Penguins win Stanley Cup: 5 reasons Pittsburgh will three-peat

1. Sidney Crosby. Plain and simple.

Obviously, the Penguins’ success is about their whole lineup performing to its fullest, but it always comes back to the captain. Sidney Crosby has led the Penguins for over a decade at this point, and he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Crosby won the Conn Smythe trophy for the second straight year, and it looks like he could legitimately win his team a third straight Stanley Cup, along with a third straight Conn Smythe trophy. He’s already led his team to three titles in his career, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be stopping anytime soon.

The one doubt in Crosby’s Stanley Cup Final experience before this year was his lack of goal scoring, which he returned to in the series against the Predators. He scored his first goal in a Stanley Cup Final since 2009, an eight-year streak, and was providing assists left and right for the Penguins throughout the run.

The team has Crosby locked up on his huge, 12-year contract until 2024, which means he won’t be leaving Pittsburgh anytime soon. With him at the helm of the offense, and a talented roster surrounding him each year, it doesn’t look like Crosby’s success will be stopping anytime soon, and he’s become a dynasty leader in the NHL, similar to Tom Brady in the NFL or LeBron James in the NBA.

With Crosby leading the team and not even on the decline in his career yet, he provides just one of many reasons as to why the Penguins have a serious chance at a three-peat.