Pasta tasty in matinee
His breakaway goal in third dumps Pens
David Pastrnak had a hunch.
In the second period, he was getting the feeling that he was go- ing to get a breakaway in yesterday’s tilt against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins at the Garden.
The Pens were pretty well outplayed through two periods, but they capitalized on a couple of Bruins mistakes in the second period and found themselves in a 3-3 tie going into the third.
Pastrnak’s premonition was so strong that in between periods he asked Tuukka Rask what move he should use when the breakaway occurred. Rask’s advice? Go backhand-to-forehand.
Sure enough, when Ryan Spooner blocked a shot out high and Riley Nash feathered the puck up ice, Pastrnak had his breakaway. With a Pittsburgh defender on his tail, Pastrnak snapped a shot that beat goalie Matt Murray low to the gloveside at 5:06.
“Pretty good advice,” beamed Pastrnak. “He’s 1-for-1 so far.”
There were a lot of nervous moments after that, but Pastrnak’s tally — his 11th of the season but first in six games — stood up as the game-winner in a 4-3 triumph, the B’s fourth consecutive victory.
The B’s got a couple more goals from rookies — Sean Kuraly and Matt Grzelcyk (his first NHL goal) — and another from veteran David Krejci, and Anton Khudobin earned his fourth straight win with a sometimes hairy 17-save performance.
It was a nice win for the young B’s against a quality opponent, playing on a big stage in the nationally televised matinee. Coach Bruce Cassidy did not shy away from the situation.
“I mentioned it before the game, I think it’s exciting. It’s on NBC, you’re playing against the Stanley Cup champions. Let’s put out best foot forward,” said Cassidy. “I know it’s one of 82, but it’s a bigger one of 82. It’s the way I look at it and I think they felt the same way coming out of it.
“I also think with a young group you’re going to be more juiced up at home. They’re still in that stage of their career. I think that explained a lot of our start.”
The B’s appeared to be on the verge of running the Pens out of the building in the first when they outshot their guests 14-4 and posted a 2-0 lead.
Krejci got the B’s on the board at 6:13 after some great work from his line. Peter Cehlarik stole the puck in the high slot and got it down low to Jake DeBrusk (two assists) on the left side. DeBrusk froze Murray and then dished to Krejci for an easy goal.
Then Kuraly doubled the lead at 10:51. Carter Rowney’s cross-ice pass in the Pittsburgh zone intended for Carl Hagelin was off the mark, and Charlie McAvoy grabbed the loose puck at the right point. McAvoy took off with the puck, taking it behind the net and feeding Kuraly for a onetimer from inside the right circle.
But the Pens scrapped back with a Jake Guentzel power-play goal at 1:02 of the second. Grzelcyk gave the B’s their two-goal lead back at 10:31, but a DeBrusk turnover led to a Phil Kessel snipe to make it 3-2.
Then came an odd one with 2:16 left in the second. Patric Hornqvist tipped a long shot that Khudobin tried to knock behind the net with a wild swing of his stick. Instead, it went straight up in the air. As Khudobin was flat on his back, the puck rested on his chest for an instant and Sidney Crosby flipped it off Khudobin into the net. The red light went on, though the referee did not give the goal signal. After one lengthy review, the goal was granted.
B’s coach Bruce Cassidy challenged for goalie interference but it was denied. And though the B’s were outshooting the Penguins 28-12 through two, it was all even on the scoreboard.
The B’s regained the lead on Pastrnak’s goal and, though the kids had shown some skill early on, it was time to display a little mettle to close it out.
They did just that. Danton Heinen came up with four blocks, Noel Acciari had three and, with Murray pulled for the extra skater, Khudobin made one final big save on Kessel with Hornqvist trying to jam home the rebound.
“Hopefully it’s a step in the right direction and we can use that as experience going forward, figuring out ways to beat good teams,” said Torey Krug. “It’s not always going to be perfect. It’s going to get ugly out there. You’re playing in the NHL so you’re going to be playing against some great players.
“So for the young guys to respond the way they did, they were a big part of our team today, blocking shots, a couple of big plays, scoring goals, some big assists. It’s good to see that. We need them to win hockey games.”
And they certainly did their part yesterday.