A little over 24 hours after a historic offensive performance, the Boston Bruins had to do things a bit differently Sunday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It wasn’t a pretty game by any means, but ultimately all that mattered is that the Bruins collected two more big points with a 1-0 win.
Joonas Korpisalo stopped all 27 shots he faced to earn Boston’s first shutout of the season. It was the second stellar outing in four days for Korpisalo, who also stopped 28 of 29 in a 4-1 win over Calgary on Thursday. The Bruins needed it, because they actually got outshot 27-18 in this one, with the offensive fireworks of Saturday afternoon nowhere to be found.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead with 9:00 left in the first when Viktor Arvidsson out-muscled Erik Karlsson in front of the net and flipped in a rebound off a Henri Jokiharju point shot. Arvidsson now has seven points in his last six games. And it was fitting that this goal came at the net-front because Bruins coach Marco Sturm had been praising his work there recently, pointing out that it had contributed to several goals for his teammates.
The Bruins had plenty of opportunities to add to the lead in the form of five power plays in the first half of the game, all while the Penguins didn’t have any. Boston’s man advantage, which has been a strength much of the season, struggled mightily in this one, though. Clean entries were hard to come by, as were scoring chances once they got there. The Bruins didn’t score on any of those five power plays, and only had two total shots on goal.
That could have proven costly, as could a poor finish to the second period. Fortunately for the Bruins, though, Korpisalo was on his game. He made several great saves late in the second, including two on Sidney Crosby backhanders in tight. He also denied Tommy Novak on a point-blank chance in the final seconds of the period.
The Bruins weren’t especially great in the third period either, getting outshot 7-4 in the frame, but Korpisalo continued to stand up to every challenge to close out the win. He finished with 2.61 goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck.
This was a big one for the Bruins, who have now won five of six and who leapfrogged Pittsburgh in the standings with the regulation win as both teams battle on the playoff bubble. With 52 points, the Bruins are now tied on points with Buffalo and Washington for the Eastern Conference’s two wild card spots.
The Bruins have another big one coming up on Tuesday, when they host the Atlantic Division-leading Detroit Red Wings.