The Pittsburgh Penguins swept the Carolina Hurricanes to advance to their second straight Stanley Cup final with a convincing 4–1 on Tuesday night in Raleigh.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had an MVP-type performance backstopping the Pens with 30 saves while Max Talbot had a goal and two assists.
Coming out strong and supported by an intense home crowd, the Canes scored first less than two minutes into the game as star center Eric Staal beat Fleury with a quick wrap around.
But Carolina’s lead would not last long.
Sitting in their own zone for the better part of the first period, the Pens got their offense going after Ruslan Fedetenko tied it up at 8:21. The Russian was left unmarked at the side of the net to tap in a Phil Boucher slap shot.
And with less than two minutes remaining in the period, Pittsburgh would quiet the home crowd further. Max Talbot broke towards Ward’s net and had his weak shot deflected by Carolina defenseman Anton Babchuk. As the knuckler floated goal-bound, Ward missed it and it tipped in off his glove for a 2–1 Pens lead.
It’s no coincidence that the Pens were getting all the bounces.
As the game wore on Pittsburgh gained in strength, absolutely stifling the Hurricanes attack. The Pens added a third goal in the second period with just under eight minutes remaining as Sidney Crosby fed Bill Guerin. The veteran Guerin has now scored seven goals in the playoffs. His acquisition at the trade deadline is looking better and better every day.
Former Hurricane Craig Adams added an empty netter late in the third to seal Carolina’s fate.
For Pittsburgh, Marc-Andre Fleury played his best game of the series stonewalling the Canes offense with several acrobatic saves. The Penguins defense also came up huge doing an excellent job at blocking shots and filling up lanes.
As the game ended both teams lined up for the customary handshake exchange and the ever-classy Cam Ward approached his counterpart and gave him a firm shake and words of congratulations. The two Staal brothers—Jordan for Pittsburgh and Eric for Carolina—were brief in congratulating each other.
The Hurricanes have exceeded expectations by beating the New Jersey Devils in seven and then the Boston Bruins in seven. They are a team that never quit but failed to find the answers against a team of destiny in the Pittsburgh Penguins.
With this victory, the Pens will now move onto the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second year in a row where they will most likely face the Detroit Red Wings again. Game 5 of the Detroit–Chicago series goes tomorrow night in Detroit with the Wings looking to eliminate the Hawks.
