NASHVILLE — It was a half hour after the Pittsburgh Penguins had won their second consecutive Stanley Cup and the general manager of the team — the man who hired the head coach, who last year brought in Phil Kessel and this year traded for Ron Hainsey, while refusing to trade Marc-Andre Fleury — couldn’t stop smiling.

They told Jim Rutherford this couldn’t be done.

Well, take that, he said.

“People said at the start of the year and all through the year that it’s hard to repeat,” Rutherford said Sunday night. “But we always said, ‘Nobody said that you can’t.’ And our guys were determined.

“We kept the same group together. They knew how to win these big games. They came in here and won this game. They know how to step up with the game. It was a gutsy, determined group of guys.”

This year’s win was tougher than last year’s. The team was without Kris Letang for the entire playoffs, had a threadbare defence, and seemed to be running on fumes after playing more hockey than any other team in the last 24 months.

“I think this one was harder than last year,” Rutherford said. “Yeah, especially with the pressure on us and with how many guys we had playing hurt. It was certainly more stressful for me this time around. I haven’t been breathing that good for the last two months, but now I can breathe.”

Rutherford can breathe, but he won’t rest.

He said he would love to do what no other team since the New York Islanders have done in the early 1980s and win a third straight title.

It sounds impossible. But people said the same thing about them repeating.

Here are five reasons why the Penguins could pull off the rare three-peat:

1) SID AND GENO

From Mario and Jagr to Crosby and Malkin.

It almost seems unfair.

If it wasn’t enough that the Penguins had the best player in the world, they have another who some might consider to be the second-best. Certainly, that is the way it looked in the playoffs. If Crosby wasn’t scoring, Malkin was. And vice versa.

Of course, it was usually both dominating at the same time.

Malkin led the playoffs with 28 points, while Crosby, who won his second straight Conn Smythe Trophy, was second with 27 points. There was only one game where both were held off the scoresheet.

“They're two players of a very select few in the league that single-handedly have an ability to change the outcomes of games,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “That's how good they are. But I do believe that just in my time in Pittsburgh with them, I think they're appreciative of one another.”

2) KRIS LETANG

Somehow, someway, the Penguins won a Cup without a No. 1 defenceman.

The way that they spread out the minutes was reminiscent of the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes, a team that had Rutherford as the GM.

“When Letang went out I said to our guys, ‘Don’t worry. We can do this,’” Rutherford said. “You’ve got to get the guys playing the right amount of minutes, you have to have them playing within themselves.”

It was the kind of performance that gets made into a Disney movie, but don’t get used to it.

Letang, who underwent surgery for a herniated disc in his neck before the playoffs began, will be back for next season. With a true No. 1 in the lineup, Pittsburgh’s one weakness will become a strength again.

3) JAKE GUENTZEL

No one knew much about the curly-haired rookie before the post-season.

But, after he led the post-season with 13 goals, including five game-winners, Guentzel was arguably Pittsburgh’s MVP.

The question now is whether it's a flash-in-the-pan performance or the start of something special. There are signs that it could be the latter.

While Guentzel obviously benefited from playing on a line with Crosby, he did score 21 goals and 42 points in 33 games as a rookie this year in the minors. And with 33 points in 40 games with the Penguins, he was on pace to finish second behind Auston Matthews in rookie scoring.

Only 22, there is a good chance he could grow into the skilled winger Crosby has been searching his entire career for.

4) MONEY IS NO MATTER

Nothing splits up a potential dynasty better than the salary cap. The Penguins, however, are in decent shape.

Chris Kunitz ($3.85 million), Nick Bonino ($1.9 million) and Matt Cullen ($1 million) are unrestricted free agents, as are defencemen Trevor Daley ($3.3 million) and Ron Hainsey ($2.83 million). But, the bulk of Pittsburgh’s roster, including the Big 3 of Crosby, Malkin and Letang, are returning next season.

If the Penguins trade or lose Marc-Andre Fleury to the expansion draft, they would have an additional $5.75 million to play with.

The team has to re-sign restricted free agents Conor Sheary and Justin Schultz, as well as find a couple of depth centres. They should still have plenty of money left to sign a second-pairing defenceman, such as UFAs Kevin Shattenkirk or Karl Alzner.

5) MATT MURRAY

It’s hard to imagine that the Penguins would have won the Cup — or even advanced past the first round — had Rutherford traded Fleury at the deadline.

While Fleury stepped in while Matt Murray recovered from an injury, it was once again Murray who pushed a team that was routinely outshot and outchanced over the hump.

Taking over the starter’s role in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final, the experienced rookie goalie went 7-3 with a 1.70 goals-against average and .937 save percentage. He saved his best performances when it mattered the most, recording back-to-back shutouts in Games 5 and 6 of the Cup Final.

“He was in a zone the last two games,” Rutherford said. “When he’s like that, you can’t score on him.”

With a starting goalie who is only 23 and already has two championships under his belt, Pittsburgh should be a Cup contender for many, many years.

mtraikos@postmedia.com

'BEST TEAM PLAYER IN ALL OF SPORTS'

He traded for Ron Hainsey, Mark Streit and Frank Corrado, but the best move Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford might have made at this year’s deadline was the one he ended up not making.

Everyone had expected the Penguins would trade Marc-Andre Fleury, whose time with the team appears to be coming to an end, yet Rutherford decided to hold onto him past the deadline.

It was a curious move at the time. Looking back, though, it was probably the difference in winning a second consecutive championship.

Fleury was on the bench for the last four games of the conference final and the entire Stanley Cup final against Nashville, but he led Pittsburgh to series wins against Columbus and Washington after Matt Murray suffered an injury to start the playoffs.

“Fleury’s probably the best team player in all of sports,” Rutherford said. “What he went through last year and stuck with it as a team guy. He carried us through two rounds in the playoffs and turned it over to Murray.

“I talked at the start of the season about keeping two goalies. And these guys did exactly what I hoped they would do: they got us the Cup.”