Well it wasn’t too long ago that the Pittsburgh Penguins and their fans started dreaming of a summer with Lord Stanley’s Cup in their clutches. After all, general manager Ray Shero bolstered an already loaded lineup with some wheeling and dealing that would make even the cagiest of riverboat gamblers blink.

I’ll include myself with the masses that tagged the Pens as the fashionable choice to take home the most important piece of hardware this summer. With sorcery and trick-er-ation, the Penguins managed to pry Jarome Iginla from a deal that was all but done with Eastern Conference rival Boston. Oh the sweet, sweet irony.

That same Boston Bruins team closed out the “unstoppable” group of all-stars from the Steel City Friday night with another shutout of the NHL’s top scoring team. The 4-0 skunking was particularly impressive as Boston conceded only two goals over the four game series.

Absent were the Penguins dynamic duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The two megastars were actually held without a point for the duration of the series and were a combined minus-7.

The Bruins were supposed to be the team that couldn’t score. We all knew about their stingy, physical defense and grinding, rugged forwards. What nobody saw coming was a fella by the name of “Tuukka” stealing the headlines for all four games. When the dust had settled Tuukka Rask had stopped 134 of 136 shots with a  microscopic GAA of .44.

It wasn’t as if the Bruins were lighting the lamp with regularity either. Aside from the 6-1 spanking in Game 2, the other three games were tight checking competitive games. The Bruins will have a minute to relax and enjoy their conquest of the Eastern Conference. It might not be for very long though. The Chicago Blackhawks have the defending Stanley Cup champ Los Angeles Kings in a 1-3 hole with Game 5 coming Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the collection of superstars in Pittsburgh will be left to rue a missed opportunity and collectively wonder what went wrong. Backup goaltender Tomas Vokoun was the MVP of the team for the conference finals. Vokoun was stellar again Friday night, but when you don’t score, you won’t win many games.

So it’s on to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in three years for Boston. Let’s hope that the Cup Finals will be a bit more interesting than the conference finals have been. Stay tuned!