The Boston Bruins were 24 seconds away from going two full games without scoring a goal when Joe Corvo's hell-of-it wrist shot from the point trickled by Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury. However, it wasn't Boston's version of '24' that'd do 'em any favors but rather the Pens' No. 24 by the name of Matt Cooke, whose early third period goal would be enough to power the Black-and-Gold of Pittsburgh over their color-brothers of the Northeast.

Facing off against the Penguins for the first time since Dec. 5, a 3-1 win for the Bruins, a slow start to the sequel between these evenly matched foes would find its spark when Evgeni Malkin scored his 28th goal of the season on the power-play.

Striking with just eight seconds left in the period, Pittsburgh's ability to capitalize on a rather soft penalty against Rich Peverley would set the theme for Boston's second straight loss. Once again, the bounces were anything but fortuitous for the Bruins.

Despite holding a 10-to-3 shot advantage at one point in the first period, the Bruins were incapable of establishing positive momentum. Not even when a double-minor against Pascal Dupuis gave Boston four minutes in the power-play.

"They score on that or they get one in the first two minutes, it could possibly be a big turning point for them," Pens coach Dan Bylsma said after the victory. "To be able to kill that and keep it one to nothing was real big for our team. I think we played better after that point."

Stretching their edge to two when Cooke pummeled one by Tim Thomas, the aforementioned Corvo goal would be the closest the Bruins would come to solving Marc-Andre Fleury. Winning his ninth straight contest behind a 28-save effort, Fleury noted the work in front of him following yet another win against the B's.

"The D’s were blocking shots and taking rebounds away," the 27-year-old netminder said after the win. "That's always a big help for me. Everyone helped out in their defensive zone and got two big goals for us."

The loss also marks the first time Boston's lost consecutive games since early December.

More on the loss in a bit.

Join the Discussion: » 21 Comments » Post New Comment

» Leafs tie series while B's suffer massive loss on D

» Bruins keeping goalie plans a mystery for Game 2

» Swayman leads Bruins to Game 1 victory

» Plans in goal being kept secret; Injury updates aplenty

» Roster moves highlight Game 82 planning