NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs

Adam McQuaid scored early in the third period, Tuukka Rask posted his second shutout of the series, and the Boston Bruins swept their way to the Stanley Cup finals with a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.

Daniel Paille snapped a tie with 3:31 left in the third period, and the Boston Bruins put the New York Rangers on the brink of elimination with a 2-1 victory in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night.

Led by Henrik Lundqvist's 35 saves in a second consecutive shutout, and goals from some unlikely sources, the New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals 5-0 in Game 7 Monday night to reach the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Mike Ribeiro scored 9:24 into overtime, and the Washington Capitals beat the New York Rangers 2-1 Friday night to regain the momentum -- and the lead -- in their first-round playoff series.

Dan Girardi and Derek Stepan scored third-period goals for the New York Rangers, who squandered a two-goal lead and then held on to get even in the best-of-seven playoff series with a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.

Derek Stepan and Arron Asham both scored tiebreaking goals in the third period for the New York Rangers in a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 3 on Monday night.

Alex Ovechkin's franchise-record 31st career playoff goal got the Capitals started before less-heralded teammates Marcus Johansson and Jason Chimera scored 46 seconds apart, and Washington beat the New York Rangers 3-1 Thursday night in Game 1 of their first-round series.

Ryan Carter snapped a tie with 4:24 left, and the New Jersey Devils posted a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers after blowing a three-goal lead in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.

David Clarkson's deflected goal 2:31 into the third period snapped a tie and lifted the New Jersey Devils to a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers that evened the Eastern Conference finals at one game apiece on Wednesday night.

Throw out all of the analysis and expert predictions. This is the NHL. This is the Stanley Cup Playoffs, consistently the most even field of playoff teams out of all four major sports.