Penguins offense comes to rescue in wild 6-5 win over Boston

Defense was the leading reason the Pittsburgh Penguins closed out 2023 with a surge of wins in the estimation of coach Mike Sullivan.

Offense was the reason they overcame some porous defense in a 6-5 road win against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday, their second game of the 2024 calendar year.

Despite giving up a goal within the first minute of regulation, the Penguins unleashed a fusillade of offense against one of the typically stiffer defensive outfits in the NHL to claim a surprising victory.

Thursday’s game simultaneously offered the third-most goals the Penguins have scored this season and tied the mark for the third-most they have yielded in 2023-24.

Sound puck management has been a key to success in recent weeks for Sullivan and company.

“The decisions that we make with the puck, our puck possession in certain areas of the rink — high in the offensive zone, between the blue lines in the neutral zone — making sure that we make good decisions there,” Sullivan said after a practice session in Cranberry on Wednesday. “We don’t give teams an opportunity to create transition and numbers off the rush. We’ve done a much better job at that in probably the last seven-plus games. I don’t think it’s by accident that we’ve won a fair amount of them.”

Any defense that was on display by either squad in Thursday’s contest was seemingly accidental considering it took all of 41 seconds for Bruins forward Brad Marchand to open the scoring with his 14th goal of the season.

Taking a pass above the right circle of the Penguins’ zone, Bruins forward David Pastrnak spun to his right and chucked a wrister toward the cage while falling. Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made the save with his blocker despite a pile-up of bodies in front of the crease. On the ensuing rebound, Marchand outbattled Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson for position and swept a forehand shot by Nedeljkovic’s right skate. Pastrnak and defenseman Charlie McAvoy had assists.

The Penguins responded at 5:04 of the first period when forward Drew O’Connor found his fifth goal in a similar fashion off a rebound.

Taking a pass at the right point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang golfed a one-timer through traffic on net. After Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman managed to deny that offering with his blocker, the puck bounced to the right of the cage where an opportune O’Connor cleaned it up with a forehand shot by Swayman’s left skate. Letang and forward Lars Eller logged assists.

An unlikely source provided the Penguins with their first lead of the contest only 73 seconds later when defenseman Ryan Graves, recently demoted to the third defensive pairing, scored his second goal.

Off an exchange with linemate Rickard Rakell from behind the Bruins’ cage, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby maneuvered to the right corner and fed a sharp pass to the high slot for Graves. Accepting the puck, Graves snapped off a wrister that glanced off the stick of Bruins forward Charlie Coyle and skipped off the ice repeatedly, bounding past Swayman’s right skate. Crosby and Rakell registered assists.

The Bruins needed all of 22 seconds to tie the game again, 2-2, via Pastrnak’s 23rd goal.

Settling a puck at the left half-wall of the offensive zone, Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm surveyed the zone and slipped a clever seam pass to the right of the crease for Pastrnak. Moving forehand to backhand, Pastrnak juked Nedeljkovic out of Massachusetts airspace and tucked an adroit backhander into the vacant cage. Lindholm and forward Morgan Geekie garnered assists.

Penguins forward Jake Guentzel regained a lead for his team less than a minute later at the 7:21 mark with his 18th goal.

From his own right circle, Letang misfired on a stretch pass to the far blue line and the puck clunked off the end boards of the opposite zone. Crosby chased down the puck, pulled up in the right circle and dished a forehand pass by the stick of Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo to the far side of the crease. Guentzel outraced Lindholm to the blue paint and jabbed in a forehand shot by Swayman’s right skate. Assists went to Crosby and Letang.

Eller’s seventh goal put the Penguins up 4-2 at 15:58 of the first period.

Taking a pass at the right point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson dished the puck to the high slot for O’Connor, who coolly slid it low in the right circle where Eller ripped a one-timer from a narrow angle by the glove of Swayman on the near side. O’Connor and Karlsson claimed assists.

“We were probably a little hesitant and allowing them to come at us, but I thought we did a good job staying on our toes for the most part,” Crosby said to the Associated Press in Boston. “That’s what got us the lead in the first place.”

Penguins forward Jeff Carter got in on the act 6:38 into the second period with his fifth goal.

As a power-play opportunity expired, Letang boomed a slapper from the right point of the offensive zone that Swayman stopped with his left leg. Carter, planted above the crease, identified the rebound and chipped it over Swayman’s glove. Letang and forward Bryan Rust had assists.

Geekie’s seventh goal at 9:51 of the second frame pulled the Bruins’ within two, 5-3.

Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Pastrnak pulled up on the half wall, allowed things to develop and fed a slick seam pass to the right circle for Geekie, who lasered a wrister to the far side through a keyhole-narrow corridor between Nedeljkovic’s right shoulder and the left post. Pastrnak and McAvoy claimed assists.

The Bruins persisted and pulled within a single score late in the second period when Carlo scored his third goal at the 19:24 mark.

Following a turnover off an errant pass out of his own zone by Pettersson, Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk gained the offensive blue line at the center point and offloaded the puck to the right wing for Geekie. From the boards, Geekie set up Carlo, who scorched a one-timer from the right point through Nedeljkovic’s five hole. Assists went to Geekie and DeBrusk.

A short-handed score by Marchand 3:08 into the third period tied the game, 5-5.

Off a backhand pass in the neutral zone by Coyle, Marchand gained entry into the Penguins’ zone at the center point and cruised past futile resistance from Letang, his former teammate with the Val d’Or Foreurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Attacking the cage from the right circle, Marchand snapped a wrister by Nedeljkovic’s blocker on the far side. The lone assist was given to Coyle.

The Penguins made amends for that charity by scoring on another power-play chance at 11:19 of the final period.

After Crosby beat Coyle on a faceoff in the Bruins’ left circle, Karlsson claimed the puck at the left point and sashayed his way to the high slot before feeding a pass to Crosby above the left circle. Weighing his options, Crosby gripped and ripped a wrister between Carlos’ skates, off of Lindholm’s stick and through Swayman’s five hole for his 22nd goal. The only assist went to Karlsson.

Nedeljkovic made 24 saves on 29 shots, improving his record to 7-3-2.

“Weird start, but some games happen like that,” Crosby said to the AP. “You’ve got to be able to handle it. The momentum swung a couple of times. It was one of those games where the last goal is going to win and we got the last one.”

Notes:

• The Penguins have given up five short-handed goals this season.

• O’Connor set a new career with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 37 games. His previous high was 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 46 games last season.

• Crosby has 71 points (19 goals, 52 assists) in 57 career games against the Bruins.

• Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin appeared in his 1,100th career game.

• Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea and forward Radim Zohorna were healthy scratches.

• Pastrnak has 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists) in 25 career games against the Penguins.

• Geekie has nine points (four goals, five assists) in five career games against the Penguins.