Canes Swept Away

Well, I'm going to start off with the eliminated team, like I usually do here in these situations. The Hurricanes were indeed swept in four games by the Penguins, with a big 4-1 finishing blow on Tuesday night. The Hurricanes were out of the gate quite quickly with a goal by Eric Staal, but it was far from enough as some slick passing and bad bounces punished the Hurricanes before the first period was over. After that, it was some more slick passing that pretty well sealed the deal and the Penguins are now moving onto the Cup Finals once again.

We now have to say good-bye to 72 Hurricanes selections on the pool, which was an awfully low number for the Conference Finals, but it would have been awfully clutch if they were the ones going through. Now the 140 Penguins selections will go and it should be a tighter race. Once we know who is through in the West, we'll have a good wrap up of the top teams and who they have going forward. The most popular player on Carolina was Erik Cole, who had 13 selections, but only finished with 5 assists in the pool. He really struggled in these playoffs. Leading the team in pool scoring was Cam Ward, who finished his playoff run with 20 points, while Eric Staal wasn't too far behind with 16. They were taken 4 & 3 times, respectively.

Well, that's it for the Hurricanes, their Pool Outlook should be appearing on the blog later today.

Now, to the Game 7 action for the Penguins. They were really able to flex their muscles against the Hurricanes, despite being down 1-0 after only 1:36. This young team has been putting up some really good fights in the playoffs already and it doesn't look like they'll be quitting any time soon.

Leading the pool players in the game on Tuesday night were Sidney Crosby (2 assists) and Marc-Andre Fleury (win), both finishing with a pair of points for the poolies.

The series leader in pool points for the Penguins was Evgeni Malkin, as he finished with 11 points in 4 games against Carolina. Fleury finished with only 4 wins for 8 points, while Crosby finished with 7 points. Malkin has a slight edge on Crosby in pool points for the entire playoffs, as Malkin has 2 extra GWG to his name for 31 points in total.

Game-Winning Goals
It would have been an excellent night for those having Maxime Talbot in the pool, if he was in the pool altogether. Talbot was the big star in Game 4, but he was nowhere to be seen on a deep Penguins roster, heading into the playoffs. Talbot ended up scoring the winning goal on Tuesday night and added 2 assists, for what would have been a 4-point night.

Malkin continues to lead all pool players with 3 GWG bonus points in this off-season.

A full wrap-up of the pool standings will be coming soon, possibly when the Western Final has been completed, unless the Blackhawks can keep the series alive tonight.