BSJ Game Report: Bruins 2, Penguins 1 - Vladar shines in net as B's snap losing skid

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 2-1 win over the Penguins in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

HEADLINES

The kid's alright 

After sliding in the standings for weeks, the B's finally found their salvation ... in the form of a 23-year-old goalie making his first NHL start.

Despite getting pressed into service due to injuries  — and facing off against a red-hot Penguins team, no less — Dan Vladar excelled between the pipes for the B's on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena, stopping 33 of the 34 shots that came his way en route to a much-needed 2-1 victory over the Penguins.

While Boston once again labored for extended stretches when it came to generating offense, Vladar kept Boston in the contest — with an eventual 1-1 deadlock broken off of a 5v5 tally from Trent Frederic at 7:07 in the third period — giving the B's the lead for good.

Following a similar script from Monday night, the Bruins opened with a strong couple of minutes against Casey DeSmith and the Pens — with David Pastrnak slipping a puck through the Pittsburgh goalie's five hole just 3:20 into regulation to put Boston ahead, 1-0. But a brutal shift from Jakub Zboril — featuring a failed clear from the slot — leading to the equalizer from Brandon Tanev at 15:22.

Boston very well could have entered the first intermission stuck in another one-goal deficit, but Vladar denied Colton Sceviour with a last-second paddle save to deny the Pens from another tally in the opening period of action.

Even though neither team managed to light the lamp in the second, Boston fumbled a fantastic opportunity to give Vladar some breathing room when they were handed a five-minute power play after Brandon Tanev was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for a hit against Jarred Tinordi that... likely didn't warrant such a harsh sentence — even though the outcome was very ugly for the B's defenseman.

Still, even with five minutes of 5v4 action, Boston's power play repeatedly shot itself in the foot with sloppy passes and a lack of execution — with DeSmith rarely challenged throughout the extended B's man advantage.

The 1-1 deadlock was finally snapped near the midway point of the third period, with Frederic hopping over the boards and sniping one past DeSmith to put Boston ahead. The Pittsburgh push came as expected in the closing minutes of action, but Vladar stood tall to bail out the B's and get them back on a winning path.

B's lose Tinordi

The hits keep on coming on the Bruins' blue line. As noted above, the B's lost Tinordi in the closing minutes of the second period after the veteran was drilled by Tanev in open ice and slammed his head into the boards in front of Boston's bench. It seemed, at worst, a two-minute penalty for charging on a play with just a very, very unfortunate result, but the officials still handed Boston a gift — assessing a five-minute major and game misconduct to Tanev.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1371984837985370115

Regardless of the legality of Tanev's hit, the end result was still brutal for Tinordi and the B's — with the defenseman needing help getting off the ice and down the tunnel after the check was delivered. Unsurprisingly, he was ruled out for the remainder of the game due to an upper-body injury, with Cassidy noting that his status was "not great" postgame. While the Bruins have a day off before battling the Sabres on Thursday, the state of their D corps is awfully concerning.

With Kevan Miller, Brandon Carlo, John Moore and Jeremy Lauzon all still ruled out due to injury, Cassidy said that Jack Ahcan and Urho Vaakanainen will likely draw back into the lineup up in Buffalo. Hardly ideal, although giving Ahcan a go against a very weak Sabres team does offer some level of intrigue.

THREE UP

Dan Vladar: The star of the night, Vladar was locked in from the get-go, with his lone goal coming off of a couple of bad breaks and poor clears in front of him. After getting hung out to dry during the playoffs last season against Tampa, it was good to see Vladar finally break through and earn a much-needed W.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1371987636806631426

Trent Frederic: At long last, the Bruins finally scored a 5v5 goal — and even better, it wasn't one of the usual suspects from the 63-37-88 line. Frederic, who has now scored four goals in his last 12 games, buried Boston's first 5v5 tally in over 202 minutes of game action. The young winger also seems to have a knack for scoring at the right time, with three of his four goals serving as game-winners this year.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1371994831157923849

David Pastrnak: While most of Boston's trips on the power play were less than stellar, Pastrnak at least opened the game on a high note — sliding a puck past DeSmith in the first period to give the B's an early 1-0 lead. Pastrnak is now tied with Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat with six game-opening goals so far this season.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1371964570152108034

TWO DOWN

Jakub Zboril: He redeemed himself a bit later in the game after setting up Frederic's game-winning tally, but Zboril had a rough go of it in the first — helping Pittsburgh generating an equalizer off of a poor clear from the slot. Shortly thereafter, Tanev beat Vladar, with Zboril out of position down at the blue paint when the Pens forward tapped home the puck.

https://twitter.com/penguins/status/1371973565881389058

Power play: Yes, Pastrnak buried his 13th goal of the season on the power play, but it was another night with some bruuuutal stretches for the man advantage — headlined by that five-minute major in which Boston labored to generate much of anything against DeSmith.

PLAY OF THE GAME

What else did you think it was going to be? A fantastic stop by Vladar in the early going of this one.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1371967571214368771

PARTING THOUGHTS

https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1372004648232615936

QUOTE OF THE DAY

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1372004356510322694

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will continue their road trip when they travel up to Buffalo to take on the cellar-dwelling Sabres on Thursday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.