Asking for the Penguins: So When Do The Eastern Conference Finals Start?

Who didn't think the Bruins would win Games 1 & 2 in Pittsburgh by an aggregate score of 9-1? Haha Boston followed up Saturday's 3-0 victory in Game 1 with an absurd 6-1 pasting of the Penguins in Game 2 tonight at CONSOL Energy Center. The B's took a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals back with them to Boston for Games 3 and 4 at TD Garden.

I'm not just being a Black and Gold honk when I say that this one was over after the first 20 minutes. Boston blitzed Pittsburgh with four goals in the opening frame and the Penguins' revolving door of goaltenders nor turnstiles/parking cones on defense could do anything to stop them.

Other than the final score, this win will be remembered most for Brad Marchand's heroics. He scored on a breakaway 28 seconds into regulation after stealing Sidney Crosby's weak pass attempt and skating in on a breakaway. Pittsburgh's Brandon Sutter finally solved Tuukka Rask (26 saves) at 19:26 but Marchand answered by stomping on the Penguins' throats 25 seconds later. His snipe over Marc-Andre Fleury's glove made it 4-1, it was Marchand's fourth goal of the postseason from Patrice Bergeron and Jaromir Jagr.

Boston has completely exposed Pittsburgh's overrated defensemen, looking at you Kris Letang (-3 in Game 2), and left their pair of overmatched goaltenders-Tomas Vokoun and Fleury in a Zamboni puddle in the corner. Nathan Horton made it 2-0 Bruins at 14:37 after he tipped Torey Krug's shot from the point then followed up his own rebound. David Krejci scored his NHL-best (tied with Chicago's Patrick Sharp) eighth goal at 16:31 after some beautiful passing between Horton and Milan Lucic.

Krejci's goal prompted Vokoun to get pulled but Fleury also allowed three goals (albeit when the game was already out of hand) so how can you choose between those two bums at the moment?

We keep waiting for Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jarome Iginla, James Neal, Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupuis or Letang to do something positive but so far, they've combined for a grand total of zero points and they are collectively -19. Is this real life?

Bergeron wrapped it up 27 seconds into the third period after a sublime pass from Jagr. Johnny Boychuk assisted on Bergeron's fourth goal of the playoffs. Boychuk completed the barrage with his NHL-leading (for a defenseman) fifth goal at 18:36 from Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell.

At least the Penguins showed a heartbeat in Game 1, I can't say they did the same in Game 2. It was almost as if they packed it in once Marchand made it 4-1. The pressure of being the Eastern Conference favorites all season appears to have taken its toll on this mentally fragile squad. Many will be quick to compare the Penguins to the Canucks of 2011 but the difference there is that Vancouver won the first two games at home before falling apart in Boston and losing Game 7 on its home ice.

As the Bruins have showed countless times in the past decade alone, anything can happen in the NHL playoffs. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, they have really put themselves in a tough spot. We convinced ourselves that they would come out much better in Game 2 but it turned out that they played way worse than Game 1. Pittsburgh is light years ahead of the Rangers in terms of talent and pedigree but if they lose Game 3 on Wednesday (8 p.m., NBCSN), I'm confident the Penguins would similarly roll over and make this a short series.

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Bruins Puke On Their Skates In 3rd Period, Cough Up 2-0 Lead To Penguins

Playing in the second night of a back-to-back on the road against the NHL's hottest team-the Pittsburgh Penguins-proved to be too much for the Bruins tonight at the Consol Energy Center. Boston (17-4-3) actually led 2-0 in the first period but the Penguins (19-8-0) rallied for a pair of goals in the third period before Brandon Sutter won it with the game-winner at 17:57. Pittsburgh captured its sixth game in a row but on the bright side at least the B's didn't have to go to overtime or another shootout again.

