Pittsburgh Penguins Edge Boston Bruins in a Shootout

The Boston Bruins entered last night’s home opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 2-1-1 record, putting them third in the Northeast Division and eighth in the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins were coming off of a decisive 4-2 win against the Ottawa Senators, in which Phil Kessel scored two goals and Marc Savard contributed three assists.

The Penguins entered the game with a 3-2-1 record, putting them third in the Atlantic Division and seventh in the East, just one spot ahead of the Bruins. They were also coming off of a win, a 4-1 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs that saw Sidney Crosby score his first goal of the season. Evgeni Malkin assisted on all four goals, putting him atop the NHL with eight total assists.

While the Bruins’ poor team goals-against average, combined with Crosby ‘s recent track record against the team—10 points in his last four games against Boston—didn’t bode well for the hometown heroes, the Bruin’s were coming off of their best game of the season. Coming into the game, they hoped that the defense would pick up the slack and that they would retain their momentum from Saturday night.

The Bruins made some defensive mistakes early in the first period, only starting to hit their defensive stride about eight minutes in. The offense also took a few minutes to get in gear.

But by the middle of the first period, it was obvious that the Bruins were in control. They forced two hooking penalties on Eric Godard and Crosby, and were able to put a lot of pressure on Dany Sabourin during the second power play.

Boston had an impressive 16 shots in the first period.

However, towards the end of the period, the team started falling apart. The momentum shifted when Godard defeated Shawn Thornton in a very poorly contested fight.

The Bruins took a momentum-killing offside penalty on their third power play of the period after Miro Satan took the Pens’ third consecutive hooking penalty. Six seconds after being released from the box, Satan scored the Pens’ only goal of the game. Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead into the dressing room after one period.

The Bruins started much quicker in the second period, putting five shots on goal in the first four minutes. The momentum temporarily shifted back to the black and gold after Milan Lucic delivered a huge hit on Brooks Orpik. But a Dennis Wideman penalty killed any momentum the Bruins had.

It took a penalty by Jordan Staal almost 13 minutes into the second for Boston to finally regain control. They broke through on the power play when Phil Kessel netted the Bruins’ only goal of the night through the legs of players on both sides.

Unfortunately, 61 seconds later, Stephane Yelle took a tripping penalty that appeared to kill any momentum the Bruins were riding.

The team managed to hold Pittsburgh’s power play scoreless, with Marco Sturm nearly scoring on a shorthanded opportunity with 11 seconds left in the penalty. Tim Thomas made some excellent saves in net for the Bruins, totaling 14 in the second and 31 on the night.

Tempers began to flare towards the end of the second as Sidney Crosby and Marc Savard received offsetting roughing penalties with 46 seconds left. However, when the teams returned to the ice for the third period, play was much less interesting.

Through seven minutes, each team only had one shot. And although the Bruins started to wake up again midway through the period, Sabourin and the Pittsburgh defense were able to prevent any damage. The period ended without any player entering the score sheet or the penalty box.

The teams were headed to overtime.

Despite putting the two on the same line for most of the first 60 minutes, the Penguins split up Crosby and Malkin in overtime with the intent of having one of their best players on the ice at all times.

Both teams had opportunities, with Sabourin and Thomas playing at very high levels. Savard took a hooking penalty to make it four on three, but Pittsburgh wasted their chance when Staal took a slashing penalty 17 seconds later. The three on three play was sluggish, and the teams went to a shootout.

Pittsburgh opened the shootout with Kris Letang, who went three for eight in shootout opportunities last season. But Thomas denied him. Kessel—one of Boston’s best shooters—scored to put the Bruins up 1-0, but Petr Sykora evened it up for Pittsburgh immediately after. Patrice Bergeron, who had seven shots in the game itself, missed the net for Boston. This was the first of five consecutive unsuccessful attempts for both teams.

Malkin scored on the Pens’ fifth attempt, which it proved to be the winner when Savard was unable to beat Sabourin.

The Bruins will take their act on the road again tonight in Buffalo, who currently ranks second in the Northeast Division. The Penguins don’t play again until Thursday, when Carolina visits the Mellon Arena.