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Rask, Bruins shutout Pens

March 14, 2015, 4:21 PM ET [27 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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The Boston Bruins caught a break in their season series finale with the Pittsburgh Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center. First, Marc Andre Fleury (with 19 wins and a .924 save percentage in 31 home starts this season) was serving as Pittsburgh’s backup. Then, Sidney Crosby appeared to injure himself in the pregame warmup, and was a last-second scratch. And then Evgeni Malkin appeared to suffer a lower-body injury on a Chris Kelly hit just a minute plus into the first.

With the odds ever tilted in the B’s favor, goaltender Tuukka Rask put forth yet another stellar performance, stopping all 30 shots against in a 2-0 shutout (his third of the season) road win.

Boston winger Milan Lucic opened up the game’s scoring by way of his 15th goal of the season, beating Thomas Greiss 9:53 into the first. The goal, assisted by David Pastrnak (his 10th of the year) and Dougie Hamilton (his 30th), extended Lucic’s point streak to four games, and gave No. 17 points in all but one of his last seven games played.

The Black and Gold carried a one-goal edge into the second, and survived a great chance from Blake Comeau with a sprawling toe-save by Rask just five seconds into the period.

Given the way that the Bruins’ last two second periods had gone -- they entered the second outshot by a combined 37-to-14 mark in the middle frame over last two games -- Pittsburgh’s early push (granted, it was on a 5-on-4), seemed like a tone-setter for the rest of the period. But the Bruins responded, and survived another penalty against, this one on Chris Kelly, and finished the period with their 1-0 edge intact and tied with the Pens in shots at 22-22 through 40 minutes.

The third period was a dicey one for the Bruins, though, with prime scoring chances from Ian Cole, Chris Kunitz, and a late-period look from Kris Letang, but Rask stood tall in spite of the Pens pressure. And after a full-rink empty-net dagger from Zdeno Chara with 38 seconds left, and a subsequent Steve Downie unsportsmanlike minor, the Bruins could finally exhale and enjoy the final seconds of their fifth straight win, a 2-0 final in Pittsburgh.

Their win put the Bruins in a tie with Washington for the first wild card spot with, but also ahead of the Capitals in terms of tiebreakers, with 82 points, and gave the Bruins their first ‘clean’ (no series-evening overtime losses) season series victories over the Penguins in back to back seasons since 2003 to 2006.

Random thoughts and notes

- What’s that line again? ‘Here come the Boston Bruins’? Yeah, that. When you talk about the Black and Gold and how they’ve thrown themselves back into the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference (they trail the Detroit Red Wings for third place in the Atlantic Division by just three points), it really comes back to their ability to roll four lines but most importantly, the play of their goaltender.

We’ve discussed the play of the Lucic-Spooner-Pastrnak trio at great lengths of late, the Bergeron line is always a praisable one, and the Soderberg line has taken on more defensive responsibilities in recent games. But it’s No. 40 that’s turned the heat up in the crease and in the standings.

In his last eight games, the 28-year-old Rask has six wins and has allowed just 13 goals against. That’s a 1.63 goals against average, while his 245-of-258 marks gives him a .950 save percentage. Lights out.

- Credit where credit is due: This was probably the best game from the Bruins’ post-deadline fourth line of Danny Paille, Max Talbot, and centerman Gregory Campbell. They played an extremely efficient game today. They handled the puck well and with patience, and had strong shifts in all three zones. That’s really all you can ask for out of that bunch. Consistency becomes the key.

- One negative in a day made up entirely of positives? The Boston power play has gone cold again. The Bruins finished today’s game 0-for-4 on the man advantage, and are now without a power-play goal on their last 10 power play opportunities. These droughts will come back to hurt you in the postseason.

Up next

The Bruins will make their way towards Washington for a Sunday night showdown with the Capitals. This will be the B’s first trip to D.C. in 2014-15, and just their first head-to-head meeting with the Caps since Oct. 11, when the Capitals defeated the Black and Gold by a 4-0 final. The Caps, now tied with the Bruins for the first wild card (and with the Bruins played fewer games) have now lost two in a row, and frustrated head coach Barry Trotz even cancelled the team’s off day today. Serious times.

Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
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