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Breaking down Nick Bonino's goal that gave the Pens a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final

Nick Bonino gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead late in the third period to put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Final. Here's how it happened.

By Mike Darnay

After a back and forth third period of punch and counterpunch between the Penguins and the San Jose Sharks, Overtime felt almost inevitable. Then, within seconds, a lost stick, a great pass, a bad read, and a beautiful goal changed that inevitability into a Penguins win.

Late in the third period, Kris Letang with the puck, decides to active into forward mode, and lead the rush.

He tries to put a simple shot towards the net, and in the process, it causes Brent Burns to lose his stick.

After Burns' stick had been lost, the puck went to the corner, where Letang tried to put a quick shot on net again, maybe hoping to catch Martin Jones off of his angle and trying to bank the puck into the net.

The puck shoots off of the side of the net and back towards the boards, where Burns tries to play it with his hand, as he is without a stick. Carl Hagelin comes to the play with speed and is headed to the corner while Burns is trying to make this play.

As Hagelin gets to the corner, he is (shockingly) able to win a race and keep the puck alive on the boards where he chips it back to Kris Letang. Nick Bonino slowly creeps his way into the back end of the play, finding himself in front of the net.

Letang, with awareness that Burns does not have a stick, is able to make a composed play, putting the puck perfectly on Bonino's tape, thanks to Paul Martin's bad read/bad coverage and not having stick on the ice.

Once he gets the puck, Martin's positioning and read give Bonino ample time to corral it and chip it up and over Martin Jones and under the crossbar.

For real, look at this. Every player should score here when given this kind of angle, time, and space, but I truly think a lot of players would panic and try and one-time the puck right off of Jones pads. Ultra composed play from Bonino.

It was a perfect storm of the timing of Brent Burns to lose his stick, Kris Letang making a tremendous pass, Paul Martin making a bad read, and Nick Bonino making a patient finish. Just two minutes and change from overtime, and just like that, the Penguins have the lead.

The play can be seen in its entirety below:

The Penguins now have one of the four wins needed to take home the Stanley Cup and will be looking to double that lead when they host the San Jose Sharks in Game 2 tomorrow night.

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