Leave it to the Boston Bruins to figure out a few things right before the Penguins come to town.
The Penguins haven’t won in Massachusetts since 2015. They are on a 10-game losing streak in the Bay State.
Prior to Tuesday night, the Bruins seemed ripe for the picking. And the Penguins seemed poised to pluck a rare victory at TD Garden when they visit Thursday night or Saturday afternoon.
After all, the Penguins concluded the March schedule 12-3-1. Not once did they lose by more than one goal.
Ironically — in the wake of all the injuries they’ve endured to their forwards — the Penguins have been winning by adopting a bit of a Boston Bruins formula.
They were getting production from their top line of Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel. They were playing systematic hockey throughout the rest of the lineup. And they were relying on good goaltending from Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith.
Sound familiar? When the Bruins are going right, it’s David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand driving the bus. They get just enough scoring from the rest of the lineup. Then Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak lock it down between the pipes.
But as the Penguins started to soar in March, the Bruins scuffled, going 6-4-3. They averaged just 2.23 goals during those 13 games. At a season-long rate, that would place them 28th in the NHL.
David Krejci still only has one goal. Nick Ritchie is the only Bruin besides the “Big Three” to reach double digits in goals. Rask has played just one period in net since March 7. Their team shooting percentage of 8.2 is 25th in hockey.
But it appears Bruce Cassidy’s team corrected a lot of issues Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils. The team came back from a 4-2 deficit in the third period courtesy of goals from Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk.
Cleaning it up.#NHLBruins | @CMcAvoy44 pic.twitter.com/7lCX6hlPMm
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 31, 2021
Just like they drew it up.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/X9PJSXxsWr
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 31, 2021
Then Pastrnak sealed the victory with a shootout goal.
Capping the comeback. ? @pastrnak96's shootout winner is your @JagermeisterUSA Shot of the Game!#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/1P1YzgSEXk
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 31, 2021
Now we’ll see if the Bruins have found themselves enough to continue their mastery over the Penguins on home ice over the course of the next two games.
