Penguins-Bruins Recap: Beantown Beatdown. Bruins Score 8 to Dismantle Penguins.

Pregame

The Penguins (36-24-4) were ready to put their 2-game losing streak behind them by trying to stop the surging Boston Bruins (38-15-8).

Lineups:

1st Period

35 seconds in, Olli Maatta got Pittsburgh off the ground with the early 1-0 lead. A great pass by Evgeni Malkin set up Maatta all by himself.

Moments later, David Krejci crashed the net and got the equalizer for the B’s.

Less than a minute after the equalizer, David Pastrnak scored the go-ahead goal as the puck bounced off Casey DeSmith and slowly trickled over the goal line.

Five minutes into the game, Evgeni Malkin took an interference penalty, giving the Bruins a power-play. Rick Nash deflected the puck right in front of DeSmith to go up 3-1. DeSmith was yanked for Tristan Jarry was substituted in after the goal.

Brian Dumoulin was penalized for high-sticking Jake DeBrusk, and the Bruins were right back to the power-play. This penalty was killed.

Right after the kill, former Bruin, Phil Kessel, banked the puck right off Tuukka Rask to make it a one-goal game. Two goals on two shots.

At 12:49, David Backes got a snipe from the right circle to extend Boston’s lead to 4-2.

With four minutes left in the period, Torey Krug let a rocket go from the blue line. 5-2 Bruins.

Carter Rowney thought he cut the deficit to 2 goals, but after review, it was determined that Rowney illegally kicked the puck into the net. No goal here.

With 2:53 left in the first frame, David Krejci was cited for tripping, giving the Penguins a very rare power-play. This penalty was successfully killed, however.

With 3.2 seconds to go, Riley Sheahan was able to get into the zone for a quick slapper to cut the lead to 5-3.

The period would come to an end seconds after the goal with the Bruins taking a 2-goal lead into the locker room. EIGHT goals in the FIRST PERIOD. Everyone can exhale.

Stats after one:

2nd Period

28 seconds into the second period, Dumoulin took his second penalty of the night, a holding penalty. David Krejci knuckled the puck by Tristan Jarry to make it 6-3.

Three minutes into the second, Evgeni Malkin and Tim Schaller were sent to the box with matching minors, sending both teams into 4v4 mode.

Olli Maatta was cited for tripping and Brad Marchand was caught and promptly punished for diving, sending teams back to 4-on-4 action.

With 12 minutes left in the period, David Pastrnak was called for hooking Dumoulin. After a pretty solid effort with the advantage, the penalty was killed.

Jamie Oleksiak and Zdeno Chara dropped the gloves to give the fans a free heavyweight boxing match.

Matt Hunwick was called for holding DeBrusk, sending the B’s to their fourth power-play of the evening. David Krejci went backhand-to-forehand while Jarry was down and would complete the hat-trick to give the Bruins a 7-3 lead.

David Pastrnak received a slick pass from Chara to give the Bruins their eighth goal.

Torey Krug was called for tripping Carter Rowney, sending Pittsburgh to the power-play right before the period ended.

Time would expire on the second period with the Bruins fully dominating the Penguins.

3rd Period

Five minutes into the final frame, Olli Maatta scored off a double deflection to cut the score to 8-4.

A hooking penalty was then called on the goalscorer, Maatta.

The feeling of the final period seemed to be to let as much clock bleed as possible.

Zdeno Chara was penalized for holding Carl Hagelin with five minutes to go in the game. The penalty expired with no goal being scored.

The game would (mercifully) come to an end soon after the penalty expired and the Bruins would take this one by a score of 8-4.

Final Thoughts

• Quite the game, huh? The first period was a straight goal fest.
• The tone of tonight’s game had a striking resemblance to the early-season games. Struggles and inconsistency throughout and the team ending up on the losing end.
• In the last three games, the Penguins have given up 17 goals. Is that a lot?
• For the most part, defense and goaltending were absent in tonight’s game. Overall, it may not bode well for the Penguins in the long run. Or this game is an outlier and proves to be a bit of a wakeup call to the team.
• Feel free to dissect whatever positives you take out of this game in the comments below.
• The Penguins will be back in action on Saturday when they return home to play the New York Islanders.