Penguins bullied by Bruins in Boston beatdown
In deciding to trade All-Star forward Jake Guentzel on Thursday — to say nothing of reserve defenseman Chad Ruhwedel and goaltender Magnus Hellberg on Friday — Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas was blunt in assessing his team.
“We need to make a lot of improvement to the group,” Dubas said Friday in Cranberry following the expiration of the NHL’s trade deadline. “Obviously, we’re not where we aspire to be.”
That postulate was verified Saturday as the Boston Bruins bullied the Penguins, 5-1, at TD Garden in Boston.
The result was their fifth loss in their past six games (1-5-0), which pushed them further below the surface as their playoff hopes continued to drown.
“It’s a lot of work to get there, but we’ve got to find a way to just go a game at a time at this point,” Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said to the Associated Press in Boston. “You can’t grab all those points at once.”
Forward Michael Bunting, the primary return in the transaction that sent Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes, made his Penguins debut. Per the team’s social media accounts, he opened the contest on the team’s top line on the left wing next to Crosby. Logging 19 minutes, 36 seconds of ice time on 24 shifts (including an even two minutes on the power play), Bunting had three shots on five attempts.
Bruins forward David Pastrnak opened the scoring at 2:26 of the second period with his 40th goal of the season.
Winning a puck battle on the end boards of the offensive zone against Penguins rookie defenseman John Ludvig, Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk maneuvered his way to the right corner and slid a pass to the high slot, where Pastrnak, blessed with ample space to operate with, clapped a one-timer that found an avenue into the cage between goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic’s blocker and his left ribs. Penguins forward Lars Eller appeared to serve as something of an inadvertent screen on the sequence. DeBrusk and forward Pavel Zacha had assists.
4⃣0⃣ goals for David Pastrnak ????pic.twitter.com/93OHRkOw3H
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) March 9, 2024
Zacha scored his 16th goal on a power-play opportunity at 12:48 of the second.
As Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves operated without a stick after blocking a shot, Bruins forward Mogan Geekie took advantage of that impairment and dished a pass from above the right circle of the offensive zone to Zacha, stationed to the right of the cage. Accepting the puck, Zacha deflected it with the forehand side of his stick blade over and past Nedeljkovic’s left shoulder on the near side. Geekie and rookie defenseman Morgan Lohrei logged assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 9, 2024
Bruins forward Brad Marchand put his team up by a field goal at 18:25 of the second period via his 27th goal.
After gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Bruins forward Charlie Coyle veered toward the slot and drew the attention of Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson. That allowed Marchand to get free in the right circle and accept a pass from Coyle.
With a clear lane to the cage, Marchand cut across the front of the crease and lifted a sinister backhander by Nedeljkovic’s glove. Assists went to Coyle and defenseman Hampus Lindholm.
Boston goal!
Scored by Brad Marchand with 01:35 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Charlie Coyle and Hampus Lindholm.
Boston: 3
Pittsburgh: 0#PITvsBOS #NHLBruins #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/k6MCnuaBBW— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 9, 2024
The Penguins got on the scoreboard 2:51 into the third period via defenseman Kris Letang’s eighth goal.
Crosby beat Coyle on a draw in the Bruins’ left circle and swept the puck to the near wall for Letang. Settling the puck, Letang looked up and chopped a slapper through a forest of bodies that clinked off the far post and rattled into the cage behind goaltender Linus Ullmark, who reacted late to the shot because of a heavy screen in front of him by teammates and opponents. Crosby claimed the lone assist.
Keep pushing ???? pic.twitter.com/8pChyZeyNF
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 9, 2024
DeBrusk’s 15th goal restored a three-score lead for the hosts at 9:36 of the final frame.
After a faulty pass attempt from the Penguins’ zone by Pettersson, Lindholm intercepted the puck, gained the offensive blue line and offloaded a pass to Marchand scurrying up the left wing.
Getting a step on Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson in the left circle, Marchand slipped a clever pass to the opposite circle for a wide-open DeBrusk. He slammed in an easy forehand shot on the near side by the left skate of a scrambling Nedeljkovic. Marchand and Lindholm had assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 9, 2024
Zacha scored again at 15:33 of the third period to cap the scoring.
Chasing down a puck dumped into the left corner of the offensive zone, former Penguins forward Danton Heinen circumnavigated his way behind the cage and dished a pass to the right circle. Pastrnak one-touched it to the lower left hash mark for a darting Zacha, who directed the puck on net.
Nedeljkovic made the initial save with his stick, but the puck bounced off his left leg then fluttered over him and into the cage. Pastrnak and Heinen recorded assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 9, 2024
Stopping 18 of 23 shots, Nedeljkovic saw his record fall to 9-6-4.
Ullmark’s mark improved to 17-7-7 after he made 38 saves on 39 shots.
“He was our best player,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said to the Associated Press regarding Ullmark. “It wasn’t close.”
Notes:
• Bunting became the 23rd player to wear No. 8 in a game of consequence for the franchise. His predecessors:
Val Fonteyne, Jim Wiley, Rick Kehoe, Hartland Monahan, Dave Schultz, Mike Meeker, Bob Stewart, Dave Burrows, Randy Boyd, Tom O’Regan, Petteri Lehto, Terry Ruskowski, Perry Ganchar, Bryan Smolinski, Kevin Miller, Garry Valk, Bobby Dollas, Hans Jonsson, Matt Bradley, Mark Recchi, Andrew Hutchinson, Brian Dumoulin
• With Ruhwedel dealt to the New York Rangers, Ludvig returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the previous nine games.
• Before the game, the Penguins recalled forward Jonathan Gruden from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
• Forward Drew O’Connor (concussion) was the Penguins’ lone scratch. He has been sidelined for two games because of his injury.
• Lindholm’s first assist was his 300th career point.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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