The Bruins looked to be in great shape with the puck in the offensive zone with just seconds left in regulation and a one goal lead, but an untimely stick break gave the Penguins one final rush up ice and Bill Guerin found the back of the net with just 0.4 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime, where another miscue by the Bruins would give the Penguins the win.
The Bruins looked very sluggish coming out of the gate and the Penguins took advantage by striking first just 1:42 into the game, when Jay KcKee roofed a backhander over Tim Thomas. Evgeni Malkin, who returned from a shoulder injury tonight, picked up his 200th career NHL assist on McKee's goal.
Byron Bitz tired to swing the momentum by dropping the gloves with rookie Deryk Engelland at 6:42 of the first period. The bout was more of a wrestling match than a slugfest with this judge scoring it a draw. The fight may not have been Pacquiao-Cotto, but if may have have given the B's some life. The Bruins evened the game up at 1-1 less than 2 minutes later when David Krejci "set up in Gretzky's office" and found Blake Wheeler in front for Wheeler 5th goal of the season.
Pascal Dupuis hammered home a rebound with 3:36 remaining in the opening period. Mark Stuart tried to clear out Matt Cooke from in front of Tim Thomas and inadvertently pushed him into his own goaltender on the play.
Michael Ryder got the equalizer for the Bruins at 3:33 of the second period, when his hard snap shot from the right circle beat Brent Johnson up high on the glove side.
Sidney Crosby made it 3-2 Pens at 9:19 of the middle period when he deflected Alex Goligoski's blast from the blue line blast Thomas for his 10th goal of the season.
Derek Morris evened it up with 4:58 remaining in the second period when his wrister from the point deflected off of a Pittsburgh defender and into the back of the net.
Pittsburgh regained the lead with 11:00 left in the third period when Mark Eaton pumped in a one-timer off a feed from Sidney Crosby.
The pattern of alternating goals continued as David Krejci cleaned up a rebound in the slot off a shot from Zdeno Chara on 5 on 3 power play to tie the game up at 4 with 5:47 to play in the third period.
Chara's slapper from the point with 2:29 left in the third gave the B's a 5-4 lead.
The Bruins appeared to have the game wrapped up, but an untimely broken stick by Patrice Bergeron gave the Penguins one more rush up the ice and Bill Guerin fired the puck past Tim Thomas with 0.4 seconds remaining to force overtime.
The Penguins took advantage of a miscue by the Bruins in overtime when Tim Thomas misplayed the puck behind the net and Dennis Wideman failed to retrieve the puck giving Pascal Dupuis an open net for the game winner 1:24 in overtime.