from Helene Elliott of the LA Times,

Navigating the Stanley Cup playoffs requires intensity in each moment and respect for the big picture, quick bursts of energy and a well of endurance, scaling emotional highs and displaying restraint. Winning the Cup is exhilarating but exhausting. Winning twice in a row has become a forbidding challenge.

“The schedule is brutal and it’s demanding,” Pittsburgh Penguins forward Phil Kessel said. “Every year is different. There’s injuries and different things. You can win a round. You can win two rounds. It’s hard to win three, four rounds to get back to the Cup Final.”

The playoffs have become such a war of attrition that no team has repeated as champion since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. But the Pittsburgh Penguins believe the survival skills they developed while prevailing last season will help them against the West champion Nashville Predators, whose resilience and depth have carried them from being the No. 8 seed to their first Cup Final. The series opens Monday at PPG Paints Arena.

“You take your knowledge from the year before, of knowing that you can lose games, you can have ups and downs, but as long as you can string together four out of seven you can win any series, and we always go in with the belief we can win any series,” said Pittsburgh left wing Chris Kunitz, whose double-overtime goal in Game 7 against Ottawa propelled the Penguins back to the Final.

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