from Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

Five years after the Penguins started spiraling into a sordid playoff history, a history at its most vexing and twisted for Game 7’s in the place they call home, you may now pronounce all of that officially over, dead and gone, as the new house Lemieux built is finally ready for the Stanley Cup.

For all of their brilliance, resilience, and unflagging faith in themselves and their common goal, the Penguins might not have produced a Game 7 star on Tuesday night as incandescent as the building, by which I mean the people in the seats, who generated an atmosphere so perfect for the special urgency of ultimate playoff hockey that it nearly made head coach Mike Sullivan’s voice crack trying to describe it.

“I thought it was incredible,” Sullivan began. “The third period, it was electric. It was the loudest that I’ve heard a building in all the years I’ve been associated with this league. It was to the point where we had to scream to the players as to who was up next.”

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from Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times,

In the end, it all goes down as a disappointing season, a step back even though adversity conspired to keep the Lightning from playing for the NHL's holiest grail. It played most of the postseason without Stamkos. It played the conference final without goaltender and team MVP Ben Bishop.

Somehow, the resilient Lightning marched on, reaching the conference final. It nearly won this series in six games, but couldn't close the deal on home ice. Still, even without its top two players, it pushed Pittsburgh to seven games.

"I'm pretty sure a lot of people wouldn't have picked us to get this far," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

For that reason, it's hard to beat up this team that has shown as much heart as it has skill, as much guts as it has talent. It's close to miraculous that it got as far as it did.

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