93.7 The Fan (PITTSBURGH) - Sidney Crosby's power play goal pushes the Pens past the Bruins 6-5.
Pittsburgh saw a 5-2 lead slip away after Boston scored three unanswered goals, but Crosby's power play goal was the difference.
"We've got a veteran group that has been through a lot, we have an accomplished group," said head coach Mike Sullivan. "We got to develop that as a team, and I think we are making strides there. I thought tonight was an example."
After a Brad Marchand goal just 41 seconds into the game, Drew O'Connor responded with his third goal in the last six games to tie the game. Kris Letang fired a slapshot from the blue line and O'Connor got the rebound to tie the game. A little over a minute later, Ryan Graves took a shot and it redirected off a defender's stick past Jeremy Swayman to give the Penguins the lead 2-1.
The lead didn't last long as Boston's puck movement got the Penguins defense out of sorts, as David Pastrnak was left wide open in front of the net. One deke and a backhand shot went past Alex Nedeljkovic to tie the game again. Jake Guentzel responded less than a minute later with his 18th goal of the season on a great feed from Sidney Crosby in front of the net, to give the Penguins the lead back. They added onto the lead after a one-timer shot from Lars Eller, giving the Pens a 4-2 lead after one period.
In the second period, Pittsburgh added another goal as Jeff Carter scored off a Kris Letang slapshot in front of the net, extending the Penguins lead to three goals. But Boston responded halfway through the period. Pastrnak made a great pass across the ice to Morgan Geekie for the goal. In the final minute of the period, Boston was on the attack and Brandon Carlo took a slap shot from just in front of the blue line, Jake DeBrusk redirected the shot past Nedeljkovic. The Penguins lead was cut to one headed to the third period.
In the third period, Marchand got his second goal of the game as he maneuvered past Kris Letang to beat Nedeljkovic with a short-handed goal to tie the game.
With under 9 minutes to play in the game, the Penguins went on the power play and just seven seconds later, Crosby gave the Pens the lead back on a wrist shot just behind the circle through traffic past Swayman.
"He's the heartbeat of our team," said Sullivan. "He's the guy that is the standard bearer and when the stakes are high, that's when he's at his best. He does a lot of the little things that helps us win."
It is Crosby's 173rd career game with 3+ points recorded.
