regular season to finish second in the Metropolitan Division. Centre and team captain Sidney Crosby led the club in scoring during the regular season and finished third in the league with 85 points.
In the playoffs, the Penguins eliminated the New York Rangers in five games after losing to them in 2014 and 2015, the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals in six games, and the defending conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games.
San Jose Sharks
This was San Jose's first Finals appearance in their 25-year history, becoming the first team to make their Finals debut since the 2006–07 Ottawa Senators.During the offseason the Sharks hired former New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer to replace Todd McLellan and traded for former Kings backup goalie Martin Jones. San Jose also picked up defenceman Paul Martin and right wingers Joel Ward and Dainius Zubrus via free agency. Before the trade deadline, the Sharks acquired forward Nick Spaling, defenceman Roman Polak, and goalie James Reimer.
San Jose earned 98 points to finish third in the Pacific Division. Centre Joe Thornton led the club in scoring with 82 points, and finished tied for fourth in the league, followed closely by centre and team captain Joe Pavelski with 78 points and defenceman Brent Burns with 75 points.
In the playoffs, San Jose avenged their 2014 loss to the Kings, a series in which they blew a 3–0 series lead, by defeating Los Angeles in five games. San Jose also eliminated the Nashville Predators in seven games, winning every home game in the series, and the St. Louis Blues in the Conference Final in six games.
Game summaries
'' Number in parentheses represents the player's total goals or assists to that point of the entire four rounds of the playoffs''Game one
Game one remained scoreless until Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary scored a minute apart for the Penguins midway through the first period. San Jose came back in the second period with a power play goal by Tomas Hertl at 3:02 and the tying goal by Patrick Marleau at 18:12. Despite 18 third-period Pittsburgh shots directed towards Martin Jones, the score remained tied at two until very late in the game, when Kris Letang found Nick Bonino wide open in front of the net to give the Penguins the lead. The Penguins held off the Sharks in the final minutes to win 3–2.Game two
Game two began with a scoreless first period which featured 11 Penguins shots and only six from the Sharks. Midway through the second period, a series of San Jose miscues led to a Pittsburgh goal. After Roman Polak nearly gave the puck away to Phil Kessel, Brenden Dillon was stripped by Carl Hagelin, who gave it to Nick Bonino for a tip-in by Kessel. The Sharks tied the game late in the third on a goal by Justin Braun, which sent the game into overtime. Early in overtime, a quick shot by Conor Sheary beat Martin Jones to give the Penguins a 2–1 win and 2–0 series lead.Game three
started off the scoring in game three at 5:29 of the first period, when his point shot deflected in off Roman Polak. The Sharks tied it at 9:34 on a Justin Braun goal. Midway through the second period, the Penguins took the lead back when Patric Hornqvist tipped in another Lovejoy point shot. In the third period, Nick Bonino high-sticked Joe Thornton, and in the dying seconds of the four-minute power play, Joel Ward fired a slap shot past Matt Murray to tie the game. In overtime, Joonas Donskoi roofed a tough-angle shot over Murray's shoulder for the game winner.Game four
At 7:36 of the first period, Phil Kessel took advantage of a poor Sharks line change and fired a shot that rebounded off Martin Jones and directly to Ian Cole, who scored his first playoff goal. This marked the seventh consecutive game in which the Penguins had scored first. In the second period, Sharks forward Melker Karlsson was called for interference against Eric Fehr, and on the ensuing power play, Evgeni Malkin tipped in a Kessel shot for the Penguins' second goal. During the third period, Karlsson scored to cut the deficit to one, but the Penguins regained a two-goal lead with 2:02 left when Eric Fehr beat Jones on a breakaway.Game five
Game five started with four goals scored in the first 5:06 of the game. Brent Burns gave the Sharks their first lead of the Finals at 1:04, slipping it past Murray on the right post. San Jose scored again at 2:53, when Logan Couture deflected in a shot from Justin Braun. Less than two minutes later, Sharks forward Dainius Zubrus got called for delay of game after shooting the puck over the glass. On the ensuing power play, a Malkin shot deflected off Braun's skate and past Jones, cutting the deficit to 2–1. Less than a minute later, Brenden Dillon gave away the puck to Nick Bonino, who took a shot that was deflected in by Carl Hagelin. Later in the first period, during a Pittsburgh power play, a Phil Kessel wrist shot bounced off both posts but stayed out. Later in the period, Dillon passed down low for Couture who sauced a backhand pass to Karlsson, who scored to regain the lead for the Sharks. San Jose took just 15 shots in the second and third period combined, but Jones withstood a massive 46 shots from the Penguins to stave off elimination. Joe Pavelski provided an empty-net goal to force a sixth game.Game six
A power play drive from Brian Dumoulin started the scoring early in game six. During the first intermission, a tribute to Gordie Howe was played, as he died on June 10. San Jose tied it up in the second period when Logan Couture took a pass from Melker Karlsson and fired a shot past Murray. Just over a minute later, Pittsburgh regained the lead when a shot by Kris Letang ricocheted off Martin Jones and in. Despite facing elimination on home ice, the Sharks managed only two shots on goal in the third period, and an empty-net goal from Patric Hornqvist sealed the win for Pittsburgh. The Penguins won the fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history, clinching all four on the road.Team rosters
Pittsburgh Penguins
| # | Nat | Player | Position | Hand | Age | Acquired | Place of birth | Finals appearance | ||||
| 19 |  sortname|Beau|Bennetths|24–182San Jose Sharks
|