After an impressive 6-0 hometown showing against the Flyers yesterday, the Penguins are the first team to head to the Stanley Cup Finals. I’m sure Gary Bettman & Co. threw a party afterwards. Here are the highlights — Ryan Malone and Marian Hossa are particularly impressive.

Pittsburgh showed the true intensity of their offensive firepower all throughout this game, and the Flyers just couldn’t keep up. You have to wonder if Michel Therrien drew some inspiration from watching Detroit falter on Saturday — the Penguins came out playing for the kill. They never looked nervous, never once looked like they doubted themselves. For a group of very young players, they are showing a great deal of maturity. Marc-Andre Fleury continues to impress — early in the game when it was still close he made a couple of unbelievable saves that turned the momentum in favor of the Penguins. These kids are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the finals.

The keys to this series:

Kimmo Timmonen/Braydon Coburn

The Flyers were a different team in Game 1 without Timmonen. Their power play suffered, and some mistakes were made that may not have been with him in the lineup. When Coburn went down early in Game 2, leaving them with only 5 defensemen for the majority of the game, the complexion of the series changed dramatically. Losing their top defensive pairing against a team with the firepower of Crosby, Hossa, and Malkin (and Malone, and Sykora, and…) was a huge blow to this team. Watching their power play yesterday, you could see how much better the puck movement was with Timmonen in the lineup. This was the number 2 power play in the league during the regular season. Having that attack all series has the potential to make a huge difference. The injuries were a factor.

Transition Game

This Penguins team is FAST. There is little to no room for error in the neutral zone, or they will be on the attack before you have time to blink. They move the puck unbelievably well and have an uncanny ability to just…find each other…up ice. This is part of what makes this team so scary. The Flyers just didn’t have an answer for them, and the lack of their defensive core hurt as the series wore on.

Power Play

The Flyers (read: Derian Hatcher) take stupid penalties. They are a tough team, which benefits them at times, but also bites them in the ass. Being in the box a lot against a team full of snipers is not going to benefit your cause. The Pens power play was lethal during this series, and the Flyers weren’t able to fight back, even though they had plenty of opportunities as this thing got a little ugly. They had a couple of chances when the game was still salvageable yesterday and couldn’t put one home. This is as much a credit to the Pens penalty kill, but you have to take advantage of the power play when you get one — and you can’t take stupid penalties in the playoffs, or you aren’t going to move on. Just ask Ryan Hollweg.

Danny Briere/Vinny Prospal

Has anyone seen them? Danny Briere played a great Game 4 to send this thing back to Pittsburgh, but I’d be hard pressed to find any great moments from Prospal all series. The duo carried the team through the end of the regular season after Prospal was acquired at the trade deadline, and they were phenomenal against Washington and Montreal. Where’d they go? If you’re going to win in the playoffs, your big guys need to step up

Pittsburgh awaits the winner of Dallas/Detroit. Game 6 is tonight in Dallas, after Marty Turco stood on his head on Saturday to grab his first-ever victory at Joe Louis Arena and help his team live to see another day. Dallas has some new life, and Detroit is looking a little tense. I think Dallas might be able to push this another game — all the momentum is in their favor right now. The pressure is on Detroit to prove that they can close out the series and not let things linger any longer. I called Dallas in 7 from the start of the series — will we see a miracle comeback?