In Boston Monday night, the Bruins teased the Pittsburgh Penguins be dangling some softness.
It was just a tease.
The Penguins scored four times in the middle frame to take a 4-3 lead into the third period.
The Bruins responded with three unanswered goals in the final frame to defeat the Pens, 6-4.
“When we were a little stronger in our zone defensively and got pucks out quicker, then you saw we got some more opportunities,” Brad Marchand said.. “That’s our game. We got away from it. I think we got a little comfortable. We got up 3-0, saw their goalie got pulled, and we kind of sat back a little bit. But we’re a good team, and we regrouped in the third there and we got it done.
“At the end of the day, it’s regular season, it doesn’t matter how you win, you just have to win.”
Marchand had two goals and three assists in the win to continue his hot streak as the Bruins improved to 8-0-2 in their last 10.
“We don’t dwell on them,” Marchand said. “You’re going to have good nights, you’re going to have bad nights. You just try to stay even-keeled all the time. At this point now, it’s like I said, it doesn’t matter in this room who has a good night, as long as we win, we’re all happy.”
Jaroslav Halak made 40 saves in the win.
Dominik Kahun, Nick Bjugstad, Bryan Rust, and John Marino all scored for the Pens in the second period to erase a 0-3 deficit.
“I think we all just kind of ramped it up just a little bit,” Rust said. “I don’t think we were playing bad, but I think we all had just a little bit of a higher level. And I think we got to that and we showed that.”
David Pastrnak, Torey Krug and Jake DeBrusk also socred for Boston.
Patrice Bergeron sealed the win with a late empty net goal.
“So in the third, we don’t have those long-change situations, for one,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Secondly, I thought we just defended a little better after they had a few chances there, I think. Then we started playing, had the puck a little more, made a few plays. We’re fortunate, very fortunate we capitalized on most of our opportunities and got key saves at the other end.”
[WATCH: All Penguins vs. Bruins highlights]
Matt Murray got the start, but was given the hook near the midway point of the second period.
Tristan Jarry, who made 12 saves in relief..
“This is one of the best games we played all year,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I mean, we’re playing one of the top teams in the League. The second period, you knew they were going to push back. They’ve got some talent on that team too. I thought our third period was strong. We had zone time, we had scoring chances, we were making good decisions. I loved our energy. Everybody was involved. I thought it was a really good game by our team; we just didn’t win.”
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