Boston Bruins' 7-Game Winning Streak Snapped by the Pittsburgh Penguins

"All good thing must come to an end." 

This Proverbial derivative from a biblical verse held true last night for the Boston Bruins, as the Pittsburgh Penguins came to town and ended the win streak at seven games in OT.

There was some good that came out of the loss. The Bruins managed to force the game into overtime and get at least a point. Unfortunately, this type of loss in the playoffs will put you down a game in the series, so we will take the point in the regular season and move on.

The Game

First Period

No Scoring.

Second Period

Boston opened up the scoring with Zdeno Chara ripping a shot from the slot and getting his 11th goal of the season and his first goal in 20 games. David Krejci took the hit at the point to backhand it to Chara, who was all alone.

Just a few minutes later, Jordan Staal evened up the game at one. A turn over at the Pens blue line resulted in Staal and Tyler Kennedy to go two on one with Chara. Both players passed it back and forth twice, and Staal beat a down and out Tim Thomas, who was betting on Kennedy to make the shot.

About 1:10 later, Dustin Jeffrey scores to give the Pens the lead. The puck was cycled very well by the Pens, which ended with Maxime Talbot to Zbynek Michalek, who redirected it to Jeffrey—2-1 Penguins.  

Third Period

The Bruins pulled out all the punches in the final minute with a fortunate turn of events.

Matt Cooke tried to get the empty netter to put it away in regulation, but Tomas Kaberle stacked his legs together to block the shot, and the Bruins were off to the Pens side of the ice.

Krejci scored the equalizer with just 33 seconds left in the game and forced it into overtime.

Milan Lucic passed the puck to Nathan Horton and quickly got it to Krejci, who was low in the slot.  Krejci wristed it past Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game and earn a point. 

Extra Fun (A.K.A. Overtime Period)

It didn't take long for the game to be decided.

Dennis Seidenberg made a rare bad turnover to have Jeffery gather the puck and have a clear lane right to the net to bury the game winner and his second of the night.

The Good

The B's pulled out a point and made the game interesting. The Penguins gave it 110 percent. My hat is off to them in a well earned win.

The Bad

The OT goal with a defensive team such as the Bruins should not have happened. It did, so they move on.

The Ugly

Two goals in 1:10 and not long after the Bruins scored the first goal of the game.

Cooke's empty net attempt. They had other options, but Cooke attempted to shoot it right at Kaberle.

My Take

The Penguins have proven that without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, they are not in their winning ways, but have managed to pull a 3-3-4 in their last 10 games and earn 10 out of a possible 20 points.  This is keeping them alive and high in the standings (currently fourth place in the Eastern Conference).

The Bruins still hold second place, with the hot Montreal Canadiens earning their fourth straight win and are five points back in the Northeast Division behind the Bruins.

Speaking of the Habs, the Bruins will be playing them on Tuesday, March 8 and have a shot at getting within three point of the Bruins that night or the Bruins can extend their lead to six points. The Bruins won in a "Goalies-took-the-night-off" game in their last meeting.

This is Cory Ducey saying "Hit Hard, But Keep It Clean."