Bruins Sweep Penguins and Advance To Second Finals In 3 Years

(The Bruins received the Prince of Wales Trophy, given to the Eastern Conference champions. As usual, nobody touched it.)

Well, they did it. The Boston Bruins just swept the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. They held the top offense in the NHL to 2 goals in the series, and also held the number one power play to a big fat 0. Now, with the Bruins playing their best hockey, they are going to their second Stanley Cup Final in 3 years and will face either the Chicago Blackhawks or the defending champion Los Angeles Kings. Chicago leads the series 3-1.

This was, like game 3, a very defensive battle by both teams. The Penguins obviously wanted to avoid the sweep anyway they could. Rask and Vokoun certainly came ready to play, as both goalies were on their game, and even though there wasn't tons of offense in this game, that made more important every save they made. There would actually be no scoring at all through 2 periods. So it could be the Penguins going home or staying alive. But, u knew the Bruins wouldn't let that happen, right? 5 minutes into the third period with the game still scoreless, Brad Marchand was skating up the boards into the offensive zone. He then passed it to a wide open Adam Mcquaid who ripped a rising slap shot up and over the glove of Vokoun and break the tie and give the Bruins a 1-0 lead with 15 minutes to play. Replays showed that it may have grazed the stick of a diving Jarome Iginla. So, yes, Jarome Iginla has officially scored his first goal for the Bruins. Anyways, the Bruins looked to be in control up until the final minute and 30 seconds of regulation. Pittsburgh pulled their goalie to get an extra attacker. And man, this might have been the most crazy and exciting minute in the entire game. The Penguins were throwing everything they had at the net. And there was one extremely close call. With Rask out of his net a little after making a save, the Penguins were looking at a wide open net, but Chara somehow, SOMEHOW, got his arm in there to block the shot. The Bruins were able to stop the craziness, and they won 1-0 and are going to the Finals.

Obviously nobody saw a sweep of the Penguins coming. Tuukka Rask was great but so was the defense. The Penguins were shut out twice in the series. We will find out when the Finals start as soon as the west wraps up.

~Anthony