updated 1:45 a.m. ET May 20, 2008

PITTSBURGH - Sid and The Kids are off to the Stanley Cup finals, thanks to a dominating run by a younger-than-young Pittsburgh Penguins team that has taken only two seasons to transform itself from one of the NHL’s worst to one of its best.

Ryan Malone, the one Penguins player with firsthand memories of the team’s two previous Stanley Cup appearances, scored twice and set up a third goal and Pittsburgh routed Philadelphia 6-0 Sunday to win the Eastern Conference finals.

The Penguins, dominating Game 5 from the start with Malone and Evgeni Malkin scoring in the first 10 minutes, will play the winner of the Detroit-Dallas series for the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings take a 3-2 series lead into Dallas for Game 6 of the Western Conference finals Monday night.

“It’s unbelievable just to realize we’re four wins away,” defenseman Ryan Whitney said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet that these next few games are the Stanley Cup finals.”

Marian Hossa had a goal and three assists and Sidney Crosby, the 20-year-old captain of a team that was the Eastern Conference’s worst two seasons ago, added two assists. Jordan Staal, only 19, scored his third goal in two games and fourth of the series. Pascal Dupuis, an Atlanta teammate of Hossa’s before the two were dealt to Pittsburgh at the trading deadline, also scored.

Pittsburgh, one of the youngest teams to play for a championship in any major pro sport, goes for the Cup for the first time since 1992, when Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux — long before he bought the team — led the Penguins to their second title in two seasons. Malone was the only current Penguins player who was there, along for the ride as the 12-year-old son of then-Penguins scouting director and former player Greg Malone.

“Never, never would have thought it,” Ryan Malone said of someday playing for the Cup himself. “I don’t think I realized until my junior year of college (at St. Cloud State) I would have a chance to play pro hockey. ... It’s pretty special, pretty special and I definitely feel privileged.”

By the time Dupuis made it 6-0 about 4 minutes into the third period, the Penguins were conjuring up memories of their first Cup run in 1991, when they beat Minnesota 8-0 in Game 6 of the finals to secure their first Stanley Cup.

Crosby was presented with the conference championship trophy, but it remained on the presentation table at mid-ice as neither Crosby nor any other Penguins player touched it. By superstition, most teams decline to handle any trophy unless it’s the Stanley Cup.

Video   Crosby says Pens have showed guts all year May 18: Sidney Crosby talks about the Penguins huge 6-0 win over the Flyers and gives credit mostly to Fleury. NBC Sports

Crosby said, “We all realized it’s not the one we want to be holding.”

“We want the big trophy,” Hossa said.

For the overachieving Flyers, it was a disappointingly bad finish to an unexpectedly good season. Last in the NHL overall standings last season, they made a series of productive offseason moves to rebuild in a hurry and not only made the playoffs, but upset third-seeded Washington and top-seeded Montreal before losing in the first all-Pennsylvania conference finals.

“We’re not happy with the score, but in the end if it’s 2-1 or 3-1, we still lost,” defenseman Derian Hatcher said. “The botttom line is they beat us and they’re a good team. We’re not going to make excuses, we lost to a good team. For where we were last year to this point, the team has made a huge turnaround.”

Video   Penguins' Fleury feeling 'awesome' May 18: Pittsburgh goalie kept Philadelphia off the board in Game 5. NBC Sports

The Flyers fell behind in the series 3-0, just as Ottawa and the New York Rangers did in Pittsburgh’s previous two series, as the Penguins needed only 14 games to reach the Cup finals. They are 12-2 in the postseason and 8-0 in 47-year-old Mellon Arena, the NHL’s oldest arena but one that will host at least one more finals before the Penguins move into a new arena across the street in about two years.

Intensive arena negotiations with local and state leaders took years to complete before being finalized 15 months ago, and ownership flirted with moving the club if a building deal wasn’t done.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Football frenzy, surfing sensation, misery for Cubs fans, and more. more photos

Now, the Penguins have won their last 16 at home dating to the regular season, not losing there since a shootout loss to San Jose on Feb. 24.

What a transformation for a Penguins team that had four consecutive last-place teams from 2002-06, allowing the franchise to draft key components such as Crosby, the 21-year-old Malkin and 23-year-old goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. In any other major pro sport, most or all would likely be in college or the minors due to their age.

Fleury, like Crosby a No. 1 draft pick when Greg Malone was running the Penguins’ draft, made 21 saves in yet another impressive performance and is 22-4-1 since late November.

MORE FROM NHL

NHL Section Front

Brilliant start to season for Brodeur, Devils Celizic: Rest, not records, bigger deal for Brodeur No signs of jet lag as Rangers improve to 3-0 Sabres win in SO, spoil Habs' start to 100th season Frustrating start for Caps' Ovechkin, Theodore Nash's OT lifts Jackets over Stars Shorthanded Senators host Red Wings Gretzky, Coyotes excited to start season Flyers aiming to end 33-year Cup drought ‘Hockey mom’ Palin to drop puck at Flyers' opener NHL Section Front   Add NHL headlines to your news reader: