Pens finish off Caps, move onto Eastern Conference Finals.

I did not expect that. Definitely did not expect the outcome of last night's game 7. With a series going to 7 games and when the previous 6 were pretty much all tight games and 3 overtimes, who would have seen a 6-2 Pens win. Who would have seen a 5-0 lead at one point in this game? Well, I didn't, but that's not to say that I was not thrilled when it happened. After Fleury's incredible save on Ovechkin in the first, I felt the confidence building and then after Crosby scored on the power play, even better and then... Craig Adams scored 8 seconds later, and I was ecstatic. The game was swayed in our favor most of the rest of the way and after every goal we scored, I was that much happier. The Pens finished off the Capitals in great fashion last night in their game 7.

This series has been hyped as one of the best because of the two teams and the players and how exciting and tight the games were, but last night must have been a disappointment to those who were looking for one of those game 7s that the winner is not determined until the waning moments of the third period or even an overtime period. However, last night was in no way a disappointment to me or any other Pens fan out there. We saw the Pens solve the young goaltender Varlamov who had been stumping the Pens in some games and eventually he was pulled. No offense to the young goaltender, he did a phenomenal job in the playoffs this year, until, that is, last night, but it was a great feeling to me to see him making his way to the bench after the Pens 4th goal. For the mere fact that it was like an item we could check off a checklist in order to win this series: Solve Varlamov. Check. We did more than that, we took him out of the game. It took us to game 7 to do it, but as long as we did it and in game 7 it happened to feel that much sweeter too.

So, thanks Pens for an exciting series and we'll see who we play next!

Pens win Game 3 in Overtime.

The Pens avoided slipping into a 3-0 hole with their 3-2 overtime win last night against the Washington Capitals. This game saw some different goal scorers for the Pens. Ruslan Fedotenko had the first goal to put the Pens in a 1-1 tie with the Caps after Ovechkin scored early in the game with an easy goal. The 2nd goal coming late in the 3rd period and on the power play and was scored by Evgeni Malkin, who had a strong game last night and had the crowd erupting in Geno cheers and MVP chants. It looked like Malkin's goal would stand as the winner, but unfortunately, the Caps tied with less than 2 minutes left in the game and it was sent into overtime. However, a little over the halfway mark of overtime, Kris Letang put the puck behind Varlamov and gave the Pens the crucial win. Letang, who was questionable to even play in the game because of a shoulder injury suffered in game 2, became the game hero.

The Pens outshot the Caps and out-performed the Caps most of the game. Though the game was still as close as it was. The Pens power play was not successful until Malkin's power play goal late in the third. So, the power play is still in need of improvement. The Pens need to get to the net and beat Varlamov, which seems to be hard to do. The Pens need to crash the net more. If the Pens keep playing the way they did last night, things look good, and if the power play improves, the Pens would be that much better.