Bruins New Lines Looked Solid in 7-5 Win over Penguins

The Boston Bruins rose to the occasion Saturday afternoon and broke the Pittsburgh Penguins five-game winning streak. After a 4-1 loss to the Penguins on Thursday, several of the Bruins top scorers took matters into their own hands. The shuffling of lines spread the offensive skill throughout the lineup and the Bruins managed to win 7-5.

Game Summary

The Penguins Mark Jankowski netted the only goal of the first period.

At the end of the first period, the Bruins had six scoring chances compared to the Penguins five. Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy spoke on the Bruins first intermission locker room talk in his post-game press conference.

Going into the second period, the Bruins came out of the locker room with intensity. Patrice Bergeron was able to net the equalizer 11 seconds into the start of the period.

Just 34 seconds later after Bergeron’s goal, David Pastrnak was gifted by Nick Ritchie’s big body being out front of the net. A shot from the point hit Ritchie and with the perfect bounce, it went on Pastrnak’s blade to make it 2-1 Bruins.

Just two minutes after Pastrnak’s goal the Penguins scored at 2:45 into the second. Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzal tied it up with a quick snapshot off a beautiful saucer pass from Sidney Crosby.

At 5:11 into the second period, the Penguins took the lead on the power-play. A beautiful connection of passes led to Jared McCann tapping it in on the backdoor to put the Penguins up 3-2.

Deeper into the second, at 5:04 left in the period, Brad Marchand continued his fantastic season, netting his 15th goal on the year.

The Bruins then went on a late second period tear. With 1:31 left in the second, David Krejci finished a beautiful setup on the power play to put the Bruins up by one.

With 20 seconds left on the clock, Brad Marchand made another net-front cut and netted his second of the game, this time coming from Craig Smith.

After scoring five goals in the second period, the Bruins shifted the momentum of the game into their favor and led 5-3 going into the third. At 4:38 into the third, the Penguins shook off the rust of the second and Cody Ceci put the Penguins within one of the Bruins.

After some crispy encounters and bumps after the whistle throughout the middle of the second, David Pastrnak decided to snipe Casey DeSmith’s top right corner with 6:32 left in the third, putting the Bruins up 6-4.

Then with 1:15 left on the clock, Sidney Crosby wanted to give his team a chance in this game. Crosby sent a pass on the net and it was able to leak through Jaroslav Halak.

In the remaining 1:15, the Penguins were granted a four-minute power-play after Patrice Bergeron’s high sticking on Sydney Crosby.

The Penguins pulled Casey DeSmith and had hopes of tying the game up. Brad Marchand had other plans, he wanted an easy third goal to secure a hat trick. Marchand netted an empty netter to put the Bruins up 7-5.

End Result: 7-5 Bruins win

Bruins Post Game Reactions

The Bruins new lines were instilled in the middle of Thursday’s game with the Penguins.

Offense:

Marchand-Bergeron-Smith

Ritchie-Krejci-Pastrnak

Bjork-Kuraly-Coyle

Frederic-Studnicka-Senyshyn

Defense:

Grzelcyk-McAvoy

Zboril-Kampfer

Tinordi-Clifton

Although the Bruins lost that one 4-1, the offensive generation was there Saturday for the top six Bruins forwards. Patrice Bergeron (1 G), Charlie Coyle(1 A), David Krejci(1 G,1 A), Brad Marchand(3 G,1 A), David Pastrnak (2 G, 1A), Nick Ritchie(2 A), and Craig Smith(2 A) all appeared on the stat sheet Saturday afternoon after difficulty scoring five-on-five and on the power play in the past.

Here’s the dressing room reaction to the win.

David Pastrnak: 

David Krejci: 

Brad Marchand: