The Bruins fought back from a 2-0 early second period deficit to knot the game up at 2-2, but Jordan Staal's goal early in the third period re-established the lead for the Pittsburgh Penguins as the B's fell 3-2 on home ice on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the Bruins controlling the play early in the game, Pittsburgh got on the board first with a goal from Chris Kunitz. Matt Cooke broke into the attacking zone on the right wing and fed a cross ice pass to Jordan Staal at the left circle. Staal alertly saw Kunitz joining the play and slid the puck to him in the slot. Kunitz had a lot of net to work with and he got a piece of the puck with a one-timer attempt and it deflected off his own skate and knuckled into the net for his 15th goal of the season.
Pascal Dupuis' 9th goal of the season gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead 41 seconds into the second period. Zbynek Michalek's shot went wide right of the net and bounced off the end boards to Dupuis at the left post.
The Bruins pulled to within one on a rocket from the left point by Dennis Seidenberg at 11:28 of the second period. The fourth line of Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, and Shawn Thornton's tireless work on the forecheck kept the puck in the attacking zone and led to Seidenberg's 3rd goal of the season.Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell picked up the assist on the goal. The secondary assist for Campbell represented his 100th career NHL point.
The B's struck again just 13 second later on Michael Ryder's snap shot snipe from the top of the left circle that whistled over the right shoulder of Marc-Andre Fleury for Ryder's 13th goal of the season.
Jordan Staal made it 3-2 Pittsburgh 3:25 into the third period. Tyler Kennedy dumped the puck behind Tuukka Rask's net where Matt Cooke tracked it down. Cooke's backhand pass from the trapezoid found Staal in the slot for his 2nd goal of his injury-shortened season.
The Bruins dominated play late in the game. The B's put 20 shots on goal in the final period, but could not get a puck past Marc-Andre Fleury for the equalizer.
Notes:
- Mark Recchi played in his 1,615th career NHL game, tying Larry Murphy for 7th all-time.
- Evgeni Malkin played in his 350th NHL game.
- Andrew Ference and Milan Lucic both missed this afternoon's game with upper body injuries.
- Sidney Crosby missed his 5th straight game with post-concussion symptoms.
- Gregory Campbell and Craig Adams squared off in the first period in battle of 6'0" 197 lbs forwards. Campbell unloaded several big haymakers to score the win. Adams went down to one knee, but that didn't stop Campbell from continuing to swing away.
- Steven Kampfer ran into Zdeno Chara's stick during the second period and blood started pouring from his face. The referees incorrectly saw it as a high stick from Pascal Dupuis and whistled him for a double minor. Kampfer left the game and did not return to the game. After the game, the Bruins announced that Kampfer was taken to a local hospital and has a broken nose.
- Bobby Orr was in attendance at today's game.
- Marc Savard was shaken up on a hard hit into the boards by Deryk Engelland, but able to remain in the game.
- The Bruins outshot the Penguins 46-36.
- The Bruins goal scorers (Michael Ryder and Dennis Seidenberg) recorded a co-game-high 7 shots on goal.
- Is it me or did Jack Edwards seem almost impartial, rational, and level-headed today? Maybe he doesn't turning a cranky homer until 7:00 PM.
- The Bruins battled hard today and come up on the losing end. Most of the time when the Bruins lose it is the old cliche of "we didn't play a full 60 minutes". It is hard to say that about this game.
- Craig Adams' 4 fighting majors on the season leave him 13 behind fellow Ivy Leaguer George Parros (league-leading 17 fighting majors).
- There were several reports from Bruins beat writers on Twitter that Johnny Boychuk challenged Matt Cooke to fight, but Cook decline the invitation. Marc Savard had a few digs at Cooke as a result [WEEI's DJ Bean] [CSNNE's Joe Haggerty]
- The B's are back in action on Monday afternoon for a MLK Day matinee with the Carolina Hurricanes.
- For more on today's game see what emergency call-up TonyAndrock had to say on PensBurgh
"It just sucks because we lost. And it’s one of those games you kind of want to step up and win for your team because they’re all over the place and they’re in there. But it’s a tough loss to swallow, at least for me. I think nobody’s happy here right now."
Tuukka Rask
"Well it was good pressure by the fourth line, I mean they were grinding it out. And puck jumped out, I just [shot] and Paillsey [Daniell Paille] had a great screen in front of the net so it went in."
Dennis Seidenberg on his goal
"He had a run in with Nathan [Horton] and Nathan doesn’t need to be doing that all the time so yeah. At a time like that when we’re down one it never hurts to provide a little energy."
Gregory Campbell on his fight with Craig Adams
"Well we just, we wanted to play with energy, you know our line is good at that. Getting it deep, creating good cycle, protecting the puck and creating chances just with hard work and Paillsey [Daniel Paille] made a good screen there and you can credit the goal largely, a lot to him. It was a great shot but Fleury didn’t see it."
Gregory Campbell on Seidenberg's goal that gave him his 100th career point
"I accept that role and that position and it is what it is. Like I said, I’m good with that and I have to play a certain way to be effective in this league."
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke on his role as an antagonist
"We played a little bit tonight, but we’re never really in the same area. Nothing’s been said. There becomes a point when things in the past are just that. I know it’s something for people to talk about and something people keep bringing up. Ultimately you can’t live in the past and you have to look forward."
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke on whether or not there is bad blood between him and Marc Savard
"It was a tough battle. They are a good team. They played a pretty solid game. I thought that Flower [Marc-Andre Fleury] stood on his head for us in the third."
Pittsburgh Penguins center Jordan Staal
"We knew it was a tough call. The ref came back and admitted he made a mistake. Our team did a good job of digging in and killing off what we had there."
Pittsburgh Penguins center Jordan Staal on the referee's blown high-sticking call on Pascal Dupuis
"I’m getting more and more [comfortable]. But I still have a tendency to go to the right side but I just remind myself. You fill in for everybody and I’m getting more and more comfortable with it."
Michael Ryder on playing on the off-wing
"A little woozy, to be honest with you. But we’ll see how I feel the rest of the day here tonight and stuff, because… I don’t know I haven’t seen the replay, it felt like he just got my head, so I don’t know. But a little woozy."
Marc Savard on the hard hit he took from Dreyk Engelland
"He went to the hospital and he’s got a broken nose, so they were just making sure they were checking up on everything and right now that’s what we’ve found out from them checking him out. He’s got the broken nose."
Claude Julien on Steven Kampfer's injury
"I thought Savvy’s [Marc Savard] line again tonight, I think they had about 17 shots and they created a lot of chances. Bergy’s [Patrice Bergeron] line has been a good line for us and tonight I don’t think they hurt us, but they didn’t get much offensively done. At the same time, [Gregory] Campbell’s line was very good. I thought the line that struggled a lot was [David] Krejci’s line. They really had a tough time tonight and those guys that are on that line, are guys that can produce for us. That’s one of those nights where we could have used them and they certainly have seen better nights from those guys."
Claude Julien on the performance of his lines
"Well I think that’s the biggest thing we’ve talked to David about is if he can get his feet moving the rest of his game is going to certainly follow. And he’s shown some of those spurts at times and he seems to be inconsistent I guess right now. And it’s not from lack of trying, I think in his mind he really wants to do well and sometimes players have to grind it out and find ways to get their game again. And I think that’s what David needs to do and I think that’s what he’s trying to do right now and we haven’t seen him at his best, because when he is, he’s one of our better players."
Claude Julien on David Krejci's recent struggles