If anybody thought the Bruins had been going to mail it in for the ultimate seven video games since clinching the Presidents’ Trophy, they’re sadly mistaken.
With the Pittsburgh Penguins desperately attempting to carry onto the ultimate playoff spot and a date with the B’s within the first spherical, David Pastrnak posted his second hat trick of the yr in dramatic vogue and beat the Pens, 4-3, at PPG Pains Arena on Saturday. It was win No. 59 for the B’s.
Pastrnak notched his third purpose of the sport and 56th of the season when he ripped dwelling a David Krejci feed to present the B’s a 4-3 lead.
Pastrnak then needed to sit within the field and watch his crew kill off the sixth Penguin energy play after his was known as for high-sticking with 57 seconds left.
Pittsburgh tied the sport for the third time on the afternoon with 7:30 left within the third interval when Brandon Carlo didn’t join with Hampus Lindholm on a cross behind the online. Eventually, Jake Guentzel rifled dwelling a Brian Dumoulin cross when Jeremy Swayman was sluggish to recover from.
There was a motive for that. Sidney Crosby had hit Swayman within the masks along with his stck. The B’s challenged it, misplaced the problem and needed to kill off the following energy play. Then they needed to kill off a Krejci boarding penalty earlier than Pastrnak gave the B’s the lead once more.
Pastrnak broke a 2-2 tie along with his second purpose of the sport and fifty fifth of the season when he one-timed Pavel Zacha’s cross from the highest of the precise circle that beat Tristan Jarry at 7:07.
The B’s had taken a 2-1 lead into the third interval however misplaced on some dangerous luck. Off a Pittsburgh rush, Bryan Rust took a shot that Swayman stopped however couldn’t management. A backing up Charlie McAvoy slid backwards into Swayman and knocked the puck in. It was initially waved off, but it surely was accurately upheld for Rust’s second of the sport.
The B’s dominated a lot of the primary interval, outshooting Pittsburgh 12-4, but it surely was 1-1 after 20 minutes.
McAvoy obtained the B’s on the board first late of their first energy play of the sport off a superb play by Zacha, filling in for Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron will miss the weekend’s video games as he nurses “nagging injuries,” based on coach Jim Montgomery. From behind the online, Tyler Bertuzzi tried to feed Zacha out entrance however the puck was deflected. Zacha dove to get the puck and fed McAvoy for a straightforward backdoor purpose at 6:20.
But simply 1:13 later, the Pens tied it up. On a Crosby rush, McAvoy over-committed to the Pens’ captain and Crosby was capable of slip a pleasant cross by way of Dmitry Orlov’s skates to a large open Rust, who snapped it over Swayman’s glove to knot the sport.
While Pittsburgh didn’t have plenty of possibilities within the first, those it did have had been glittering. Late within the interval, Swayman stoned Jake Guentzel on a breakaway and, with an empty cage watching him, Guentzel heeled the rebound probability large.
In the waning seconds of the interval, Evgeni Malkin tripped Brad Marchand on a breakout and the B’s started the second interval with some wholesome energy play time. They cashed in once more. With time working down on the benefit, Orlov stored the puck in on the left level, then sprinted to the center of the blue line earlier than sending a backhander towards the online.
At the highest of the crease, Pastrnak deflected it down and previous Jarry for his 54th purpose and a centesimal level. Pastrnak grew to become simply the third Bruin previously 20 years to hit the century mark. Marchand (36-54-100 in 79 video games in 2018-19) and Joe Thornton (36-65-101 in 77 video games in 2002-03) had been the others.
While the B’s continued to hold a lot of the play, any lapse appeared to lead to a Pittsburgh odd-man rush. On one in every of them, Swayman denied Guentzel after which Rust on the rebound.
The B’s obtained themselves in serious trouble late within the interval when, with 45 seconds left on Jake DeBrusk’s high-sticking penalty, Carlo was whistled for interference on Crosby. But the B’s got here up with the massive kill to enter the second intermission with their one-goal lead.
Source: www.bostonherald.com