Offensive floodgates open for Bruins
The Bruins got another taste of what the playoffs will be like and they passed another test. Barely.
Facing a desperate Penguins team in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, the B’s jumped out to a three-goal lead in the second, survived a furious comeback attempt and prevailed, 6-4.
The B’s win allowed them to maintain the onepoint lead over the Florida Panthers with which they started the day. Meanwhile, the B’s win handed the Pens’ playoff hopes a crushing blow as all the other teams vying for a wild card spot won on Saturday.
Linus Ullmark was busy in the scoreless first period, turning away all 13 shots. The best stop, perhaps, was the glove stop he made on Erik Karlsson from the inside of the left circle.
Each teams’ struggling power plays got one chance each in the first and the B’s put some pressure on Alex Nedeljkovic on their turn but they had nothing to show for it. David Pastrnak also hit the post on the PP, which came after linemate Danton Heinen hit one as well.
Pat Maroon, playing his first game since Jan. 27 after undergoing back surgery, saw his first few shifts as a Bruin in the first and his fourth line with Jesper Boqvist and Jakub Lauko showed some promise with Maroon landing a shot.
As it usually happens when the B’s and Penguins play, the goals started to come in the second period, six in all, as the B’s took a 4-2 lead.
The B’s took control with first two goals 14 seconds apart.
The first one came from a welcome source. Jake DeBrusk had gone eight games without a goal and coach Jim Montgomery bumped him back up to the second line with Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand. He responded with a goal at 8:08. Andrew Peeke moved down from his right point spot and fed DeBrusk for a redirect attempt. Nedeljkovic made the initial stop but before he could squeeze the pads on the puck, DeBrusk poked it home for his 19th of the season.
On the next shift, Nedeljkovic gave up a fat rebound off a Matt Grzelcyk shot and Pavel Zacha ripped his 20th into the half empty net.
The Penguins pushed back at 10:27.
Grzelcyk, who was bumped up to play with Charlie McAvoy, could not stop Drew O’Connor at the Boston blue line and O’Connor broke in on a 2-on-1, feeding Bryan Rust for a tip-in.
But Kevin Shattenkirk gave the B’s their two-goal lead back at 11:35. Pastrnak made a terrific diagonal pass from the side of the net to the defenseman, who sniped a far side shot off the back bar, his sixth.
With that, Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan pulled Nedeljkovic, who was making his 11th consecutive start, and inserted Tristan Jarry.
It wasn’t a great start for Jarry, nor is teammates. On a Penguin power play, Erik Karlsson allowed Coyle to get a loose puck along the left boards in the Pittsburgh zone. He fed an open Marchand, who threw a deke at Jarry and slipped the puck through the goalie’s pads for his 29th of the year and 36th career shorthanded goal at 14:54.
With the Penguins’ season on the line, they fought back and got one back on the same power play with Michael Bunting, who had gotten away with a cheap trip of Ullmark in the waning seconds of the first, redirecting a pass through Ullmark from the blue line paint at 15:52.
That at least kept the Pens in the game going into the third period.
When the Penguins took a penalty early in the period, the B’s had a chance to put the hammer down. Instead they gave Pittsburgh more life. McAvoy coughed up the puck high in the zone and O’Connor was off. He made a terrific move around Marchand on the rush and then roofed it over Ullmark’s glove at 4:32 to get them to within a goal at 4-3.
Pastrnak drew another power play shortly after that and Montgomery replaced McAvoy with Shattenkirk on the first unit, but it was no more successful.
The B’s finally gave themselves some breathing space with 5:50 left in regulation. From behind the net, Jakub Lauko set up Morgan Geekie for a one-timer, his 17th of the year, and a timely one.
Danton Heinen then gave the B’s their three-goal lead back with an empty-netter, but Bunting scored one more with 1:21 left. It was not enough for the Pens.