Bruins vs. Penguins Final Score: Boston Reaches Stanley Cup Finals with Series Sweep of Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Penguins looked to be one of the best teams in hockey this season and coming off their series against the Ottawa Senators it appeared they were just getting hot enough to make a run to the Stanley Cup Finals. But the Boston Bruins had a different plan for the Penguins but no one foresaw that plan being an Eastern Conference series sweep of the East’s top-seed.

Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask was phenomenal in all four games for Boston but his final two minutes in Game 4 was some of the most well defended minutes of hockey we’ve seen all season long. Down 1-0, the Penguins pulled Tomas Vokoun with over a minute and a half left and brought Sidney Crosby as their extra attacker. But as incredible as that sounds for the Pens, Rask swated away every shot the Pens could fire at him and ended the game but gloving Pittsburgh last chance to tie the game and extend their season.

Zdeno Chara saved the day though as he used all 6-foot-9 of his frame to block one of the final shots of the game and bailed out Tuukka Rask during the Pens final flurry. Rask finishes the series against Pittsburgh with a 0.44 goals against average which is something fans in Chicago should be ver nervous about.

For Pittsburgh, the abrupt and violent end to their season is something that won’t sit well with them at all. While the Bruins came at them as a team playing as a unit, the Pens tried to win as a team individuals — only no one showed up. The dynamic duo of Sidney Crosby and  Evgeni Malkin were invisible for the Pens all series long and that was a major factor in the outcome we saw. Pittsburgh ended up 0-15 on the power play in the series which is all credit to Tuukka Rask and the Bruins defense.

But while some will try to break down what happened to the Penguins, the fact of the matter is the Boston Bruins have emerged as the team to beat in the Stanley Cup thanks to solid defense, epic experience and unity as well as ace netminding from Tuukka Rask.

They made beating the Penguins look easy and it’s hard to take that away and place it on a failure by the Pens. Boston took the Penguins apart and devoured them and that’s something they’ll take into the Stanley Cup.