The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the brink as the Eastern conference playoffs hit Game 4 on Friday night in Boston and as the Bruins are up 3-0 in the series after the Game 3 overtime win, they can send captain Sidney Crosby home for the postseason with another win in the elimination game after winning in dominant fashion so far.
The Penguins have been completely outplayed by the Bruins and the Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been held out of the scoring column for basically the entire series and now they must rally back from 3-0 to have any chance at advancing. The last four teams left in the playoffs are the last four Stanley Cup champions in the Penguins, Blackhawks, Bruins and Kings and now the Bruins are up 3-0 and Chicago is up 3-1 in their series and both teams look ready to advance.
The Penguins best chance to win a game came in Game 3 on the road in Boston after a 1-1 game went into double overtime, but after a fantastic goal from Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins were up 3-0 on the Pens. Crosby had a rough series and while he played much better in Game 3, it didn't result in any scoring or a victory. The Bruins got another goal from David Krejci, who is leading with nine scores, while Bergeron scored his fifth for the winner. The team got a whopping 53 saves from Tukka Rask in an amazing performance, while Tomas Vokoun was nearly as good with 28 saves.
The Bruins took and early 1-0 lead on the Krejci goal, while the Penguins were able to respond in the second period with a goal from Chris Kunitz on the wing, but that was all they would get over the next three frames and now they are down 3-0. The first game saw a 3-0 shutout on the road by the Bruins and the team started off with a 1-0 series lead after two goals from Krejci and one from Nathan Horton. The team got one goal in the first and two in the third for the win and Tukka Rask had 29 saves to best Vokoun, who finished with 27 in the game.
The Penguins knew they had to try and win at least one game at home, but Game 2 would prove to be not that contest, as Crosby was outplayed early and often and the Bruins raced out to four goals in the first period with one by PITT. Vokoun eventually was pulled after making just nine saves in the 6-1 loss and the Penguins didn't add another goal after Brandon Sutter's score in the first period.
The Bruins showed off their depth in that game with goals from five different players, including another from Krejci and Horton as well as goals from Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Jonny Boychuk. The team scored two in the third and Rask came through again with 26 saves in the game.
