It was a little sloppy at times, but the Bruins ultimately bounced back from Tuesday’s disappointing loss to Carolina with a good 6-4 road win over a desperate Pittsburgh Penguins team Saturday night.
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The Penguins were playing for their postseason lives, having slipped out of a playoff spot earlier in the day thanks to the Capitals, Flyers and Red Wings all winning. The Bruins matched their desperation and eventually put the game away with a pair of third-period goals that extended their lead from 4-3 to 6-3 before the Penguins got one back late.
It was a balanced attack from the Bruins, with six different goal-scorers and 13 players recording at least one point. Linus Ullmark got the win in net, making 28 saves on 32 shots.
Here are three takeaways from the game, plus a standings update at the bottom:
DeBrusk snaps out of funk
If anyone on the Bruins needed to see one go in before the playoffs, it might’ve been Jake DeBrusk. After getting hot for most of March, DeBrusk had gone cold again in recent weeks, going eight games without a goal and seven without a point.
Well, he saw one go in Saturday night. DeBrusk opened the scoring 8:08 into the second, and he did so by doing what always seems to be the key to him snapping out of funks: Going to the net.
DeBrusk posted up at the top of the crease and tipped a shot from Andrew Peeke that squeaked through Alex Nedeljkovic’s legs. DeBrusk continued to jam away, and whether he got a piece of it again or not, the end result was the same: DeBrusk’s 19th goal of the season and a 1-0 Bruins lead.
DeBrusk played well even outside of the goal Saturday. He had a couple net-front chances in the first period as well, including one that came after he knocked down a Kris Letang breakout pass and drove hard to the net, only to get stuffed by Nedeljkovic. DeBrusk also had a great backcheck to steal a puck away from Erik Karlsson, too.
Zacha, Coyle surpass production quota
Going into the season, what was a reasonable expectation for Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle in terms of point production? If I told you they were going to match Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci’s point totals from last year, you would’ve been thrilled, right?
Well, now they’ve exceeded that number. They each had two points Saturday – a goal and an assist for Zacha, two assists for Coyle. Coyle now has 60 points (25 goals, 35 assists) on the season. Zacha now has 58 (20 goals, 38 assists).
Both are career-high marks, and their 118 points combined are now four more than the 114 combined that Bergeron and Krejci had last season.
Now, obviously neither of them is the Selke-caliber defender that Bergeron was right up through his final season. But the point here is just that Coyle and Zacha have certainly met the ask this season in terms of taking on bigger roles, and have probably exceeded most people’s expectations.
Zacha scored the Bruins’ second goal Saturday, just 14 seconds after DeBrusk’s goal, when he buried a rebound off a Matt Grzelcyk shot. He later picked up a secondary assist on Kevin Shattenkirk’s goal that made it 3-1, helping to win the puck on the forecheck alongside David Pastrnak.
Coyle picked up the second assist on DeBrusk’s goal, then got a primary assist on Brad Marchand’s shorthanded goal that pushed Boston’s lead to 4-1, as he collected a free puck after a miscommunication between Karlsson and Tristan Jarry and then fed Marchand in front.
Power-play struggles lead to shakeup
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Bruins’ power play is in rough shape right now. Jim Montgomery appeared to finally reach something of a breaking point in the third period Saturday.
Up 4-2 early in the period, the Bruins went to the man advantage with a chance to extend the lead and all but seal the win. Instead, they gave up a shorthanded goal that got the Penguins back in the game and temporarily swung the momentum.
It was a sloppy effort all-around from the top unit for about 40 seconds, culminating in a sloppy turnover by Charlie McAvoy that led to Drew O’Connor’s goal at the other end. A lackadaisical backcheck from McAvoy didn’t help matters, and the whole sequence earned the star defenseman a lashing from Montgomery on the bench, according to The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa.
When the Bruins got another power play a few minutes later, McAvoy was no longer on the top unit, with Shattenkirk taking his place as the quarterback. It’s a small sample, and the Bruins still didn’t score, but there was at least some better movement.
Montgomery has had no problem changing out players at the bumper and net-front spots in order to try to spark the top unit, but so far he had not touched any of the three mainstays: Pastrnak, Marchand or McAvoy. For that reason alone, replacing McAvoy with Shattenkirk was notable.
After Saturday’s 0-for-3 showing, the Bruins’ power play is now 2-for-30 (6.7%) over the last 10 games. Whether Montgomery keeps Shattenkirk on the top unit or goes back to McAvoy remains to be seen, but either way, the Bruins now have just two regular-season games and a couple practices to go to try to get their power play right before the playoffs.
Standings update
Nothing really changed in terms of the Bruins’ place in the standings on Saturday, because the Rangers and Panthers both won as well.
So, Boston (109 points) remains three points behind New York (112) for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, and one point ahead of Florida (108) for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins have two games left, while the Rangers and Panthers each have one.
The Bruins can clinch first place in the Atlantic with two more points. Meanwhile, the top spot in the conference might be just about out of reach. They would need to win out, have the Rangers lose their final game in regulation, and also have the Hurricanes (109 points) drop at least one point in their final two games.