Boston 1 Pittsburgh 0 Boston wins series 4 games to 0.
Call it epic fail, call it what you will, but the Penguins inability to score goals in this series especially when your top forwards (Crosby & Malkin to name but a few) register zero points and the entire team registers just two goals in an entire series, well, that was certainly unfathomable and unthinkable a thing to happen.
The Bruins poise and aggression were too much for Pittsburgh to overcome. Boston's total team play, both offensively and defensively, seem to 'suffocate' the Pens in all areas of their game. This was all too prevalent in Games 3 & 4 when Pittsburgh came to life in this series (after having lost the first two games at home by score of 3-0 & 6-1). All the Pens could muster were shots that hit posts, crossbars, pucks that just wouldn't go in try as they might.
Heck, MVP for Game 4 may very well be Zdeno Chara's gloved hand -- with Malkin and a gaping net in front, a sprawled Bruins defeceman Chara swiped his hand and Malkin's shot hit it instead of the net. Crucial save? You bet. It would have given Penguins the lead. That play practically summed up Pittsburgh's scoring frustrations.
Bruins goaltender Tukka Rask's save off the Pens Jerome Iginla at the last second will serve as "poetic justice" to Bruins fans, as well as McQuaid's goal tipping Iginla's stick giving Boston the lead in the third period, a lead they never relinquished. (in case memory serves, Iginla signed with the Pens and had rejected being traded to the Bruins during the season. What irony!).
So, off to the Stanley Cup Finals go the Bruins.
While, lots of questions remain to be answered for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the off-season, and quite possibly changes to the team (and even staff) will be made after evaluations are done.
