It was fast, it had all sorts of twists and turns, it featured shorthanded goals, net front gaffes, and it ended with a Bruins win. A game with everything.
To think this started with a slow first period.
First Period:
Yeah, seriously, all this started with the Penguins having a half-decent start and the Bruins effectively having to weather the storm in order to get their act together. Linus Ullmark had some pretty sweet saves, however!
Either way, no score through 20, onto the good stuff.
Second Period:
The score was first broken by Jake DeBrusk, who took an Andrew Peeke centering feed and just kept hacking at it until it slid underneath Nedelkjovic! 1-0 Bruins!
Not to be outdone, Pavel Zacha joined the scoring parade shortly afterwards with a smart read of the puck bouncing off the boards, and buries it to double the lead! 2-0 Bruins!
The Penguins then got into the battle, with Sidney Crosby beating Matt Grzelcyk clean on the rush, and Bryan Rust redirected the puck directly into the empty net. 2-1 Bruins.
Rough stuff.
Thankfully, less than two minutes later, David Pastrnak set up Kevin Shattenkirk with a gorgeous behind-the-net feed, and he just put a bullet past Nedelkjovic! 3-1 Bruins!
Thus ended Ned’s night, and Tristan Jarry joined the game.
The Bruins took a penalty (their second of the night), and Brad Marchand decided he wanted to get in on the action too, and he took a Charlie Coyle feed to make short work of a wide open space in front of Tristan Jarry Shorthanded! 4-1 Bruins!
Then the Penguins scored on said power play; with Michael Bunting tipping a puck in. 4-2 Bruins.
The horn sounded, and we made our way to the final frame.
Third Period:
Things started with the B’s getting a power play and blowing it badly as Drew O’Connor took a flubbed receipt of a pass from Charlie McAvoy and shot into the offensive zone like a missile, putting the Penguins within one on a shorthanded bid. 4-3 Bruins.
Just an unconscionable brainfart there by McAvoy. Just…how.
Mercifully, as time began to wind down, the 3rd/4th line managed to pull together a strong shift where Jakub Lauko managed to win a puck battle, then tossed the puck out in front to Morgan Geekie, who put an absolute laser past Jarry. 5-3 Bruins!
And to end things off, Danton Heinen, previously a Penguin, finished things off with an Empty Netter. 6-3 Bruins!
And with that, The Bruins comfortably sailed to a 6-3 wi-
…a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins!
Game Notes:
- Your TOI leader was Hampus Lindholm, who logged 22:46 tonight.
- The B’s didn’t win the shot count battle, but they absolutely slaughtered the Penguins in shot quality at even-strength; finishing the night with a 63.29% Expected Goals-For Percentage, and boy can you tell just looking at the heat maps; they saw the space out in front of Jarry/Nedelkjovic as a personal goal and they spent so much time there they developed divine mathematics. They made their shots count tonight in a big way.
- Of course, by the same metric, the Bruins needed every one of those six goals because net-front defense was a bit of a horror show. Michael Bunting and Bryan Rust especially took advantage of lackadaisical clears and bobbled passes that became harried defensive efforts which didn’t look great on anyone. Drew O’Connor’s goal was so egregious that it got Charlie McAvoy dumped from the power play entirely afterwards, and Jim Montgomery let him know exactly what he felt about it. He was struggling perhaps, but I think that energy could’ve also been placed just about everywhere else in the defense.
- Not one of Ullmark’s proudest nights, but I think he’ll take it given how little help he was receiving and…well…of the three goaltenders who played tonight, he certainly had the other team working the hardest for goals.
- Patrick Maroon played 13 minutes tonight. While physical and seemingly knew where he needed to be and what to do, certainly seemed like someone who had just spent a long while on the shelf dealing with injury; whole lotta rust to shake off. I’m sure he’ll get a chance to establish himself better on Monday night.
- Sidney Crosby took exception to David Pastrnak trying one final shot on Tristan Jarry, and while I can understand the whole defend your goalie thing, I simply wonder where all that effort was back when he was putting up a sub .800 SV% through the final 40 minutes. He could’ve used that waaaaay beforehand, Sid!
- Playoff Update: With tonight’s win, the B’s are (temporarily) back in first place of the Atlantic Division, with their final games of the season being against the Caps and Sens; two fairly mediocre to bad teams. Florida meanwhile has only one game remaining, and that’s on Monday against the Leafs. Either way the B’s decide to slice this; by going 1-1 or 2-0 or losing out; they face a team that wears Blue and White that we all kind of dislike already. That said, I’ve already written like 500 words on a matchup with Tampa, so I’d appreciate it if the B’s would just steamroll their competition so I don’t have to start over. Please and thank you.
The Bruins’ penultimate regular season game is on Monday against the Washington Capitals in DC proper, and that game starts at 7pm EST.
We’ll see you there!