Crosby-Malkin Combo Carries Pens Back To Cup Finals

Two superstars, two straight trips to the Stanley Cup finals.

VIDEO: Fans Gear Up For Stanley Cup Finals

That formula first worked so well for the Penguins nearly two decades ago when Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr helped them win the Cup in consecutive seasons.

Their best two-man combination since then -- Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin -- have come close to matching them by bringing present-day Pittsburgh to hockey's final series in back-to-back years.

They clinched their second straight spot in the Cup finals Tuesday night by routing the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 for a sweep of the Eastern Conference finals, then sounded nothing like players who were content with simply making it that far.

"Lemieux and Jagr are guys who proved it year after year, being a one-two punch like that," Crosby said. "They won Cups. We've yet to do that, so we still have some things left to prove."

Max Talbot had a goal and an assist, Ruslan Fedotenko and Bill Guerin also scored, and Craig Adams added an empty-netter.

Crosby had two assists to extend his point streak to six games, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped the final 30 shots he faced in shutting down Carolina during the last 58 minutes.

The Penguins outscored the Hurricanes 20-9 in the series, netted at least three goals in each game, and trailed for a total of only 20 minutes, 30 seconds.

"To be real honest, I don't think it felt easy at all," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said.

Pittsburgh lost to Detroit last year in a six-game final series, its only Cup appearance outside of the consecutive titles it won in 1991 and '92 behind Lemieux and Jagr. If the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings beat Chicago in the West finals, it will set up the first title rematch since the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders met in 1983 and 1984.

Pittsburgh -- the first runner-up to return to the finals since Edmonton in 1984 -- is the first team since the 2000-01 New Jersey Devils to get to the finals in consecutive years. The Red Wings, who lead Chicago 3-1 out West, could join them as soon as Wednesday night.

"For you (media) guys, there's a lot more story lines" with a Detroit rematch, Crosby said. "To go through last year was tough, but we've got a chance here and we want to make the most of it."

Eric Staal scored for the first time in the series for the Hurricanes, who lost for the first time in these playoffs when their franchise player notched a goal.

"It just doesn't feel very nice knowing that tomorrow we're all done," Staal said.

Cam Ward made 21 saves but lost a playoff series for the first time in his NHL career. He had been 5-0 in elimination games for the Hurricanes, who were on the losing end of the handshake line for the first time since 2002, when they lost to the Red Wings in the Cup finals. In their only other playoff appearance in that span, they won the Cup in 2006.

In this series, Carolina led only three times and entered Game 4 with no players scoring more than two points -- Pittsburgh entered with five. The Hurricanes were swept for the first time since 1989, when the franchise was still the Hartford Whalers and was beaten by the Montreal Canadiens.

"We just talked about staying in (the game) as long as we possibly could," coach Paul Maurice said. "You're down one, you're down two. We didn't want to get it to three."

Staal scored on Carolina's first shot about 1 1/2 minutes in, but it was all Penguins after that.

And it wasn't until the game was over that Crosby showed off his most daring move: He spurned hockey superstition and hoisted the Prince of Wales Trophy.

Keep playing like this, Sid the Kid, and that might not be the only prize you raise.

"We didn't touch (the trophy) last year, and things didn't go the way we wanted," Crosby said. "I thought we'd change it up this year."