[See how Bruins fans are reacting over at Stanley Cup of Chowder]
Say good-bye to the losing streak. On a night where Pens fans were hyped up for Evgeni Malkin's return, the Penguins pulled off a tough one in super-dramatic fashion thanks to former Bruin Bill Guerin and third-line grinder Pascal Dupuis.
- Jay McKee kicked off the scoring early with a move more suited for a forward than a defenseman. McKee made it look easy and put the Pens ahead early on with still a lot of hockey to play.
- Ben Lovejoy put on a great goaltending effort in the first period, keeping a Mark Recchi shot out of the goal when Brent Johnson was caught out of position.
- Dupuis picked up a clutch goal. Didn't rush the shot, held it and fired into the open net. Lovejoy recorded his first NHL assist, a fitting reward for his aforementioned shot-blocking duties.
- Crosby tipped in a big shot from GoGo who received the feed from Malkin for Geno's first point in his first game back.
- During a second period rush, Mark Eaton pinged one off the post that could've put Pittsburgh up 4-2. Ten minutes into the third with the score tied at 3, Eaton made good on his own post hit by rocketing one home on a Crosby feed to put Pittsburgh up 4-3.
- Coming into the game Pittsburgh was ranked 26th in the league on the PP with a 13.8% success rate. Boston sat right behind them in the 27th spot with 12.9%. By the end neither would improve much, although Boston did go 1-for-4. Pittsburgh, to the surprise of no one, went 0-for-3.
- Late in the game Pittsburgh found themselves in penalty trouble. Matt Cooke went off for a double minor after getting a high stick up on Bitz. Not even a minute later Crosby goes off for a tripping call, putting Boston up 5-on-3 with seven minutes remaining. With 21 seconds left to kill on the 5-on-3, David Krejci roofed one past Johnson to tie the game at four.
- With 4 1/2 minutes remaining Crosby took a breakaway pass in on Thomas. It looked like Sid would deke him out of his pads but Thomas just got enough of glove on Sid's backhander to keep it off target.
- All night Bob Errey and Paul Steigerwald were talking about Zdeno Chara's "heavy shot." Unfortunately the Pens caught that one first hand when The Big Z slapped one home with 2:30 remaining. Marco Sturm wound up getting on a piece on it and was credited with the G.
- Pens pull Johnson with a little over a minute left. Do or die. Time ticks down past 50, 40, 30. The game is good as over as Boston gains possession and looks to freeze it against the boards in the Pittsburgh zone. Wait. The puck squirts loose. Malkin has it. He's skating his pads off. Six seconds. Crosses the blue line. Five, four...pass to Bill Guerin. 3. Shot. 2. Pink off goal post. 1 GOAL .04 on the clock.
- In overtime Pittsburgh puts the pressure on early. Tim Thomas went behind his next to play the puck, changed his mind and left it there. Thankfully Jordan Staal has his head up, found the puck and dished it to the front of the net for Pascal Dupuis to slam it home. 6-5 Final. Dupuis gets the Mickey D Player of the Game.
- Great game from Mike Rupp. On paper it stands as a pointless effort but he was all around the crease, digging in corners and making things happen out there. The man we've come to know as a noted goal scorer almost put one in past Thomas, but a ridiculous stick save would keep it out.
What a way to snap the losing streak, huh?