Despite losing two straight in Pittsburgh, the Cardiac Canes had to feel good heading home to the loudest arena in the NHL. Home teams have won two-thirds of conference semi-final and conference final games. A win would keep Carolina’s hopes of a second Cup Finals in four years alive. But the Penguins were looking to be that road team that wins one out of three. A win last night would leave Pittsburgh one win away from a return trip to the finals.

Pittsburgh 6 @ Carolina 2 – The loudest fans and the best cheerleaders in the league weren’t enough for the Hurricanes to get back in the Eastern Conference Finals. Faced with a must-win situation, the Cardiac Canes couldn’t pull another rabbit out of their playoff beards. Now, their season is one more loss from ending.

It looked like the Canes would storm out of the gates and blow the roof off the RBC Center when they opened the scoring. Matt Cullen put one by Marc-Andre Fleury just four minutes in to make it 1-0 for the home side. The lead lasted for less than three minutes. Evgeni Malkin picked up where he left off in game two. He scored on the power play to tie the game up at 1-1. From there it would be 11 minutes before the next goals but they would come quick. In the final minute of the first, Sidney Crosby would one-time a cross-crease Bill Guerin pass to give Pittsburgh the lead. Only 31 seconds later, Geno Malkin would pick up a puck that deflected off a linesman and wristed it over Cam Ward to make it a two goal advantage.

After twenty minutes without scoring, the red lamp was lit repeatedly in the third. Things started well for the Canes. Sergei Samsonov wristed one by Fleury to cut the Penguins’ lead to 1. That was as close as Carolina got. Ten minutes later, Ruslan Fedotenko put one home to stretch the lead to two. With two minutes left and the Carolina net empty, Craig Adams won a face-off from just outside the Pens’ zone which went straight into the Carolina goal. A Bill Guerin backhander thirty seconds later deflected off Tim Gleason and past Ward for the Pens’ sixth and final goal of the night.

In addition to his two goals, Malkin had an assist for a three point night. Chris Kunitz and Sergei Gonchar each had a pair of assists. Fleury had a good night in goal making 32 saves. Things weren’t so great at the other end of the ice for Cam Ward who made 34 saves on 39 shots.

Now it’s almost a done deal. Sure, Carolina has a theoretical chance but it is so slim that Bill Daly and Clarence Campbell Bowl will travel to Tuesday’s game. As strong as they looked in their upsets in the first two rounds, it looks like they’ve run out of gas in their tanks.
Pittsburgh leads the series 3-0

Three Stars of the Night:
1. Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh)
2. Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh)
3. Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh)

Sunday’s Schedule:
Detroit at Chicago – Detroit leads the series 2-1 (TV: CBC, NBC)