Dynamic Duo: Malkin, Crosby Throttle Hurricanes Again In Game Three, 6-2, Leaving Penguins Prepared To Sweep

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

After 3 games of the Eastern Conference Final between their Pittsburgh Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes, they have combined for 8 goals.

The same number as the entire Hurricanes' team.

It's no surprise then, that in Saturday night's 6-2 Penguins' victory, Malkin and Crosby again led the way for Pittsburgh.

The two superstars combined for all three Pittsburgh goals in the first period, including two in the last minute of the frame, to erase an early 1-0 Carolina lead and put the Penguins in control for most of the rest of the game.

Ruslan Fedotekno, Craig Adams and Bill Guerin also got on the board for the Penguins, while goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 of 34 Carolina shots for the victory.

With the win, the Penguins hold a commanding 3-0 lead and are poised to sweep the Hurricanes on their way to a trip to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year.

Realistically, the Penguins already have their ticket punched. Of the 150 or so times a team has gone down 3-0 in a playoff series, only 2 have come back to win 4 straight and advance, and the last time it happened was 34 years ago when I was learning how to walk.

The Pens' are just too much for the Hurricanes right now. Carolina can't control their tempo or their talent. The Hurricanes don't just look a step slow. They look an entire lap behind.

Malkin got Pittsburgh off and running last night, once again torturing Canes' defenseman Tim Gleason, who failed to clear the puck from his own slot while killing a penalty, and instead shot the puck right into Malkin's body, who took it on the run, made 2 strides in alone on Carolina netminder Cam Ward and then beat him to the stick side to tie the score after the Hurricanes had an early 1-0 lead on a Matt Cullen goal.

Malkin's effort easily quieted the Raleigh crowd.

Little did they know that Pittsburgh was just getting started.

The Penguins' second goal was a thing of beauty, where every forward on the top line figured in on the goal -- and every one did something with the backhand.

First, LW Chris Kunitz got the puck up the wall to Guerin on the backhand, who then pushed the puck down the boards and around a Carolina defenseman. Then, Guerin got to the puck first and saucered a 40 foot backhander right on the tape of Crosby, who had sped by Hurricanes' blueliner Denis Seidenberg. Crosby got the puck 5 feet from the net in front of Ward and deflected it in off his backhand to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead with less than a minute left in the first.

Just seconds later, Carolina failed to clear the puck from it's own zone and allowed Malkin to get it in the near corner and walk unobstructed out in front of Ward before slipping the puck between his legs for the 3-1 lead.

Clearly, another goal Ward has to stop.

You know -- I feel compelled to interject something here.

Prior to the series, I heard Ward described as a 'shutdown' goaltender.

He's in operation shutdown, all right. But the problem for Ward is that he hasn't been shutting down the Penguins' attack. He's been shutting down his own team's chances of winning instead.

After a scoreless second period last night when, admittedly, Ward made several strong stops, including 3 on Max Talbot alone -- 1 on a breakaway, and 2 different ones when Talbot couldn't get a handle on passes from Malkin before Ward was able to scramble into the picture -- #30 for Carolina faltered at another key time.

About a quarter through the 3rd frame, Hurricanes' winger Sergei Samsonov scored on a rebound to bring Carolina back within one goal. But not long thereafter, Fedotenko took a drop, between-the-legs pass from Malkin and ripped a wrist shot over Ward's glove from 45 feet to restore Pittsburgh's two goal lead.

After that, Carolina lost the wind from its sails and, after Ward was pulled late in the frame, gave up an empty netter to Adams when Adams whacked the puck off the faceoff 120 feet down the ice and into the vacated cage.

Guerin closed out the scoring 30 or so seconds later on the backhand, finishing up another controlling performance by Pittsburgh.

While each of the games in this series so far has been close in the third period, that shouldn't mask the degree to which the Penguins have been on top of this series. They have been too quick for Carolina all over the ice, and they again tossed 40 pucks at Ward in game 3. Pittsburgh is just clicking on all cylinders right now.

As I mentioned, Ward has been clearly subpar in this series. Aside from Malkin's weak goal, Fedotenko's goal is one that has to be stopped in that situation. Ward is getting no help from his defense -- which always looks out of position or a step slow in making mistake after mistake -- but he's not doing his team any favors either. He has a GAA above 4.5 in this series and a save percentage of near .875.

Awful.

Eric Staal, the Canes' only true scoring weapon, again failed to light the lamp in game 3. He's come up empty altogether in this series, as have several other key Carolina forwards, including Erik Cole and 77-point regular season scorer Ray Whitney. The Pens' #11 is doing a good job on his brother, but that's still no exucse for big brother's total lack of production after 3 games of this series, nor is it an excuse for the goose-eggs put up by his usual linemates throughout the series so far.

Meanwhile, I can't say much else about how badly Malkin and Crosby are burning Carolina at every turn. They just want it more and are unstoppable right now.

At this point, it's hard not to expect more of the same in game 4.

The Penguins' appear to have one single, unitary focus ... getting back to the Finals and avenging last year's loss to their likely opponent again this season, the hated Detroit Red Wings, who are currently up 3 games to 1 in their Western Conference Final against the Chicago Blackhawks. Pittsburgh has shown a decent killer instinct when having the chance to eliminate an opponent in recent seasons, and with the balloon in Carolina looking like it has burst -- especially if the looks on all the faces of the Carolina players after game 3 are any indication -- even the presence of former Pittsburgh Steeler coach Bill Cowher probably won't be enough to help them avoid the end of their season in the next game.

I'll set the table for the possible sweep Tuesday morning. In the meantime, here's some great reading:

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/hurricanes/story/1540515.html

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/tudor/story/1540524.html

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_626654.html

Let's Go Pens.