The Bruins offense came roaring to life Saturday, scoring five goals in the second period and seven overall in a wild 7-5 win over the Penguins.
Brad Marchand had a hat trick and an assist, David Pastrnak snapped out of his slump with two goals and an assist, and Charlie McAvoy had three assists.
Here are three key takeaways from the win:
1. Wild second period
The first 20 minutes of play saw a Bruins team we've grown far too accustomed to watching over the last month — moments of tenacity, but mostly going through the motions, resulting in a 1-0 deficit at the break.
Something had to have been said during the intermission that resonated because the Bruins came out with aggression and emotion in the second period.
Off the opening faceoff, the Bruins got the puck deep with a hard dump-in -- tough for Pittsburgh's defense to control -- and then forechecked with purpose. The result was a Patrice Bergeron goal just 11 seconds into the period.
The B's were far from done as they would run it back on the very next shift. This time it was the second line.
Once again, the Bruins got in on the forecheck with purpose as Nick Ritchie created havoc behind the net and it would eventually lead to a wide-open net for David Pastrnak, who would break out of his even-strength goal-scoring slump.
However, with momentum clearly in Boston's favor, Sidney Crosby made sure to get his team right back in the game.
The Penguins captain won a clean faceoff and set up Jake Guentzel to even the score 2-2.
Shortly thereafter, Pittsburgh regained the lead on a power-play goal from Jared McCann.
This time in the face of adversity the Bruins wouldn't cave, fighting back both literally and figuratively.
Brad Marchand cashed in off a beautiful feed from Matt Grzelcyk, who circled the net before finding Marchand with a tape-to-tape cross-zone pass.
From there, tempers would flare in some post-whistle scrums involving the Bruins top players, exemplifying their leadership off the score sheet.
David Krejci would break the tie on a power-play goal as Marchand found him for a back-door tap-in with an elite pass from the top of the umbrella.
Marchand's period of dominance wasn't over, as Charlie McAvoy pinched in from the right point and slid a sneaky pass over to Marchand in the slot, who buried it to increase the Bruins' lead to 5-3.
While many of the Bruins' depth forwards and defensemen were quiet, the Bruins' top players led the way and showed how the Bruins want to play all the time.
2. Top players explode offensively
With the Bruins struggling to find even-strength offense, coach Bruce Cassidy elected to split up the "perfection line" heading into their series with Pittsburgh — the dividends paid off on Saturday.
Brad Marchand (3G, 1A), David Pastrnak (2G, 1A), Charlie McAvoy (3A), David Krejci (1G, 1A), Patrice Bergeron (1G, 1A), and Nick Ritchie (2A) all finished with multi-point performances.
Of course it was great to see Marchand rewarded with a hat trick of his own, but more notably was Pastrnak and Bergeron finally breaking through with their first even-strength goals in almost a month — Pastrnak since March 11 against the Rangers and Bergeron since March 5 against the Capitals.
Yes the Bruins still lack scoring in their bottom two lines, but it's even been a difficult stretch for their top players and this breakout performance against the Penguins is hopefully a sign of offense to come.
3. Bottom-four defense a nightmare on skates
Despite remaining one of the better teams in the league in goals against, the Bruins defense has been terrible lately, as noted by nine goals against in the last two games.
While McAvoy and Grzelcyk have been going above and beyond their call of duty on the back-end, they've had to do so because the bottom-four defensemen are struggling mightily.
The pairing of Connor Clifton and Jarred Tinordi is one that hopefully has its games numbered. The two lack speed, puck mobility and chemistry in their own end, resulting in many taxing shifts in their own end and scoring chances against.
Clifton continues to regress since impressing in his rookie season when he was a part of a back-end that was one game away from winning a Stanley Cup. He lacks the confidence that once ignited an exciting brand of "Cliffy hockey", and is way too indecisive with his puck movement.
Jakub Zboril and Steven Kampfer were not much better. Kampfer actually plays his role rather well as a veteran depth defenseman, but Zboril is showing signs as to why it took him six years to become an NHL regular.
Constantly getting beat to the outside, soft coverage in front of the net and dangerous passes through the middle of the defensive zone is a recipe to being scratched if Zboril doesn't improve.
Yes, there are injuries on the blue line -- Brandon Carlo being the latest to be sidelined -- but this current D corps is nowhere near good enough for the Bruins to accomplish their goals of winning in the playoffs.
With the Bruins' general lack of offense over the last month, it speaks to just how fragile the defensive unit is when adding to the back-end may now be Boston's trade deadline priority.
