Game 2 NHL Eastern Conference Finals

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Carolina Hurricanes: Pittsburgh wins 7-4 (Pittsburgh leads series 2-0)

The defense for both teams took a night off, but the Carolina Hurricanes don't have an Evgeni Malkin on their team. Malkin scored a hat trick, with his second goal as the game winner, and also provided an assist, as he carried his team through a tightly contested 50 minutes of game 2 before pulling away in the second half of the third period. Carolina has a lot of effort, tying the game twice with two goals scored an average of under a minute of the Penguins', and even taking the lead at the end of the period. Their power play was absolutely atrocious, although they managed to shut down the 7 game postseason power play scoring streak of the Penguins. And even though Pittsburgh had 7 goals (1 empty netter), Cam Ward was probably the best player for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Well through 4 days of conference finals hockey, it looks like it'll be a rematch of last year's championship. Carolina is a very resilient team, as they have proven in the past, but they are getting destroyed in third periods, which may be a product of two straight 7 game series.