Final, Penguins 3-2: The Bruins were able to score in the final seconds, but it’s obviously not enough. They lose 3-2.
Third period, 19:14, Penguins 3-1: The Bruins just took their timeout, as they try to get something going in the final minute. Their work is cut out for them, of course, trailing by two with less than a minute to play.
Third period, 18:50, Penguins 3-1: The Bruins’ net is empty.
Third period, 16:02, Penguins 3-1: Brad Marchand has been clearly agitated all day, and it might be costing the Bruins a little bit.
He just picked up yet another penalty, this one for slashing. At least he’s taking someone with him. Joe Vitale is called for slashing as well, and both men head to the box.
Third period, 14:00, Penguins 3-1: A “Let’s go Bruins” chant has taken over a couple sections of the balcony, but the B’s need a little more than that right now.
Boston is running out of time, and they appear to be running out of steam. The puck possession continues, but shots are at a minimum with Pittsburgh tightening up in its own zone.
Third period, 8:29, Penguins 3-1: Matt Bartkowski’s trip to the penalty box was short-lived, thanks to Kris Letang.
The Pittsburgh defenseman just ripped a wrist shot by Tuukka Rask from the left point, and the Penguins now have the 3-1 lead.
Third period, 8:17, Penguins 2-1: The Boston penalty kill has to be called on again. Matt Bartkowski just got called for a high-sticking minor.
Third period, 8:01, Penguins 2-1: The Bruins continue to pepper Tomas Vokoun with shots, but the Pittsburgh goalie continues to turn them aside.
Vokoun now has 32 saves, including four here in the third period, and he’s a big reason the Pens have the one-goal lead.
Third period, 4:43, Penguins 2-1: Jarome Iginla continues to get booed every time he touches the puck, and that’s only going to intensify now. The Penguins forward just scored on the power play with a shot from the point that got by Tuukka Rask thanks in large part to a screen in front from Chris Kunitz.
Third period, 3:25, 1-1: Brad Marchand really, really wanted to fight Jussi Jokinen. Unfortunately for Marchand, Jokinen didn’t really seem cool with that plan.
For some reason, Marchand went after Jokinen after the whistle. Marchand dropped his gloves, but Jokinen was having none of it. Instead, Marhcand gets a minor for roughing.
Third period, 2:05, 1-1: The penalty has been killed, and the Bruins are back to even strength.
Third period, 0:01, 1-1: The third period is underway here at the Garden with two teams tied 1-1. They’ll have to kill off 1:15 of Jaromir Jagr’s penalty.
Second period reaction: All in all, this has been a pretty entertaining hockey game, with plenty of scoring chances and even more hitting.
The two teams, two of the best in the league, have brought their most physical game so far. They’ve combined for 49 hits through the first two periods, and while the hits stat is sometimes unreliable, those figures seem pretty spot-on.
The Bruins should definitely have a lead at this point, but once again, they haven’t been able to cash in on an abundance of scoring chances. There was one really impressive flurry of shots and chances midway through the second, but Tomas Vokoun did his job, and the B’s couldn’t do theirs.
Once again, it’s another fine performance from the Patrice Bergeron line. They have been all over the place, and they have had the puck on their sticks all afternoon. Bergeron is 14-for-19 in the faceoff circle so far, so that helps just a little. Tyler Seguin has three shots on goal, as does Brad Marchand. A lot of jump from them so far.
End second period, 1-1: The second period comes to a close with the game tied 1-1. The Bruins will have to kill off 1:15 of Jaromir Jagr’s hooking penalty once the third period begins.
Second period, 19:15, 1-1: The Bruins weren’t able to do anything with their abbreviated power play, and they give Pittsburgh another power play before the period ends for good measure.
Jaromir Jagr was caught hooking Craig Adams in the neutral zone, and Jagr will sit for the next two minutes of play.
Second period, 17:10, 1-1: Once again, a Pittsburgh power play is stymied by a Pittsburgh penalty.
Jussi Jokinen just picked up a cross-checking penalty, and that will give us 4-on-4 hockey for the next minute or so.
Second period, 16:15, 1-1: Things are starting to get testy here at the Garden.
