PITTSBURGH — In the waning minutes of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the N.H.L.’s Eastern Conference finals, the decibel level from the delirious crowd here reached 123. That is a little lower than the level of a fighter jet taking off from an aircraft carrier.
The Penguins’ rookies, most notably Bryan Rust and Matt Murray, played their part in securing the win. But as the team looks ahead to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals against the San Jose Sharks here on Monday night, the stars are delivering, too.
Sidney Crosby, the Penguins’ captain, scored the winning goal in three of the Penguins’ four victories over Tampa Bay.
Crosby did not score a goal Thursday night; Rust scored Pittsburgh’s two goals. But Crosby led all players with six shots on goal and eight shot attempts and had the most time on ice among forwards, playing 23 minutes.
The Penguins are headed to the Stanley Cup finals for the fifth time in franchise history, and the first time since their title run in 2009.
“I thought it was incredible,” Pittsburgh Coach Mike Sullivan said of the final minutes. “It was the loudest that I’ve heard a building in all the years that I’ve been associated with this league, to the point where we had to scream to the players on who was up next.”
Few could have imagined the Penguins would be in this position six months ago. The fans were disillusioned. Pittsburgh had a poor start and was near the bottom of the league in scoring.
So was Crosby. As one of the league’s biggest stars, he has been relied on by the Penguins, and by the N.H.L.’s marketers and television partners, to produce. But through the first 18 games of the season, he had only two goals and a handful of assists.
In mid-December, the changes began. Sullivan, who had joined the organization a few months earlier to lead the team’s top minor league affiliate, was promoted to coach the Penguins. Pittsburgh General Manager Jim Rutherford then overhauled the team through trades and minor league call-ups. It worked.
The Penguins roared back in the standings, finishing second in the Eastern Conference in points. They scored the third-most goals in the N.H.L. Crosby went on a torrid scoring run and ended up third in points.
“It wasn’t easy getting to this point,” Crosby said after Game 7.
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