Pittsburgh Wins Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final

(Will Graves-AP/PITTSBURGH)

Nick Bonino’s main job for the Pittsburgh Penguins is to get to the front of the net and create chaos.  The well-bearded forward executed perfectly in his debut in the Stanley Cup Final.

Bonino took a pretty feed from the corner by Kris Letang and beat Martin Jones from in close with 2:33 remaining to lift the Penguins to a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 on Monday night.

Rookies Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary staked Pittsburgh to an early two-goal lead before the Sharks tied it in the second period on goals by Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau.  The Penguins responded by upping the pressure in the final period and it paid off with Bonino’s fourth goal of the playoffs after he darted to the San Jose net in time to knuckle Letang’s pass by Jones for the winner.

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.