Zdeno Chara's power play goal (his 5th goal of the season) at 4:45, from Dennis Seidenberg and Rich Peverley, was a bomb from the point followed by Tyler Seguin's goal (his 9th of the season) which gave the Bruins a shocking 2-0 lead at 13:30. Seguin's was the result of tic-tac-toe passing between his linemates Brad Marchand (who won the puck along the end boards) and Patrice Bergeron. He roofed it by Marc-Andre Fleury (14 saves).

Anton Khudobin (4-2-0) got the start and he deserved a better result since he made 31 saves. After they scored their goals, Boston went into a deep slumber the likes of which their team logo is best known for. Khudobin kept them afloat for as long as he could that is until two crappy turnovers and one sublime finish proved to be a deadly combination.

Chris Kunitz got Pittsburgh on the board with his 18th goal of the season at 13:42, a laser of a one-timer over Khudobin's shoulder that was assisted by Kris Letang and Deryk Engelland. Sutter was the unlikely hero thanks to the gifts from Boston's leaky defensemen who couldn't help but hand him the puck in prime locations. He tied it at 14:33 from James Neal and Beau Bennett. His game-winner was fittingly unassisted although it would have been Dennis Seidenberg's best assist of the season if only they were on the same team.

Now officially halfway through this lockout-shortened season, Boston survived this three games in four days (2-1-0) segment and for their troubles they get to return to TD Garden to begin another three games in four days stretch. The worst team in the NHL-the Florida Panthers (7-14-6)-visit on Thursday night (7 p.m., NESN) in a game that the B's need to have before they start playing other legitimate NHL teams later in the week.

UPDATE 3/13: Chris Kelly is out indefinitely with a broken left tibia, suffered Monday in Ottawa. Ugh, this is the first major injury for the Bruins this season so get used to seeing Jay Pandolfo in the lineup every game for a while.

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It is Truly A Special Time To Be A Hartford Whalers Fan, Oh Wait........

If you're looking for the blueprint to beat the Boston Bruins in 2011-12, all you have to do is seek out the Carolina Hurricanes. For some unknown reason, the worst team in the Eastern Conference completely owns the B's.

Carolina (19-25-9) wrapped up the first season sweep (4 games!) in franchise (Hartford Whalers/'Canes) history by dispatching Boston (32-15-2) 3-0 this evening at TD Garden.

The B's submitted arguably their worst effort of the season; Tuukka Rask (28 saves; 11-6-2) actually played pretty well but he couldn't make up for the listless play in front of him. Truth be told it could have been uglier too since Carolina hit the post twice.

Cam Ward stopped an NHL-high 47 shots to earn his third shutout of the season. However, don't be fooled by the gaudy numbers. Boston looked like the team from a few years ago that would constantly settle for shots from the point. Even worse, they didn't get any traffic in front of Ward.

Boston outshot Carolina 22(tied for their most in a period this season)-8 in the first and 20-9 in the third but it was all window dressing. Ward was never really tested. If it's possible to make that many saves and get a shutout but not be too impressive, this was it.

Bruins killer Eric Staal (12th of the season) made it 1-0 at 11:51 after a nice feed from Jiri Tlusty. Johnny Boychuk got a butt end to his midsection so he went down on the play which created the easy chance for the Hurricanes.

Tuomo Ruutu (16th of the season), who could be traded soon, put in a rebound at 16:41 of the second to make it 2-0.

Any thoughts of another two-goal rally by the B's, something they did on Tuesday vs. Ottawa, were quickly erased as Brandon Sutter (12th of the season) put it out of reach at 3:13 of the third.

It's strange to say this but thank God the Bruins don't have to see the Hurricanes again this season (yes I'm assuming they won't make the playoffs). This was only the third time that Boston had been shutout in 2011-12.

This weekend is a vital one for the B's in terms of the Eastern Conference standings since they host Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon then go back to D.C. on Sunday afternoon to face the Capitals.

The last time they played on Dec. 5, the Bruins won 3-1 in Pittsburgh. That was nearly two months ago and the Penguins have been one of the NHL's hottest teams so Boston will need to shake off this funk they've been in lately; they haven't won two in a row in three weeks and they're 4-4-1 in their last nine games.

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