Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Penguins One Win Away From Another Appearance In The Stanley Cup Final

05/25/2017 at 8:29am EDT

from Craig Custance of ESPN,

Those who have experienced it say it goes in phases. After you win a Stanley Cup, it's a summer of celebration. Then comes a regular season in which an inevitable rough patch emerges when exhaustion kicks in.

"You crash sometime in November, December or January," said former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, who led the Penguins to a Stanley Cup in 2009. "You don't have any energy. You're walking zombies."

But the best champs persevere and then the playoffs arrive -- another phase and a new life.

"I remember thinking that no team is going to be able to beat us," said forward Dan Cleary, part of the most recent team to advance to consecutive Stanley Cup finals when the Detroit Red Wings did it in 2008 and 2009. "I wasn't so much worried about rest or fatigue or energy. Your tank fills up immediately."

The long playoff run has a way of being unforgiving about draining that tank. Since Cleary's Red Wings fell short of winning the 2009 Stanley Cup, no reigning champion has made it back to the finals.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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