Pittsburgh Penguins Find Success from Within

Penguins announcers Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey said it best during the intermission report: "Sometimes, 1-1 games are like watching paint dry, but not this one."

It really has always been a story for the Pens.

Bankruptcy almost sent the team to Kansas City, but then the rise of young star power in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Jordan Staal helped rebuild the team in Pittsburgh where they belong.

Crosby lead the team to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, the latter year after a horrific season that only improved after the firing of Michel Therrien and the hiring of Dan Bylsma.

And the Pens managed to take care of business, no matter what was thrown at them, and took home Lord Stanley.

Every team faces adversity be it with money problems, disappointing play from the team or injuries, but there's something about how the Penguins franchise faces every problem to make something better of it.

Saturday's game against the surprisingly hot Sabres was no different.

The Pens were taking advantage of a team going into a back-to-back game not anchored by Vezina candidate Ryan Miller.

But it really didn't matter.  The Sabres played fantastic hockey.

However, this game was a battle of the goaltenders.

Lalime vs. Fleury.

Each goaltender allowed only one goal in regulation, but it looked like Lalime's heroics throughout the game would carry the Sabres to victory.

It's just not that easy against the Pens anymore.

I couldn't even count how many scoring opportunities the Pens had, how many posts they hit, and how many open nets were completely missed.  They weren't getting the bounces they needed to take the lead.

Out of 63 attempted shots, 39 didn't even make it to Lalime.

You could feel the fans in the arena and at home ripping their hair out.

It wasn't helping that the lackluster power play was inches from converting.  It also wasn't helping that the Pens were taking very undisciplined penalties, one after another.

However, it did help that the penalty killers stopped all eight penalties.

No matter what wasn't going their way on the ice, the Pens never panicked and never lost sight of their game plan.

That speaks novels about the team's character on the ice, on the bench and in the locker room.  It also speaks about the coach's coolness to always keep things rolling.

That is what Stanley Cup Champions are made of.  That little something beyond talent and luck that brings home the extra point.

Let's face the facts, every team in the NHL, despite their standings, has incredibly talented players.  With that said, a last placed team can easily beat a team atop the standings.

See the Pens' game against the Hurricanes on Dec. 7.

Winning games is no longer solely about having the best players, but rather the players who are unwilling to give up even when nothing seems to go as planned.

This is where Fleury came in.

His play was nothing short of spectacular against the Sabres.  There were times when it felt like the Pens would need a two-goal cushion to give Fleury a break in case he hiccuped, but it was never necessary.

Fleury was able to make up for the team's inability to finish the job by shutting down the Sabres' offensive onslaught.

The Pens are really starting to work like a family. If Fleury is having a rough time in net, we see Crosby and Malkin lead the charge until they score more goals than the opposing team.

If Crosby and Malkin just can't put one in, we see McKee's, Eaton's, and Orpik's blocked shots numbers go up and Fleury perform a circus act in the crease.

When the offense is having trouble getting things going, we see Gonchar, Goligoski, or Letang score a big goal.

When the defense is having trouble, you see Malkin and Crosby sacrificing their offensive responsibilities to help out Staal and the defensive co. in the corners.

This is how a team needs to work; to bail each other out when necessary with the hopes that the favor would be returned.

And this is why the Pens are finding success.  They are truly digging within to win games and that's what it takes to earn Lord Stanley.

This is the story of success, and the Penguins are living it.