Penguins Stanley Cup Champions

Sidney Crosby let out a scream as he lifted the Stanley Cup above his head, a wide smile spread across his face.

The seven years of adversity since he last held the trophy were firmly in the past. The concussions that nearly derailed his career. The early playoff exits. The rough start to this season that led to a coach being fired.

Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins are once again champions. A kid no more and surrounded with new talent, Crosby set up Kris Letang's go-ahead goal midway through the second period, and Pittsburgh won its fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history by beating the San Jose Sharks 3-1 in Game 6 on Sunday night. Owner Mario Lemieux thrust his hands into the air in triumph high up in an arena suite and later hugged his superstar on the ice.

This title had been a long time coming.

"I was just thinking about how hard it was to get to this point, just trying to enjoy every second of it," Crosby said. "It's not easy to get here. Having won seven years ago at a young age, you probably take it for granted a little bit. You don't think you do at the time, but it's not easy to get to this point."

Brian Dumoulin opened the scoring with a power-play goal, and Patric Hornqvist added a late empty-netter. Matt Murray made 18 saves to give the Penguins a championship seven years to the day after they beat the Detroit Red Wings for their third title. The game ended when Crosby cleared the puck the length of the ice with San Jose on the power play, setting off a wild celebration.

All that was left was for Crosby to accept the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP and then the Stanley Cup.

"He's a special player for a reason," teammate Chris Kunitz said. "He can adapt and change his game to different things. Early in his career he went out and got points and did everything, but that didn't make him satisfied. He had to go out and lead through example and became a better player."

Crosby immediately handed off the Cup to teammate Trevor Daley, who missed the final nine games of the playoffs because of a broken left ankle. Crosby said he gave it to Daley not because of the injury but because the 32-year-old defenseman's mother is battling cancer.

There was an electric atmosphere before the final home game of the season in San Jose with fans starting their "Let's Go Sharks!" chants well before the opening puck drop and an elaborate pregame light and video show firing up the fans. But the Penguins jumped ahead for the fifth time in six games this series after Dainius Zubrus was sent off for tripping when Crosby's line didn't allow San Jose to leave its own zone. Dumoulin took advantage when his point shot beat Jones for a rare soft goal allowed by the Sharks netminder.

The Sharks tied the game early in the period when Couture beat Murray with a big shot for his 30th point of the postseason. Pittsburgh answered 1:19 later when Crosby sent a pass from behind the net to Letang, who beat Jones from a sharp angle to the short side to make it 2-1.