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NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL: PREDATORS VS PENGUINS

June 11, 2017

Sidney Crosby

Nashville, Tennessee - Postgame

Pittsburgh - 2, Nashville - 0

Q. Before the Playoffs started, I asked you what winning a third and going back-to-back would mean for you, mean for your legacy, and you didn't want to go there. Will you go there now? What do you think it means for you? What do you think it means for your legacy to do it back-to-back and have the Conn Smythe, too?
SIDNEY CROSBY: Yeah, it's hard to kind of throw it all together. I'm really happy to be a part of this group, and a good chunk of the guys are returning from last year, so it's pretty special. You know, we set out to try to go back-to-back. We knew it was going to be difficult, but I think that's probably where the most joy comes out of, is just knowing how difficult it is now to go back-to-back and knowing that we overcame all those things. It's a pretty special group. I'll say that.

Q. At this point you've achieved just about everything there is to achieve in this game. Maybe there's something I can't think of, but what drives you after you've already kind of reached all these benchmarks? Once the next season starts getting closer, what is it that gets you back in focus for doing it all over again?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I think this feeling right now. You can't match this. This is what it's all about, and to be able to share that with a group of guys, and a lot of them guys that you've played a long time with and understand how difficult it is and what you've had to go through and that kind of thing, to share it with family and friends, you know, is just -- that's what it's about.

You have a small window to play and to have a career, and I feel fortunate, but I also understand how difficult it is, so you just want to try to make the best of it.

Q. Coach Sullivan said yesterday that you're maybe the best athlete that he's ever met or seen. How do you explain your will to win and your will every day to achieve something?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I don't know, I think people have different personalities. That's a competitive nature, I think, is just something that's in me, and I think there's lots of guys who are competitive out there. You look at our group, you look at everything we've been through, we've got a lot of guys who care a lot about their own game but also the guys around them. You know, it's really -- that's part of playing on a team. You just want to do your part.

But I think everyone has that in mind and everyone is willing to do whatever it takes, and I try to make sure I do the same.

Q. Sid, the teams that have won the Stanley Cups in recent years have had Kris Letangs and Duncan Keiths and Drew Doughtys, and that No. 1 A defensemen on their teams. You've just won one without that. Tell us about this team and how you were able to overcome something that really no one has done since Carolina I don't know how many years ago.
SIDNEY CROSBY: Yeah, I mean, Schultzy is a pretty good offensive defenseman and brings that kind of game, but probably doesn't play the same minutes as the guys that you were talking about. But I think just that group of guys and what they're willing to do and what they bring, it's all so important.

I could go through every guy. But they had to deal with that. They know the pressure that comes with losing a guy who plays 25 to 30 minutes, and they weren't intimidated by it. They took it on, and there was probably a lot of people thinking the same thing that you just mentioned.

I think they proved what they're capable of. I think that group being together for last year, too, I'm sure helped them, and guys were in and out of the lineup. You know, Dales was out at some point there, and guys who filled in did a great job and we picked up a couple veteran guys that ended up paying off for us, too.

Yeah, I can't say enough about that group. It was pretty difficult what they were able to do night in and night out.

Q. Congratulations. If they had given you a Smythe ballot, who might you have been inclined to put on it?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I think Geno comes to mind right away. If you could somehow put our two goaltenders on there -- you know, there were games that they stole for us throughout the Playoffs.

Tonight you look at an example of the way Mur played. Flower, throughout that whole Washington series. We were given no shot, no chance, and he just kept us in there, so those two guys come to mind. Guentz, a young guy to come in like that and score the way he did is pretty incredible.

There's so many guys who could have easily won that, and I think we just had a group of guys that understood big moments and knew how to find ways to win.

Q. You gave the Cup to Hainsey. How did you come about that decision and what do you think that meant to him?
SIDNEY CROSBY: Well, you know, a guy who's played as long as he has and not even get a playoff game I think tells you how difficult it is to win. It was just special to be able to pass it to him, somebody who's probably been through so much and played a long time and can appreciate it as much as he can. I'm sure he's pretty happy to lift it, and I was certainly happy to be able to pass it off to him.

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