Live Blog: Penguins at Bruins

by

Nov 10, 2009

Live Blog: Penguins at Bruins End of game, Bruins win 3-0: Patrice Bergeron added a short-handed, empty-net goal with 3.5 seconds left to seal the deal here and Tim Thomas has his second shutout of the season with a splendid 27-save performance in a 3-0 shutout of the defending Stanley Cup Champions. With two consecutive wins, the Bruins are now on their first winning streak of the season.

By holding Sidney Crosby scoreless, the Bruins helped extend his streak of no points to 3:07:17.

Third period, 0:20, Bruins 2-0: The Penguins are going on the power play here as Boston’s Shawn Thornton is called for cross-checking.

Third period, 1:05, Bruins 2-0: If the Bruins hold on here, this has to be their biggest win and most complete effort of the season.

Third period, 2:34, Bruins 2-0: Interesting stat: Sidney Crosby entered this period without having registered a point in 287 minutes and 17 seconds. His last point was Oct. 30.

Third period, 5:12, Bruins 2-0: The clear-in dump by Alex Goligoski was ruled no-goal and clearly hit the post on the replay.

Third period, 5:21, Bruins 2-0: A normal dump in by the Penguins just rang off the Zamboni entrance area of the boards to the right of Tim Thomas and might have gone in. The play is under review.

Following that play in question, David Krejci was robbed by Marc-Andre Fleury, who made a nice glove save on Krejci’s bid after a scramble in front of the net.

Third period, 8:33, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins are going on their first power play of the night as Billy Guerin is in the sin-bin for cross-checking.

The Bruins should’ve had another power play from a goalie interference call that wasn’t called. Eric Godard plowed Tim Thomas over to the side of the net.

Third period, 12:35, Bruins 2-0: It’s hard not to watch the Penguins and think of the Bruins one week ago. Just as the Bruins were banged up (and in many ways still are) and searching for answers, the Penguins are reeling from injuries and clearly struggling to adjust on the fly.

Third period, 16:26, Bruins 2-0: Daniel Paille just took an amazing outlet pass from Mark Recchi and beat Fleury on a breakaway to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. Patrice Bergeron had the secondary assist.

That is Paille’s first goal of the season and his first as a Bruin. Also, congrats to Recchi, as that was his 900th career assist.

Third period, 17:48, Bruins 1-0: The Penguins almost tied the game on a blast by Alex Goligoski. Jordan Staal tried to poke home the rebound, but Tim Thomas covered it up.

Third period, 19:56, Bruins 1-0: The third period is underway here in front of another sellout crowd at TD Garden.

End of second period, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins head to the dressing room with a one-goal lead. Pittsburgh did come back in the shots category, out-shooting the Bruins 13-7 in the second period. But there weren’t many good scoring chances on those shots as the Bruins again are minimizing second chances.

The loss of Brooks Orpik means the Penguins will have to double-shift someone on defense. They are already missing Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar, so that injury really hurts.

Second period, 2:08, Bruins 1-0: To update things for all of you unable to watch Versus tonight, the TV crew just reported that Brooks Orpik will not return after suffering a lower-body injury.

By the way, thanks to all of you who are following us here, and hopefully for those who can’t get Versus, we’re helping you get through the evening.

Second period, 5:32, Bruins 1-0: The already-depleted Penguins defensive unit took another hit with the loss of Brooks Orpik, who hit the boards hard in the first period and has yet to return. The Penguins lost defenseman Kris Letang to injury in their last game.

For the B’s, Vladimir Sobotka has returned to the ice after taking a shot off what looked to be his leg early in the second period.

Second period, 6:08, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins are still controlling the tempo here. The Penguins had a couple of scoring opportunities but Boston is doing a great job of minimizing the Pens’ second chances.

To get back to Matt Hunwick and Dennis Wideman, the former had not registered a point since Oct. 22 in Philadelphia and the latter Oct. 8 against Anaheim.

Second period, 14:25, Bruins 1-0: Looking at that Matt Hunwick goal again, it clearly snuck in under the crossbar and came back out. Good job by the referees to review it and make the right call.

Second period, 18:24, Bruins 1-0: After further review, Matt Hunwick‘s shot did indeed go in and the Bruins are up 1-0. The clock was reset to 18:24, the time the goal in question was scored.

Dennis Wideman and Steve Begin had the helpers. It’s good to see Hunwick and Wideman register on the score sheet and get involved. Begin, meanwhile, continues to impress.

Second period, 17:04: That play is now under review. The replay is showing what appears to be a goal. If it counts, it is a goal for defenseman Matt Hunwick.

