No single slice of the Penguins' championship showing on the night of June 11 in Nashville stood out quite like their penalty-kill. The opponents were handed all five power plays, as many will painfully recall, and Matt Cullen and company were perfect in cutting off lanes, blocking shots, positioning properly and all else.
"It was an honor to be part of that," Cullen would tell me on the slush afterward. "Unbelievable PK by all the guys."
Soon after, of course, Cullen was gone. And Nick Bonino. And Chris Kunitz. And even once this current season was underway, Carter Rowney, another vital figure that night and all through those playoffs, was lost for a month to injury.
By all accounts, this whole process should have been undone. The Penguins should have remained a short-handed mess for months, if not all of 2017-18.
Funny thing, though ...
"Our PK's been awesome. Just awesome."
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