Matt Cooke just delivered a somewhat questionable (possibly low?) hit on Adam McQuaid that left the Bruins defenseman in a bad way right in front of the Boston bench.
As McQuaid struggled to get off the ice, Zdeno Chara went right after Cooke up along the boards in the Boston end. Cooke quickly turtled, and that was that. Chara ended up getting two minutes for roughing, though.
Second period, 13:20, 1-1: Now it’s time for the Bruins to attempt another penalty kill, as Rich Peverley is called for high-sticking.
Second period, 12:51, 1-1: The “Team X has done everything but score” is kind of a tired cliche, but the Bruins just did everything but score.
Boston was just relentless for about three or four minutes, just bringing it wave after wave against Pittsburgh, but they just couldn’t cash in. It looked like the Bruins had finally scored, when a puck was jammed home in front, but the goal was waved off as a relatively quick whistle ended the play just a fraction of a second earlier.
Second period, 7:15, 1-1: So far, a good response from the Bruins after the Pittsburgh goal. Shawn Thornton came close to scoring from the point, but the puck (maybe tipped) wobbled wide.
Second period, 5:10, 1-1: The Bruins have been dominating much of the game, but they’re not taking advantage of their chances.
The Penguins just got a rare chance, and they capitalized. Jussi Jokinen got to the front of the net, and he flipped a backhanded rebound attempt by Tuukka Rask after the Bruins goalie made a save on a Matt Niskanen shot from the point.
First period reaction: It’s been a busy intermission, so I won’t be able to get into a bunch of reaction.
First, some news. Nathan Horton won’t return to the game, the Bruins announced. Horton appeared to be favoring his hand after fighting Jarome Iginla there in the first.
However, the Bruins looked very good in that first period. They dominated, really. They controlled the puck in the Pittsburgh end, and they made life difficult for the Pens. Perhaps most encouragingly is the fact that Boston actually cashed in. They still need to do a better job of that, but maybe Brad Marchand’s power-play goal will jumpstart that. We’ll see.
End first period, Bruins 1-0: The first period has come to a close with the B’s holding the 1-0 lead.
First period, 19:01, Bruins 1-0: That didn’t last long.
Matt Niskanen’s interference penalty negates the Penguins’ power play just a few seconds into the power play.
First period, 18:38, Bruins 1-0: The Penguins are going to get their first power play of the game.
Carl Soderberg gets his first career penalty for hooking, and the B’s will be shorthanded.
First period, 17:56, Bruins 1-0: Jarome Iginla is Public Enemy No. 1 in this city now, and Nathan Horton just tried to take him down.
Horton did that, as the two dropped the gloves in what was a pretty anticlimatic fight.
First period, 17:35, Bruins 1-0: Boston could not convert on their second power play of the afternoon, but they continue to control the pace of the play and establish possession.
First period, 14:04, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins are about to go back on the power play where they look for similar success to their first man advantage.
Tyler Kennedy was found guilty of slashing, and he’s off to the box.
First period, 10:18, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins do indeed cash in on the power play.
Brad Marchand carried the puck into the Pittsburgh zone and beat Tomas Vokoun to give the B’s a 1-0 lead.
First period, 9:31, 0-0: The Bruins get the game’s first power play. Matt Cooke was called for slashing, and he just arrived in the penalty box for a two-minute stay.
First period, 10:11, 0-0: As if the Bruins and their fans needed anything else to get them going, we just had our first fight of the afternoon.
Adam McQuaid and Tanner Glass just dropped the gloves in the Boston zone, and engaged in a pretty lengthy bout. You definitely have to give the edge to Glass there, though.
First period, 6:22, 0-0: The Bruins have been incredibly sharp in the first few minutes, something they couldn’t have said Wednesday night in a game that also featured an emotional beginning.
Carl Soderberg has made his Bruins debut. He’s skated two shifts thus far, and there’s not much to report there.
Jarome Iginla has also been on the ice for a few shifts, and he is being booed every time he touches the puck. Bruins fans haven’t forgotten that one yet.
First period, 4:04, 0-0: The Bruins are all over the Penguins in the early going. The Patrice Bergeron line just turned in a relentless shift, and the B’s are outshooting Pittsburgh 7-2 already.
