Patrice Bergeron had a pair of goals to provide some insurance for the Boston Bruins in their, 4-1, win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night at TD Garden.
Jaroslav Halak (2-0-1, 1.30 goals against average, .938 save percentage in three games played) made 16 saves on 17 shots against for a .941 SV% in the win for Boston.
Pittsburgh goaltender, Tristan Jarry (2-3-1, 3.93 GAA, .859 SV% in six games played), stopped 16 out of 20 shots faced for an .800 SV% in the loss.
The Bruins improved to 5-1-1 (11 points) on the season, while the Penguins fell to 4-3-1 (nine points) overall. Boston remained in command of 2nd place, while Pittsburgh remained 4th in the MassMutual NHL East Division.
Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several changes to his lineup from Tuesday night’s, 3-2, overtime win against Pittsburgh.
With Jake DeBrusk (lower body) out of the lineup due to injury, Craig Smith took over the first line right wing spot, while Charlie Coyle moved up to the second line right wing.
Par Lindholm made his season debut on the third line with Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka, while Anders Bjork and Chris Wagner were remained on the wings of Sean Kuraly’s fourth line.
On defense, Matt Grzelcyk (lower body) returned to the second defensive pairing with Brandon Carlo after Grzelcyk missed the last two games due to an injury he sustained on Jan. 21st against the Flyers.
In net, Halak got the start as expected, while Dan Vladar served as Boston’s backup with Tuukka Rask (lower body) in the press box for a night after laboring a bit, but playing through the rest of Tuesday night’s game.
Once more, David Pastrnak (hip) and Ondrej Kase (upper body) missed Thursday night’s action, though the former may make his season debut on Saturday at the earliest.
Pastrnak, Kase, DeBrusk and Rask were out of the lineup due to injury, while John Moore, Connor Clifton, Greg McKegg, Urho Vaakanainen and Callum Booth were all listed as healthy scratches and/or taxi squad members against the Penguins on Thursday.
Jarry tripped up Patrice Bergeron 52 seconds into the first period as the Penguins goaltender reached outside his crease and caught the Bruins captain with his stick while Bergeron was chasing a loose puck in the near vicinity.
Boston did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.
Moments later, Wagner (1) buried a rebound to give the Bruins the, 1-0, lead at 6:10 of the first period. Wagner’s goal was unassisted.
Less than a minute later, Coyle was guilty of holding against Penguins defender, John Marino, and presented Pittsburgh with their first power play opportunity of the night.
The Pens were not successful on the ensuing skater advantage.
Late in the opening frame, Cody Ceci (1) worked his way into the attacking zone and fired a shot past Halak’s blocker side from the slot to tie the game, 1-1.
Bryan Rust (4) and Teddy Blueger (3) tallied the assists on Ceci’s goal at 15:03 of the first period as the Penguins breathed a sign of life.
It did not last that long.
Bjork sent a chip shot off of Blueger that led to a wacky bounce through Pittsburgh defender, Kevin Czuczman’s legs, before redirecting off of Kuraly and into the twine.
Kuraly (1) was credited with his first goal of the season– having been the last Bruin to touch the rubber biscuit before it ended up in the back of the net– while Bjork (1) had the only assist as the B’s retook the lead, 2-1, at 18:53.
After one period of action in Boston on Thursday, the Bruins led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 9-6, in shots on goal.
The B’s also held the advantage in faceoff win percentage (67-33), while the Pens led in blocked shots (6-3), giveaways (7-2), as well as hits (12-7).
Both teams had two takeaways and were 0/1 on the power play entering the first intermission.
Almost midway through the middle frame, Bergeron (4) slipped a backhand shot under Jarry’s blocker side while falling to his knees from point blank to extend Boston’s lead to two-goals.
Grzelcyk (3) and Coyle (2) had the assists on Bergeron’s first goal of the night and the Bruins led, 3-1, at 8:13 of the second period.
Moments later, Jeremy Lauzon was called for interference as he knocked Drew O’Connor into Halak away from the puck at 13:40.
Pittsburgh’s power play was powerless as Boston’s penalty kill got the job done.
Grzelcyk cut a rut to the sin bin at 18:35 of the second period after earning an infraction for holding Jake Guentzel.
The Bruins defender went to the box to serve his minor penalty, but would not return for the third period of play, as Boston later tweeted that Grzelcyk would not return to the action with a lower body injury.
Through 40 minutes of play on Thursday, the Bruins led, 3-1, on the scoreboard and, 16-11, in shots on goal, including a, 7-5, advantage in the second period alone.
Boston also led in takeaways (5-4) and faceoff win% (67-33) after two periods, while Pittsburgh held the advantage in blocked shots (9-5) and hits (21-15).
The two clubs each had nine giveaways entering the second intermission, while the Penguins were 0/3 on the power play and the Bruins were still 0/1 on the skater advantage.
Less than a minute into the final frame, Marino was assessed an interference minor for tying up Smith away from the puck 55 seconds into the third period.
Late in the ensuing power play, the Bruins worked the puck around the attacking zone in an umbrella formation– Charlie McAvoy to David Krejci, Krejci back to McAvoy, McAvoy to Brad Marchand and finally Marchand to Bergeron at the bumper.
Bergeron (5) one-timed a shot past Jarry to give the Bruins a three-goal lead with a power-play goal at 1:40 of the third period.
Marchand (6) and McAvoy (5) tallied the assists on Bergeron’s power-play goal as the Bruins took a, 4-1, lead in Bergeron’s 47th career two-goal game.
Shots were in short supply in the third period, as was just about everything else on the event sheet as time winded down and the final horn sounded.
Boston won, 4-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 20-17, despite trailing Pittsburgh in shots on goal in the third period alone, 6-4.
The Penguins left TD Garden with the advantage in giveaways (14-10) and hits (26-20), while the Bruins departed with the victory and the advantage in faceoff win% (63-37).
Both teams had nine blocked shots each after 60 minutes of action.
Pittsburgh finished the night 0/3 on the power play, while Boston went 1/2 on the skater advantage on Thursday.
With the victory assured, the Bruins improved to 4-0-0 when leading after the first period, 4-0-0 when leading after the second period and 4-0-0 when scoring the game’s first goal this season.
Boston is now on a four-game winning streak coinciding with their four-game homestand (4-0-0). The B’s hit the road for a four-game road trip in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia starting on Saturday when they take on former captain, Zdeno Chara, and the Washington Capitals.
The Bruins face the Caps again on Feb. 1st before venturing to the “City of Brotherly Love” to face the Flyers on Feb. 3rd and Feb. 5th.
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