The Pittsburgh Penguins were one of the best teams in the NHL during the season and while they looked great throughout the playoffs, the team has been anything but that in the Eastern conference finals, as the Boston Bruins have taken a quick 2-0 lead in the series with Game 3 coming Wednesday night.
The Penguins were completely dominated after losing Game 1, as they dropped Game 2 in the series 6-1 after the Bruins barraged goaltender Tomas Vokoun in the first period with four goals. Vokoun ended up with just nine saves in the game and the Bruins got goals from five different players, including two from Brad Marchand. The Penguins were completely dominated and Crosby will need to rebound for the team to get back into the series.
The Bruins got scoring from all over the place and the Penguins were only able to muster up one goal in the first period from Brandon Sutter. The Bruins got more scoring from David Krejci, who is leading the team, as well as goals from Nathan Horton and Patrice Bergeron, who has continued his strong play in the postseason. The Bruins added two more in the third period and now Crosby will need to take charge on the road to tray and avoid going down 3-0 to the Bruins.
The Penguins are in a similar situation to the Los Angeles Kings, who were down 2-0 in their series to the Chicago Blackhawks before winning Game 3 on Tuesday night. The team got goals from Slava Voynov as well as Justin Williams, his sixth, and after 25 saves from Corey Crawford and 19 from Jonathan Quick, the series is now 2-1. The Kings were able to strike first and they kept things up with one goal in each period.
Crosby is one of the best players in the league but he looked a bit lost in Game 2 and after Evgeni Malkin got into a fight, he too needs to improve for the Penguins to win. Malkin is leading the team in scoring with 16 points, while Crosby has seven goals and Kris Letang is tops in assists. The Penguins need to win to keep the series manageable and things could get dire if they go down 3-0 in the conference finals.