Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Boston Bruins 3-2 – NHL Recap
Dustin Jeffrey lit the lamp twice, including the game winning goal in the extra session, as Pittsburgh Penguins escaped TD Garden with a 3-2 victory over Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
Jordan Staal also notched a goal for Pittsburgh, which had lost six of seven coming in and has not won in a regulation win since February 4.
Marc-Andre Fleury turned away 29-of-31 shots for the win, as Penguins crept within two points of Philadelphia Flyers for first place in the National Hockey League Atlantic Division.
"I just think it shows our team character. Obviously there have been losses but we're getting points for overtime losses and we're keeping pace. Now we're two points behind the conference leader." Jeffrey said about his club's resilience without Captain
Sidney Crosby or forward Evgeni Malkin.
Zdeno Chara and David Krejci both found the back of the net for Boston, which has not tasted a loss since February 15 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, having their seven-game win streak snapped. Tim Thomas finished the game with 36 saves.
Following a goalless opening period, Boston got the scoring started for 1-0 lead just 7 minutes into the middle session. The play was set up by Krejci, who held control of the puck in at the blue line near the right boards and swept it into the middle for
Chara, who rifled a wrist shot into the net.
Penguins scored two goals in a 70-second span, as Fleury made a decent block on Johnny Boychuk’s shot from the point, and then Staal tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second period. The goal came when he finished a 2-on-1 break with Tyler Kennedy and
hit the puck behind Thomas, who skated across in an attempt to cut down Kennedy’s angle.
Jeffrey put Penguins ahead by a 2-1 lead nearly two minutes later, as he stole a pass from defenseman Dennis Seidenberg and broke in alone. He found Thomas out of position and tipped the puck home.
Thomas was pulled for an extra attacker with just over a minute left in the period and Matt Cooke attempted to put the puck into the empty net, but it was stopped.
Krejci pulled the game even at 2-2 with 32 seconds remaining in the final period. It happened as Mark Recchi controlled the puck behind the net and passed it to Milan Lucic, who swept it to the slot for Krejci, as he knocked it into the net.
"It was a tough one there, especially after tying it up at the end," said Boston forward Michael Ryder. "I think we were playing well in every role and that's a positive thing. We have a game Tuesday against Montreal and look past this to then."
Just two minutes into the extra session, Jeffrey rushed down the right side, cut to the middle and blasted a forehanded shot inside the left post to seal the win at 3-2.
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