Penguins defenseman Ian Cole scored his first career playoff goal to give Pittsburgh an early 1-0 lead over the Sharks in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Early in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, the San Jose Sharks had some early energy, perhaps due to the rocking national anthem performed by Metallica. However, the Pittsburgh Penguins drew first blood in Game 4 and it came from an unexpected source: defenseman Ian Cole.
Cole, who had never scored in the playoffs before Game 4, scored to give the Penguins an early 1-0 lead over the Sharks.
Ian Cole gets his first goal of the #StanleyCup Playoffs! pic.twitter.com/0dEagCvy1k
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) June 7, 2016
Pittsburgh was so honed in on stopping Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel that they completely forgot about Cole. Cole took advantage of that by getting open. Kessel was able to find Cole and Cole had one of the easiest goals that anyone will ever score with a virtually wide open net as Martin Jones wasn’t able to get back quickly enough to stop Cole’s shot.
For Cole, it was his first goal in 28 playoff games. He also has five points. Cole went scoreless during the 2015-16 regular season with 12 assists and he sure picked a wonderful time to score his first goal of the season.
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