Boston Bruins Sweep Carolina Hurricanes, Reach Stanley Cup Final

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Boston’s top line kept finding ways to score, especially on the power play. With a chance to clinch another series, Tuukka Rask was perfect — again.

Rask posted his seventh career playoff shutout, and the Bruins swept the Carolina Hurricanes out of the Eastern Conference final, winning 4-0 on Thursday night to reach their third Stanley Cup Final in nine years.

“Everyone in the room wanted to be at their best,” forward Brad Marchand said, “and everyone was at their best tonight.”

Rask made 24 saves in his second straight series-clinching shutout. Patrice Bergeron scored two goals, David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists and Marchand added an empty-netter. Both Bergeron and Pastrnak scored on second-period power plays.

The Bruins won their seventh straight postseason game — their longest playoff winning streak in nearly half a century — to return to the Cup final after winning in 2011 and losing to Chicago two years later.

The Bruins won this one without captain Zdeno Chara, who was scratched with an unspecified injury and is day to day, ending a run of 98 consecutive playoff games for the hulking 42-year-old veteran that dated to 2011.

Source: Associated Press