Bruins vs. Penguins 4/1/23 RECAP: Pasta gets a hat trick to lift Boston over Pittsburgh!

First Period:

Things in this game started where a good portion of it was spent: on the power play. For the Bruins these days, that’s not always a good thing. Thankfully, Pavel Zacha managed to get Charlie McAvoy wide open to get the B’s up 1-0!

Unfortunately...Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust charged up ice almost right afterwards to tie it up. 1-1 Tie.

But other than that, the Bruins more or less completely dominated the Pens throughout this period.

Second Period:

That would continue for the most part in the Second, with David Pastrnak getting his 54th goal on the power play!

Both sides traded penalties because that was the kind of game they were playing, but otherwise we go to what I’m sure is a sedate, normal third period.

The Very Normal, Not Crazy Third Period

Early in the final frame, Bryan Rust sent a shot towards Jeremy Swayman. He saved it, but Charlie McAvoy performed the 2016 Adam McQuaid special (slam into your goaltender), and ultimately the Bruins gave up a tying goal. 2-2.

Thank you refs very cool

Mercifully, David Pastrnak put a shot so powerful past pretty much everybody, including the goalie and the scoring judges, so they had to take a look to double check, and confirmed that he got the 3-2 lead for Boston!

Unfortunately, the Pens tied it right back up from Jake Guentzel after a strong passing play. 3-3 Everybody.

So who’s gonna bail out Boston again? Who’s gonna get those two points for Boston?

David, play us out.

4-3, BRUINS WIN!

Game Notes:

• Your TOI Leader for tonight was Dmitry Orlov, who finished the night with 24:10 logged.
• The power play is...fixed? It certainly seems like it. They went 2-for-3 on the man-advantage today, and the other side of the coin kept it from being a really bad night.
• The B’s spent an ungodly amount of time killing penalties, and reminded everyone just why that’s generally a poor call against them; they make you work for it.
• David Pastrnak, man. He’s an absolute beast. His only competition now for single season goals scored is Phil Esposito...four different times. Though I figure the B’s will probably try and rest Pasta at some point over the next week or so. Still...just an unbelievable player.
• Pasta’s second goal featured Dmitry Orlov sending a backhander from the blueline all the way in towards the net and it went straight as an arrow to Tristan Jarry. For those casual viewers, a getting a backhander to get off the ice is difficult to pull off at the best of times, and Orlov did it like he was exploring for a rebound. That is crazy strength.
• I’m gonna give Jeremy Swayman a pass tonight. He didn’t get a lot of help on the scoring plays Pittsburgh got.
• Good on Pavel Zacha in the opening tally to notice his D-man was completely uncovered. Zacha’s been an absolutely incredible add for the B’s and I think you can tell he is itching for a little playoff action.
• Maybe not the best night defensively for the B’s; with the Penguins third period surge being the fault of some clearly less than stellar awareness, but at this point in the season, I just don’t want anybody getting hurt. I do want to see some better habits tomorrow, but I’ll settle with nobody being hurt.
• Lmao the Panthers might actually end up doing this. You tried your best, Pittsburgh.

B’s get a hard fought win, and now hit the road to St. Louis on Sunday afternoon. That game drops the puck at 3:30pm and is on TNT, for those wondering.

We’ll see you tomorrow!

Check out the postgame podcast recap here: