Game two of a four game road trip took the Pens to the TD Garden in Boston, to take on the big, bad Bruins. The defending champs have a reputation for physicality that equals there strong play. The Pens more than matched the Bruins in both those aspects en route to Saturday’s 2-1 victory.
Scoring chances were at a premium during most of the first period. The game had a very similar flow to Wednesday’s game against the Maple Leafs. Neither team was willing to take a chance if it left them vulnerable on the back end. Early on the Bruins tested Marc-Andre Fleury, but he kept the game scoreless. The Pens would draw the only power play of the period when Rich Peverley took a late slashing penalty on Evgeni Malkin. About 30 seconds later Geno would give the Pens a lead with less than ten seconds remaining in the period.
The second period brought the physicality that the Bruins love, but it was usually the Penguins on the delivering end. While the period was full of hits, there were really two that stood out. Brooks Orpik helped Daniel Paille become famous for this attempt at mid air planking. The hit itself wasn’t particularly brutal, but the angle the hit was delivered made it look spectacular. The other notable hit was Chris Kunitz chopping down Zdeno Chara behind the Bruins net. Chara was apparently under the impression that he wasn’t allowed to be checked and took exception to a clean hit. Mid way through the period Pascal Dupuis took a high sticking double minor. The Bruins controlled the puck in the Pens zone for the majority of the four minutes, but the penalty killers kept the puck on the perimeter and when necessary Fleury came up huge.
The third period would begin 1-0 in favor of the Pens and it wouldn’t take long for them to extend it to 2-0. The line of Matt Cooke, Dustin Jeffrey, and Dupuis crashed the net hard and eventually Matt Cooke was able to get the puck behind Tim Thomas. Boston wouldn’t go away without a fight; minutes later Joe Corvo would end Fleury’s shutout bid on a floater from the point. Far from a highlight reel goal but it counts the same. The Bruins wouldn’t get any closer as the Pens tightened up defensively and Fleury continued his spectacular play earning the clear first star.
Next up is a trip to the Jersey Shore to take on the Devils who will be finishing up a back to back as well. On Saturday they scored six unanswered goals through two periods against the Flyers only to give up four unanswered in the third.
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