PITTSBURGH — Carl Hagelin was confident.
Asked on Monday morning whether he still believed that he and linemates Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino could still play with speed, given that Bonino was hurt enough by a blocked shot to miss practice the day before, Hagelin didn't leave room for error: "One hundred percent."
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And even if Bonino is at something less than that, he didn't need any speed whatsoever to put Pittsburgh up 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Final. Bonino could've been standing at the mouth of San Jose's goal in cement boots and he still would've potted his game-winning goal with 3:33 left in the third period.
For one play, how fast Bonino is or is not was wholly irrelevant. Making it so: Hagelin's skating, Kris Letang's hockey sense, Brent Burns' lost stick and Paul Martin's brain fart. That's what gave Bonino the opportunity to finish the game.
First, Hagelin: He's one of the few fastest guys in the league, and teams have to account for it in all situations, even when he's not the one gaining the offensive zone. "(He) brings so much speed that he opens up the neutral zone and I was able to jump in the play," Letang said.
So, you had Letang leading the rush, with Hagelin trailing. It was Hagelin, after Letang hit the back of the net from the corner, who kept control of the puck while Brent Burns lost his stick and was left trying to swipe-clear with his hand.
"(It) took a weird bounce off the net, went back to him" Burns said. "Would I rather have (my stick)? I probably would."
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Letang, along the boards with the Hagelin and Burns, wound up with the puck on his stick again. He saw Bonino standing in the slot, with Martin at the top of the crease puck-watching with his stick off the ice, and boom.
“When I saw the stick down, I knew I had a lot more time, so I turned my head a little bit and I saw (Bonino) back door," Letang said. "And (Martin) was kind of on the front post, so I knew if I would get it out there I would have a good chance.”
Bonino didn't need to handle the puck cleanly or shoot it hard — Martin was discombobulated enough to buy him time. So, he fired a high flipper past Martin Jones to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead that they managed to hold.
It was his fourth goal of the playoffs. Pittsburgh is 3-1 in those games.
"Bones may not be known for being a goal-scorer, but he’s got a heavy stick," Chris Kunitz said afterward. "He can find pucks. He’s really slippery. He does all the things right and found himself in a great position and capitalized on it. Any time you’re in the slot, get him the puck. It seems like we find a way to win when he scores."
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Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, in consecutive breaths, praised Bonino's versatility, hockey IQ, hands, stick, awareness, bravery, shot-blocking ability and faceoff skills. That all came in about 10 seconds.
"I don't know what other praise I can shower on him right now," Sullivan said. "We think he's a terrific player."
He's just not that fast. And in a Final already defined by how fast both teams play — if you were to build a drinking game around speed-related questions at Media Day, you'd have been dead by lunch — it was a nice reminder that there's more to these squads, this series and this sport.