12:39 p.m.: Once again, another powerful anthem and pregame ceremony. It’s time to play hockey, and the game is underway.
12:27 p.m.: The Bruins and Penguins game is on NESNplus today. Find your listings here.
12:25 p.m.: The Bruins make it official. Milan Lucic is a healthy scratch.
12:10 p.m.: Things are hectic as ever here, but this is what’s gone down so far.
The Bruins just wrapped up pregame warmups. In a pretty cool gesture, they all wore first responder hats during the warmups. They donned Boston Police, Watertown Police and Massachusetts State Police caps, which was awesome.
Milan Lucic was not on the ice for pregame warmups, indicating he’ll be a healthy scratch.
Here are the line combos.
Daniel Paille — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Carl Soderberg — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Gregory Campbell — Rich Peverley — Shawn Thornton
11:40 a.m.: Bruins coach Claude Julien spoke to the media for about five minutes, and it was clear that he’s still affected by what’s gone on this week.
Julien said that he spent all day Friday just like everyone else, as he admitted he was glued to the TV as the manhunt ensued in the Boston area.
Here are some of his thoughts: “Same as everybody else. When those things happen in your city, it’s a normal thing to be a little bit concerned and like everybody else extremely happy when they finally found the second suspect. At least we can breathe a little eaiser and sleep a little easier. Now it’s hopefully time to work ourselves into trying to get things back to normal again. It will always leave a scar somewhere, and there’s some damage done, but now we have a job to do today and that unfortunately is what our responsibility is.”
11 a.m.: It really does sound like Milan Lucic will be a healthy scratch for the Bruins in this one. According to ESPN.com’s Joe McDonald, Lucic was among a handful of players who skated this morning, likely indicating he’s got the day off.
10:40 a.m.: According to Pittsburgh reporters, it will be Tomas Vokoun in net for the Penguins in this one. Claude Julien is scheduled to meet with the media at 11:20, so we’ll find out who’s going to be between the pipes for Boston. My guess is that it would be Tuukka Rask, with Anton Khudobin getting Sunday’s start, but again, what do I know?
10:30 a.m.: Good morning from a quiet TD Garden, that’s about to be a loud TD Garden in just about two hours.
Just wanted to pass along one quick story before we get into pressing hockey maters. As I was walking into the arena this morning through North Station, I saw a middle-aged couple wearing Penguins jerseys mingling with a couple of Massachusetts State Police troopers. As I walked by them, the couple was thanking the troopers and shaking their hands.
“Thank you so much for all you do and good job,” the woman said.
It was pretty awesome to say the least.
8 a.m. ET: Well, then. It’s hard to imagine that we can try and get back to normalcy so quickly, but a little more than 12 hours after Boston’s finest did their job in the best way possible, we get back to pro sports. We do that first with the Bruins.
A few days after an emotionally charged game against Buffalo and a day after one of the craziest days in the history of this fine city, the Bruins are back at TD Garden, and they will have their work cut out for them. The conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins are in town for a game that’s been circled on the calendar for a while now.
Pittsburgh’s trip to the Garden means it will be Bruins fans’ first chance to see future Hall of Fame forward Jarome Iginla in a Penguins sweater. Iginla was expected by many to be on his way to Boston in the days leading up to the trade deadline, but the forward instead opted to go to Pittsburgh over Boston.
The Bruins have plenty of on-ice issues to take care of, too. One place they’ll look to improve upon is on the penalty kill. Boston’s PK unit has been terrific this season for much of the year, but they’ve hit a bump in the road lately. They’ve allowed two power-play goals in each of their last two games. That won’t get any easier when the Penguins and their second-ranked power play take the ice Saturday. It’s worth noting, however, that Pittsburgh has had injuries, with both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin missing time of late.
The game may also mark a night off for Milan Lucic. The big forward was on the “fifth line” at practice Thursday, and Claude Julien said there’s a chance Lucic will be a healthy scratch. There’s also a good chance that Carl Soderberg will make his long-awaited Bruins debut, which won’t help Lucic’s case to be in the lineup.
There’s plenty to keep an eye on, and we’ll keep you updated throughout the day leading up to puck drop at 12:30 p.m.
