Penguins Win, But Bruins Salvage a Point

By John in Bruins, Featured, Top Story ⋅ March 5, 2011 at 10:24pm ⋅ Post a comment

Shawn Thornton vs Michael Rupp in the 1st Period. (Steve Babineau / Getty Images)

It was an exciting game, with Matt Cooke booed out of the building as expected, and the Penguins won 3-2 in OT after the Bruins tied it late. The game lived up to its billing right away, with no score in the 1st Period and both teams getting some great chances denied. In between a couple of fights, the Bruins got a power play chance following a holding penalty, but were unable to convert the opportunity.

Pittsburgh got their own chance with the man advantage 53 seconds into the 2nd, when Boston was caught with six skaters on the ice. Pittsburgh was unable to score. But afterwards, those opportunities from the 1st Period began to be converted in the 2nd. Big Z, Zdeno Chara lit the lamp at 7:26 with a wrist shot. But Pittsburgh tied the game at 10:09 when they recovered from a gust of Boston offense and got Tim Thomas to commit, resulting in an easy goal on the quick pass.

But Pittsburgh wasn’t done. Just 1:10 later, the Penguins flat out beat Thomas to take the lead. Boston stabilized the game, then regrouped in the intermission. They did get a flurry of offense immediately once the game resumed, necessitating an icing from Pittsburgh. But the Bruins had a difficult time getting over that hump and tying the game.

With Tim Thomas pulled, Matt Cooke had a good shot on an empty net, but couldn’t fool the Bruins’ defenders and had a should’ve-been game winner blocked. Then, when you were starting to think no points would come to Boston, David Krejci scored with 32.5 seconds remaining on some great puck movement.

In Overtime, both teams traded some good chances to win. Then, while attempting to clear the puck out of their own zone, Boston turned over the pass in the neutral zone, which resulted in a fast break and an easy goal for Pittsburgh.

JERRY!! JERRY!! Moment of the Game:

2:59 in, Shawn Thornton got into it with the bigger Michael Rupp. Thornton held his own for awhile, but in the end fell.

Bruins Banter

“You can’t expect to win if you don’t play a full 60 minutes, and I don’t think we did that tonight.” – Coach Claude Julien on Boston’s performance”

Scoring Summary

1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
7:26	BOS	Zdeno Chara (11) Wrist Shot – Assists: David Krejci (40) & Milan Lucic (20)
10:09	PIT	Jordan Staal (7) Wrist Shot – Assists: Tyler Kennedy (18) & Matt Cooke (17)
11:19	PIT	Dustin Jeffrey (6) Wrist Shot – Assists: Maxime Talbot (9) & Zbynek Michalek (12)
3rd Period
19:27	BOS	David Krejci (10) Snap Shot – Assists: Milan Lucic (21) & Nathan Horton (25)
OT Period
1:52	PIT	Dustin Jeffrey (7) Wrist Shot – Assists: none

Penalty Summary

1st Period
2:59	PIT	Michael Rupp: Fighting (maj) – 5 min
2:59	BOS	Shawn Thornton: Fighting (maj) – 5 min
13:08	PIT	Ben Lovejoy: Holding – 2 min
18:31	BOS	Nathan Horton: Fighting (maj) – 5 min
18:31	PIT	Craig Adams: Fighting (maj) – 5 min
2nd Period
0:53	BOS	Milan Lucic: Too many men/ice – bench – 2 min
3rd Period
5:41	BOS	Milan Lucic: Hooking – 2 min
OT Period
NONE

Goalie Stats

	Goalie	Save Total	TOI
PIT	Marc-Andre Fleury (W)	29/31	61:52
BOS	Tim Thomas (L)	36/39	61:09

Shots on Goal

	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	Total
PIT	14	15	7	3	39
BOS	9	11	11	0	31

Game Notes:

Chara’s goal was his first in 20 games.
The Bruins are 5-13-5 when trailing at the 2nd Intermission.
Nine of Pittsburgh’s last 17 games have gone to at least overtime.
The road team won all four games in the season series. However, Boston’s one point from this game means they win the season series 5-4 in points.
Boston led for a grand total of 11 minutes in the season series.
Boston has quietly pulled within two points of Philadelphia for the East’s #1. They still have a game out of hand against Philly.

Tags: Bruins, Claude Julien, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, Pittsburgh Penguins, Shawn Thornton, Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara