Stanley Cup Final 2017: Sidney Crosby and Penguins Who Played Key Role in Win

Sidney Crosby won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup playoffs Most Valuable Player, and Evgeni Malkin was the NHL's leading scorer during the postseason. 

They are great players who were near their best in the postseason. However, they represent just part of the reason the Pittsburgh Penguins won their second consecutive Stanley Cup and the fifth in franchise history.

Head coach Mike Sullivan has a number of other key players who were not afraid to step up in the postseason and help the Pens sip from Lord Stanley's prized chalice.

Start with rookie Jake Guentzel, who made scoring a habit during the postseason. His 13 goals led the Penguins, and he added eight assists as well. Guentzel has a good shot and is a fine skater, but he didn't score long-distance goals in the playoffs. He went to the dirty areas and was not hesitant to take the hit if it meant scoring a goal.

Phil Kessel is probably the Penguins' most talented player besides Crosby and Malkin. Prior to coming to the Penguins before the 2015-16 season, Kessel had a reputation for being a somewhat selfish player who had no interest in playing defense.

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That was not a fair assessment, but it was clear he was more dangerous on offense with his wicked wrist shot. Once he came to the Penguins, Kessel realized he had a chance to play with a championship team. He did everything that Sullivan asked and he had 23 points during this year's playoff run.

Chris Kunitz is a longtime veteran who is probably getting close to the end. He scored just two goals in this year's postseason, but both came in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference Final against the Ottawa Senators.

Kunitz opened the show with the first goal of the game, and then won it in double overtime when he took a pass from Crosby and knuckled his shot past Craig Anderson to send the Pens to the Stanley Cup Final.

Patric Hornqvist is a blue-collar forward who is not afraid to mix it up in the corners. He contributed five goals and four assists during the postseason, including the game-winner in Game 6

Youngsters Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust both have the speed and the sharp-shooting ability to score clutch goals. Sheary scored two goals while Rust added seven during the postseason run.

The Penguins did not have superstars on defense, but Justin Schultz, Ian Cole, Brian Dumoulin, Trevor Daley, Olli Maatta and Ron Hainsey got the job done.

The Pens shut out the Nashville Predators in the last two games in the series, and much of the credit has to go to goalie Matt Murray. However, a closer look reveals that the Pittsburgh defense simply did not give up any free ice to the Nashville forwards.

"Our defense group is, in a lot of ways, the unsung heroes of this team," Sullivan said prior to Game 6, per Dan Rosen of NHL.com. "I think they fly under the radar for obvious reasons. We have a lot of dynamic forwards that make a lot of great plays through the course of games that a lot of times on a lot of nights become the story line, but this team doesn't have success if that group of defensemen doesn't play the way that they've played throughout the course of this playoffs."

Murray was injured in the early part of the playoffs and Marc-Andre Fleury stepped in for him during the first two rounds of the playoffs. When Fleury started to slip a bit, Sullivan handed the starting assignment to Murray, and he led the Pens to their second consecutive Stanley Cup.

The Penguins have a pair of superstars in Crosby and Malkin, and they combined for 55 postseason points. 

However, if the Penguins did not have the effort and the contributions from their depth players, they never would have won their second straight Stanley Cup.