Penguins bury Hurricanes in Game 3 rout

Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby played like the best two players in the world on Saturday night as the Penguins ousted the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-2, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals at the RBC Center in Raleigh. The Pens now hold a nearly insurmountable three games to none lead in the best-of-seven series.

Matt Cullen opened the scoring 246 seconds after the opening faceoff thanks to some shoddy defensive coverage by Matt Cooke. Cullen roofed it on Marc-Andre Fleury. Carolina looked to have all the momentum. That would soon change when Crosby and Malkin took over the rest of the period.

On a powerplay, Malkin gathered in a bouncing puck off of Tim Gleason and beat Ward effortlessly on a mini-breakaway.

Things quieted down until Crosby converted a Bill Guerin feed at the top of the crease with 42 seconds left in the first period, a great passing play by Chris Kunitz, Crosby, and Guerin. Malkin then beat Cam Ward out of the corner with a wrister that went in through the five-hole.

Sergei Samsonov got Carolina back into it with a rebound marker at 1:58 of the final frame before the Penguins overwhelmed Ward. Ruslan Fedotenko and Guerin's goals sandwiched a long-range empty netter off a faceoff by Mario Lemieux Craig Adams.

Notes-
-The Penguins are going to the Stanley Cup Finals, regardless of Game 4's outcome.
-They have outclassed Carolina in every way during this series.
-Fleury was good when he had to be.
-Kunitz was very effective.
-How awesome does it seem now that the Penguins got Adams off waivers at the trade deadline?
-Crosby and Malkin are the best two players remaining in the playoffs, no question about it.
-Eric Staal was kept invisible again.
-It's going to be a long couple of days until Game 4.

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Go Penguins.