FINAL: Penguins 6, Bruins 5 -B's defense too sloppy in loss

The Bruins fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-5 on Thursday night, snapping their four-game winning streak. The B's defense was awful throughout the night as they were out hustled and careless with the puck. 

The first period saw very little defense on both sides as there was a total of six goals come across. Boston scored :41 into the game thanks to a goal from Brad Marchand. Pittsburgh came back and tied it at one thanks to a goal from Drew O’Connor at the 5:04 mark. Ryan Graves gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead a little later at the 6:17 mark. The B’s came right back with a goal from David Pastrnak which tied it at two. It was then time for Pittsburgh to answer back with a Jake Guentzel goal which made it 3-2. Lars Eller added onto the Pittsburgh lead at the 15:58 mark to give the Penguins a 4-2 cushion at the first intermission. 

The second period didn’t start out any better as the Bruins were getting out hustled and constantly turning the puck over with careless passes. On top of all of that, Jeff Carter scored at the 6:38 mark to give the Penguins a 5-2 lead. Morgan Geekie tried giving Boston a spark at the 9:51 mark which cut the deficit to 5-3. Brandon Carlo then made it a one goal game at the 19:24 mark right before thew second intermission on a rocket of a slap shot.

Marchand scored his second goal of the night on a shorthanded opportunity 3:08 into the third period to tie the game at five. 

The momentum had shifted to the Bruins until Sidney Crosby scored what wound up being the game winning goal at the 11:19 mark on the power play making it 6-5. 

Jeremy Swayman finished the night in net for Boston with 29 saves. 

The Bruins will be back in action on Saturday night at TD Garden to wrap up their two-game homestand when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7 p.m.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Boston's defense was awful throughout the night.   
• Bruins were careless with the puck constantly turning it over. 
• There were four goals scored in 2:17 in the first period. 
• Winning streak has been snapped. 

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WHO: Penguins (22-7-6) at Bruins(12-18-8)    
WHEN: 7 p.m. 
WHERE: TD Garden, Boston.  
TV: ESPN
RADIO: 98.5-FM The Sports Hub
LIVE BOX SCORE
ROSTERS

Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell
Smith-Malkin-Rust
O'Connor-Eller-Puustinen
Harkins-Acciari-Carter

Pettersson-Letang
Joseph-Karlsson
Graves-Ruhwedel

Nedeljkovic
Jarry

    
PREGAME NOTES

The Bruins welcome in the Pittsburgh Penguins to TD Garden in the first of their two-game homestand at 7 p.m. Jim Montgomery told reporters this morning that Johnny Beecher enters back in to the lineup after sitting out on Tuesday's win in Columbus. Beecher will be on the left side on the fourth line with Georgii Merkulov in the middle and Oskar Steen on the right wing. Matt Poitras has returned to the team after spending three weeks in Sweden for the 2024 World Junior Championship. Montgomery said there is no timetable of when Poitras will return to game action as he adjusts to the time zone difference. 

Mason Lohrei returned to the ice for the optional morning skate after missing Wednesday to undergo dental work. This comes after the blue liner took a puck to the face on Tuesday which led to a lost tooth and stitches around the lower lip. 

Pittsburgh enters tonight coming off a 4-3 lost to Washington on Tuesday night, ending a three-game winning streak. The Penguins are 18-4-4 which is good for 40 points, which finds them seventh in the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins are also 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and only two points back of New Jersey and Washington for the East's second wild card spot. Jake Guentzel leads Pittsburgh with 42 points (17 goals and 25 assists in 36 games), while Sidney Crosby leads in goals with 21 on the season. Evgeni Malkin will appear in his 1,100 NHL game tonight. 

Pittsburgh is a great defensive team ranking sixth in the NHL in goals against at 97. On the other hand, the Penguins are 24th in the league in goals for at 110. According to Hockey Reference, Pittsburgh has a Corsi of 52.6% at 5-on-5 coming into tonight.