The Bruins are headed to the Cup finals after a 1-0 win. Pens had unlimited chances late but couldn't cash in. One of the more disappointing series losses in a long time.

The Penguins managed just two goals against Tuukka Rask. Hard to even type that sentence. Unreal.

:(

Pittsburgh Penguins @ Boston Bruins
Bruins lead series 3-0

NBCSN, CBC, RDS - 8:00 pm/et

TD Garden - Boston, MA

Through drafts and trades and free agent signings, the core of this Pittsburgh Penguins team has been building for several years. For the early part of the 2000s, things weren't pretty. But the Penguins drafted some excellent talent and that talent became the base of the team that we currently know and love.

It all started coming together around 2007, when the Penguins made the playoffs for the first time since 2001. They lost in the first round against Ottawa, but they were back the next year, older and wiser. That year players like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Pascal Dupuis, Tyler Kennedy, Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik and Marc-Andre Fleury came within two wins of the Stanley Cup. The next year, those players were joined by Chris Kunitz, Mark Eaton, Craig Adams, Matt Cooke and others. The players mentioned here are all with the team today. Dan Bylsma joined the team during that season as well. He's obviously still the coach.

When you think of the Pittsburgh Penguins, those names are some of the first players you think of. A lot of them make up the core of a team that has had a great deal of success over the last five or six years. 

Along the way, some of the faces in the Penguins' locker room changed. That happens in hockey. Players like Jordan Staal and Max Talbot and Rob Scuderi, players who won the Cup for Pittsburgh, found themselves playing in other cities. Players like Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone and Colby Armstong, players who never got to the Cup but who were often still loved nonetheless, moved on as well.

And players were added. James Neal, Paul Martin, Brandon Sutter and others joined the team between the 2009 Stanley Cup and the start of this season. Then, during the season, the Penguins added Brenden Morrow and Douglas Murrary and Jussi Jokinen and Jarome Iginla.

A large portion of the core of this Penguins team has been with the team since the Cup run of 2009. We love those players and they've been here for quite a while. But that might not be the case for much longer.

Everybody knew that when the Pens added Iginla and Morrow and Murrary, that there was no way for this team to remain intact after this season. The salary cap is going down next year. The Penguins have a lot of free agents on their roster. The team that takes the ice next year will be very different from the team that takes the ice tonight.

Currently, only four players have contracts that extend past 2014: Sidney Crosby, James Neal, Paul Martin and Marc-Andre Fleury. Iginla, Morrow, Cooke, Dupuis, Adams, Murrary and Eaton are UFAs at the end of this season. Kennedy, Jeffrey and Bortuzzo are RFAs.

A lot of the players who suit up tonight won't be wearing a skating penguin next season. Whether they leave the team via free agency or trade, they won't be here. This means that, if the Penguins lose tonight, this team is over. Not only would it be the end of the "stacked, all-star, favored to win the Cup" Pens, but we could find ourselves with a very different Penguins team next season.

If they lose tonight, the last game that a lot of these players will play in Pittsburgh will be an embarrassing 6-1 loss to the Bruins.

In game three, these Penguins showed everyone that they can compete. But is it too late? Is this the end of the Pittsburgh Penguins as we currently know them? At this point a series win seems nearly impossible. But the Pens can't think about a series win right now. They can only think about tonight.

Will this team live to fight another day? Will they get this series back to Pittsburgh? Will they show that they aren't quite ready to take that logo off of their chests quite yet? Or is this goodbye?

We don't think we're quite ready for goodbye. Are they?

By now, thanks to the magic of marketing, you've all probably seen the interview with Sidney Crosby as a 14-year-old. After falling down a YouTube vortex, we found it again today.

There's an interesting section that starts at the 2:27 mark of the video:

The game they're playing isn't my game. My game is making plays and making things happen and scoring goals and, if they're doing things to prevent me from doing that, then they're doing their job and I'm not doing mine.

Go Pens.

It hit us this morning. The Pens season isn't over yet. Whether you think the Pens are done or that they can win 4 straight means nothing to the Penguins players. They would put money on themselves to win 4 straight. Aside from the meltdown in Game 2, these games have been tight. Would it hurt the hockey gods to throw some puck luck their way? It may have already started with Gregory Campbell's fragile leg being broken. Would it hurt to have the Penguins get a couple of power-play goals?

Right now all we can hope for is the Pens bringing this back to CONSOL.

Go Pens.

Interesting opinion from Kerry Fraser about last nights non-call on Double J.  [ tsn.ca ]

The expectation is (and should be) that obvious infractions will be called at any time of the game. There was give and take in this hard fought game and both sides gained some advantages from a 'generous' standard of enforcement that was extended to them. Once players enter a relative comfort zone that the Refs are 'allowing them to play' and anything short of a scoring opportunity or a puck shot over the glass will be called they often take advantage of everything they can.

The Boston Herald didn't see it that way:

For a moment, Jagr lost control of the frozen rubber, whose whereabouts would decide both teams’ fate, to Malkin, but before Bruins reinforcements could come to his aid, Jagr took things back into his own incredibly strong hands and not only poked the puck away from Malkin but got control of it. Jagr then sent the puck quickly and perfectly up to Brad Marchand, who knew where it was going next.

Just nice to see people talking about anything but Gregory Campbell.

-- The Bylsma press conference on Thursday sounded arkward. [ SN ]

"I—I'm not coaching, don't coach, have never coached for my job," Bylsma said. "I coach this hockey team. When I came here—to win hockey games. That's where we're at right now. We know what's in front of us. We know exactly what's in front of us, with the odds, being down 0-3. But, I believe in that group, I believe in that team, I believe in how we battled and how we're going to battle, and knowing we have an elimination game in Game 4."

Yikes.

-- Been meaning to post this:

  My name is Seth Leibowitz. I'm a tattoo artist by profession and oil painter as a hobby. I had recently broke my wrist riding my bicycle, and will not be able to tattoo for a total of 16 weeks. I have a lot of people and loved ones depending on me to take care of things financially and physically. Unable to tattoo I went into almost panic mode. So I decided to pick up a paint brush with my left and try it. I couldn't imagine brushing my teeth lefty. I seemed to become ambidextrous instantly. Its a blessing. So I decided to paint subject matter that would interest the public and sell. The pens have always been a favorite so I decided to venture into portraits of the city's favorites. I will be auctioning these paintings off this week and also donating one to the Lemieux foundation. It would be a great human interest piece to bring good hopeful energy to the city, and inspire others to never give up. Please contact me and let me know if you have any thoughts. Thank you for your time.

Friend us on facebook to follow the regular photo updates of the nonstop art I've been creating.  www.facebook.com/artformtattoo and www.facebook.com/sethleibowitz

Epic as always.

Only watch if you feel like falling apart all over again.

TWO.

What a game to watch. And what a bitter pill to swallow. The Bruins win the game on a goal by Patrice Bergeron with about four minutes left in double OT.

The Penguins played this game the right way, but they've left themselves with such little margin for error. The Bruins were just as good. Tuukka Rask no question the player of the game with over 50 saves. 

The Penguins hit unlimited posts. Brutal loss.