The 2016 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 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 (the 2004–05 season, and consequently the 2005 Final, were not played due to a lockout).
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 (with a few games being played on Friday). 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 (NBA) 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 (48–26–8) 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 (46–30–6) 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.
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st PIT Bryan Rust (6) Justin Schultz (3) and Chris Kunitz (7) 12:46 1–0 PIT PIT Conor Sheary (3) Sidney Crosby (10) and Olli Maatta (5) 13:48 2–0 PIT 2nd SJ Tomas Hertl (6) – pp Joonas Donskoi (5) and Brent Burns (15) 03:02 2–1 PIT SJ Patrick Marleau (5) Brent Burns (16) and Logan Couture (17) 18:12 2–2 3rd PIT Nick Bonino (4) Kris Letang (9) and Carl Hagelin (8) 17:27 3–2 PIT Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st SJ Dainius Zubrus High-sticking 08:54 2:00 2nd PIT Ian Cole Hooking 01:14 2:00 SJ Joe Pavelski Tripping 18:52 2:00 SJ Joe Thornton Roughing 18:52 2:00 PIT Evgeni Malkin Slashing 18:52 2:00 3rd SJ Patrick Marleau Illegal check to head 04:47 2:00 PIT Ben Lovejoy Hooking 17:51 2:00 Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total 4 13 9 26 15 8 18 41
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.
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st None 2nd PIT Phil Kessel (10) Nick Bonino (13) and Carl Hagelin (9) 08:20 1–0 PIT 3rd SJ Justin Braun (1) Logan Couture (18) and Joel Ward (6) 15:55 1–1 OT PIT Conor Sheary (4) Kris Letang (10) and Sidney Crosby (11) 02:35 2–1 PIT Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st SJ Paul Martin Delay of game (puck over glass) 12:09 2:00 2nd SJ Paul Martin High-sticking 08:50 2:00 PIT Ian Cole Interference 18:49 2:00 3rd None OT None Shots by period Team 1 2 3 OT Total 6 5 9 2 22 11 12 6 1 30
Game three
Ben Lovejoy 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.
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st PIT Ben Lovejoy (2) Unassisted 05:29 1–0 PIT SJ Justin Braun (2) Joe Thornton (16) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (11) 09:34 1–1 2nd PIT Patric Hornqvist (8) Ben Lovejoy (4) and Olli Maatta (6) 19:07 2–1 PIT 3rd SJ Joel Ward (7) Joonas Donskoi (6) and Joe Thornton (17) 08:48 2–2 OT SJ Joonas Donskoi (6) Chris Tierney (3) 12:18 3–2 SJ Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st SJ Joel Ward High-sticking 02:58 2:00 2nd PIT Carl Hagelin Tripping 10:39 2:00 3rd PIT Nick Bonino High-sticking – double minor 04:48 4:00 OT None Shots by period Team 1 2 3 OT Total 14 6 13 9 42 6 9 7 4 26
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. Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st PIT Ian Cole (1) Phil Kessel (10) and Evgeni Malkin (12) 07:36 1–0 PIT 2nd PIT Evgeni Malkin (5) - pp Phil Kessel (11) and Kris Letang (11) 02:37 2–0 PIT 3rd SJ Melker Karlsson (4) Chris Tierney (4) and Brenden Dillon (1) 08:07 2–1 PIT PIT Eric Fehr (3) Carl Hagelin (10) and Olli Maatta (7) 17:58 3–1 PIT Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st SJ Marc-Edouard Vlasic Interference 11:37 2:00 PIT Ben Lovejoy Holding the stick 14:45 2:00 2nd SJ Melker Karlsson Interference 02:28 2:00 PIT Bryan Rust Hooking 17:33 2:00 3rdNone Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total 6 7 7 20 8 4 12 24
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. Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st SJ Brent Burns (7) Melker Karlsson (2) and Logan Couture (19) 01:04 1–0 SJ SJ Logan Couture (9) Justin Braun (5) 02:53 2–0 SJ PIT Evgeni Malkin (6) – pp Phil Kessel (12) and Kris Letang (12) 04:44 2–1 SJ PIT Carl Hagelin (6) Nick Bonino (14) 05:06 2–2 SJ Melker Karlsson (5) Logan Couture (20) and Brenden Dillon (2) 14:47 3–2 SJ 2nd None 3rd SJ Joe Pavelski (14) – en Joe Thornton (18) 18:40 4–2 SJ Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st SJ Danius Zubrus Delay of game (puck over glass) 04:21 2:00 SJ Brent Burns High-sticking 08:18 2:00 2nd PIT Bench (served by Phil Kessel) Too many men on the ice 05:58 2:00 SJ Melker Karlsson Slashing 10:30 2:00 3rd PIT Carl Hagelin Hooking 14:04 2:00 PIT Sidney Crosby Roughing 19:56 2:00 SJ Melker Karlsson Roughing 19:56 2:00 Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total 7 8 7 22 15 17 14 46
Game six