Second period, 18:20: We’re underway here in the second period, and the goal horn went off signaling a Bruins goal, but the ref waved off the goal and play was allowed to continue. I’m not sure if it went in, but it looked like it from here.

First Intermission, 0-0: A few quick tidbits here before the second period starts. Chris Bourque, son of Bruins Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, is playing his first NHL game in Boston.

Also, the Bruins penalty kill has now killed off 27 of the last 28 power plays it has faced as the Penguins are 0-for-1 tonight. Boston has not had a power play yet tonight.

End of first period, 0-0: The Penguins came into this game having been outscored 10-2 in their last two games, and one can clearly see that their offense is struggling. Despite having the lone power play so far, they are being outshot 10-2, and if not for the play of Marc-Andre Fleury, the game would not be tied here in the first intermission.

As NESN.com colleague Michael Hurley just pointed out to me, Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby has now gone an astonishing four games without registering a point. Obviously, he and the whole Penguins team are out of sync right now, but that’s amazing!

First period, 3:14: To elaborate on that last post, Penguins forward Billy Guerin told the media earlier today that the Penguins need to get back to being an attacking offense.

“We really need to start utilizing our speed and attacking more,” Guerin said. “We need to get the puck going quick out of our zone and get the attack going.”

First period, 4:58: There have been a few chances by both teams here, but right now it’s just lots of neutral-zone play. The Penguins do not look like the attacking team that won the Stanley Cup last season.

First period, 11:26: By the way, we must wish a Happy Birthday to all the Marines out there and a Happy Veterans Day to all who are serving and have served our country. Thank you for your service!

Bruins defenseman Mark Stuart (pictured) has donated 5,000 tickets to local veterans for Thursday’s game. Nice move Mark!

First period, 13:37: The Bruins have killed off another power play, but they do not want to make a habit of testing the Penguins on the man-advantage.

The Pens may be in the midst of an 0-for-21 slump on the power play, but sooner or later, just as the Bruins did, they will snap out of it.

First period, 17:56: Vladimir Sobotka is in the penalty box on a tripping call. Let’s see if the Bruins’ penalty-kill success continues. They were 8-for-8 Saturday night.

First period, 19:09: We’re underway here in the first period. The Bruins by the way, are wearing their third jerseys tonight and the Penguins are in their road whites.

7 p.m.: Greetings from the TD Garden where the Bruins and Penguins just finished their pregame warmups. Defenseman Derek Morris was on the ice and will be in the lineup tonight. Therefore, Johnny Boychuk will be in the press box as the healthy scratch on defense. As we reported before, forward Brad Marchand will be the healthy scratch up front.

Also, the Penguins have switched things up on their forward lines as well, taking Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin off the top line and replacing them with Matt Cooke and Ruslan Fedotenko.

Here are the lineups for tonight with starters in bold:

Bruins

Forwards
Marco Sturm–Patrice Bergeron–Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler–David Krejci–Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille–Trent Whitfield–Vladimir Sobotka
Shawn Thornton–Steve Begin–Byron Bitz

Defensemen
Zdeno Chara–Derek Morris
Matt Hunwick–Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart–Andrew Ference

Goaltenders
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask

Penguins

Forwards
Matt Cooke–Sidney Crosby–Ruslan Fedotenko
Chris Kunitz–Jordan Staal–Bil Guerin
Michael Rupp–Craig Adams–Pascal Dupuis
Eric Godard–Chris Conner–Chris Bourque

Defensemen
Brooks Orpik–Alex Goligoski
Mark Eaton–Martin Skoula
Jay McKee –Deryk Engelland

Goaltenders
Marc-Andre Fleury
Brent Johnson

10:00 a.m.: The Bruins (7-7-2) take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins (12-5-0) at the TD Garden in a 7 p.m. tilt.

Boston has a chance to start its first winning streak of the season after an inspiring 4-2 win over Buffalo on Saturday night. Pittsburgh is looking to snap a two-game losing streak — its first losing streak of the season — after consecutive losses to the Sharks and the Kings.

The Bruins found their offensive groove against the Sabres with four goals and a 2-for-3 performance on the power play, which had previously been on an 0-for-20 stretch. The B’s continue to receive solid goaltending and defense, and the penalty kill has been sensational, going 8-for-8 on Saturday.

Despite the fact the Penguins are missing the likes of Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar, the Bruins will need another complete effort as one Sidney Crosby is still in the lineup and Marc-Andre Fleury is still between the pipes.

So stay with us here all day and for the game, as the Bruins try to knock off the champs at the TD Garden.

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