Stanley Cup Final 2016: TV Schedule, Live Stream for Sharks vs. Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins made the change that altered their season in mid-December. That's when general manager Jim Rutherford decided that his floundering team would benefit from a coaching change. Out went Mike Johnston and in came Mike Sullivan.

Under Johnston, the Penguins had been a somewhat listless team that had a hard time sustaining any success. Rutherford knew that the Penguins had more ability than that, and so the GM charged Sullivan with getting it out of them.

It didn't happen overnight, and the Penguins teetered on the playoff-eligibility line for quite a while. Sullivan's influence eventually took hold, and the Penguins started to play to their ability. Instead of the hesitant, tentative play that had become the Penguins' signature under Johnston, they became a much quicker team that played with an aggressive style.

Pittsburgh went 33-16-5 throughout the regular season under Sullivan, and it finished with a scintillating 14-2-0 record down the home stretch. The Pens were ready for the playoffs at the start of April, and they demonstrated it by disposing of the New York Rangers in five games.

That series victory sent them to a second-round confrontation with the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals, the team that most expected to win the Stanley Cup. The Penguins could not compete with the Caps' size and strength, but they were faster and more aggressive. Phil Kessel, Nick Bonino and Carl Hagelin stepped up for the Penguins, and the result was a hard-fought series victory in six games.

Category	San Jose Sharks (Ranking)	Pittsburgh Penguins (Ranking)	Edge
Goals per game	2.8902 (4th)	2.939 (3rd)	Penguins
Goals against per game	2.5244 (10th)	2.4268 (6th)	Penguins
Power Play	22.55 percent (3rd)	18.39 percent (16th)	Sharks
Penalty Kill	80.51 percent (21st)	84.44 (5th)	Penguins
Points Percentage	.598 (11th)	.634 (4th)	Penguins

The Penguins were put to the test in the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, trailing 3-2 after blowing a late lead in Game 5 and losing 4-3 in overtime. Marc-Andre Fleury, who had been sidelined at the start of the playoffs with a concussion, was in goal for that game. However, Sullivan sat Fleury in Games 6 and 7 in favor of 21-year-old Matt Murray, and that move may have saved the Penguins.

Murray has a 2.21 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in the postseason.

The young netminder played well in both games, and Pittsburgh responded with back-to-back wins to earn its first trip back to the Stanley Cup Final since 2009, when it beat the Detroit Red Wings.

The Penguins will face a deep and motivated team in the San Jose Sharks when the series opens Monday night in Pittsburgh. The Stanley Cup Final can be streamed on NHL.TV.

"It means a lot to any organization when you get to the final four or the final two, but that's not the finish line," Rutherford told Tom Gulitti of NHL.com. "We want to get to the final one, just as San Jose does. So I'm really proud of our players. We've played three very good teams to get to this point. Now we're going to play another good one."

The Sharks had developed a reputation for postseason disappointment throughout the years. They had never been to the Stanley Cup Final in the past, and regularly suffered first- or second-round disappointment.

Despite a roster that was loaded with glorious players, they didn't even make the playoffs in 2014-15, which forced Sharks general manager Doug Wilson to fire long-time head coach Todd McLellan and bring in former New Jersey Devils bench boss Peter DeBoer.

The Sharks earned a playoff spot, but few expected them to beat the Los Angeles Kings in the first round. Instead, the Sharks eliminated the Kings in five games.

They were pushed to the limit in the second round by the Nashville Predators, but they played a sensational Game 7 and punished the Preds by a 5-0 margin in that decisive game.

That victory proved that these were not the same old Sharks. They had the same relentless quality that Pittsburgh demonstrated in the Eastern Conference. They engaged a tough, hard-nosed and determined St. Louis Blues team in the Western Conference Final and stopped them in six games.

The superstars who comprise the Big Three for the Sharks—Logan Couture (24 points), Joe Pavelski (22 points) and defenseman Brent Burns (20 points)—have been on top of their games throughout the postseason, while Joe Thornton, Joel Ward, Patrick Marleau and Tomas Hertl have made timely contributions.

Martin Jones has been steady in goal with a 2.12 GAA and a .919 save percentage.

Both the Penguins and Sharks have already had seasons of redemption, but only one of them will end up hoisting the Stanley Cup, capping off a campaign for the ages.