The Bruins are now 4-5-1 in their last 10 games, losing back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 6 and 8.
They won't have to wait long for a chance to end this skid, as the Bruins head to Washington to take on the Capitals on Sunday.
Third Period, 19:30, Penguins 2-1: The Bruins have a golden chance late as Orpik coughs up the puck in front of the net. Marchand swoops in to steal it, but Fleury makes the stop to preserve Pittsburgh's lead.
Third Period, 16:34, Penguins 2-1: Lucic now with Kelly and Krejci. Only the Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin line has remained unchanged in the third.
Third Period, 15:40, Penguins 2-1: The Bruins doing some line juggling in the third. Lucic was dropped to a line with Kelly and Pouliot, with Paille moving up with Krejci and Peverley. Paille also took his regular shift with Campbell and Thornton, as Hamill appears the odd man out.
Third Period, 11:35, Penguins 2-1: The Bruins nearly tie it as Corvo leads another rush up ice, feeding it in front to Campbell. Fleury makes the stop, then Thornton gets upended going for the rebound at the top of the crease, but no penalty is called.
Third Period, 9:28, Penguins 2-1: The Bruins are back to full strength as Pouliot comes out of the box with his high-sticking penalty now expired.
Third Period, 9:04, Penguins 2-1: Both sides now pick up penalties as Daniel Paille gets called for tripping and Kris Letang gets a minor for closing his hand on the puck.
Third Period, 7:28, Penguins 2-1: The Bruins will now have to kill off a penalty to maintain their momentum as Benoit Pouliot goes to the box again, this time for high-sticking.
Third Period, 6:45, Penguins 2-1: The Bruins finally get on board with their first shot of the period as Joe Corvo scores from the left point with Brad Marchand supplying the screen in front.
Of bigger concern, Dennis Seidenberg went to the locker room in pain seconds before the goal after being hit by Joe Vitale along the boards.
Third Period, 6:18, Penguins 2-0: The Bruins still looking for their first shot of the period more than six minutes in. Pittsburgh already has five shots, and a huge insurance goal. Not the way Boston need to come out intermission.
Third Period, 1:53, Penguins 2-0: The Penguins extend the league as Public Enemy No. 1 Matt Cooke strikes again, this time in legal fashion with a rebound in front.
Cooke crashed the net to clean up a scramble in front. Dustin Jeffrey and Pascal Dupuis pick up the assists.
Third Period, 1:10, Penguins 1-0: Tim Thomas with his best save of the day as he robs Cal O'Reilly in front. O'Reilly redirected a shot from Paul Martin.
Third Period, 0:00, Penguins 1-0: The final frame is under way, with the Bruins needing some offense to pull this one out.
Second Intermission Notes: The effort has been better for the most part for the Bruins in this one, but so far the results have not followed as Boston trails 1-0 after two periods.
The Bruins are still outshooting Pittsburgh 20-18, but 14 of those shots have come from defensemen. The Bruins have spent too much time on the perimeter and need to create more traffic in front to pressure Fleury. They also need some production from their top forwards, as David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Rich Peverley and Patrice Bergeron all have no shots so far.
Bergeron is 8-3 on draws, including a key one late in the second after an incing with 4.7 seconds left to prevent a late scoring chance for Pittsburgh. Overall though, Boston is 17-20 (46 percent) on faceoffs. The Penguins are also outhitting Boston 16-11. Zdeno Chara is having a big game, with four shots, two hits and a blocked shot in 17:33. He also broke up a 2-on-1 with a diving pokecheck on Evgeni Malkin.
End Second Period, Penguins 1-0: The middle frame concludes with no further scoring as the Penguins take their 1-0 lead into the third. Patrice Bergeron won a key draw in the closing seconds against Evgeni Malkin after a Boston icing gave Pittsburgh a chance for another late score.
Second Period, 18:30, Penguins 1-0: Cal O'Reilly nearly doubles Pittsburgh's lead with a shot from the left circle that hits off the inside of Thomas' arm and deflects just wide.
Second Period, 16:18, Penguins 1-0: Zdeno Chara with a diving breakup to knock the puck off Malkin's stick as the Penguins star came down the left wing leading a 2-on-1 break.
Second Period, 14:18, Penguins 1-0: Brooks Orpik with a huge hit on Daniel Paille at center ice. Paille goes flying, but appears no worse for wear after the collision.
Second Period, 12:56, Penguins 1-0: The Bruins did everything but score on that four-minute power play. They kept the puck in the Pittsburgh zone for nearly the full four minutes, creating several good scoring chances. the best came when Joe Corvo pinched in for a one-timer from the right slot off a Tyler Seguin feed, but Fleury slid over to make the stop.
Second Period, 8:56, Penguins 1-0: The Bruins finally get their first power-play chance of the day as Pascal Dupuis is given a high-sticking double minor after drawing blood on Tyler Seguin in center ice.
Second Period, 7:57, Penguins 1-0: The Bruins survive that penalty, killing it off though the Penguins did threaten with several quality chances.
Second Period, 5:57, Penguins 1-0: The Bruins are shorthanded again as Benoit Pouliot goes down in the neutral zone, but somehow he is the one called for hooking.
Second Period, 4:15, Penguins 1-0: The Bruins with their best chance yet as Tyler Seguin makes some nifty moves down the right wing and sends Brad Marchand in alone down low, but Fleury makes the save on Marchand's bid in front.
Second Period, 1:10, Penguins 1-0: Multiple chances for the Bergeron line on the opening shift of the second period, but both Bergeron and Seguin missed the net on shots from the slot.
Second Period, 0:00, Penguins 1-0: The middle frame is under way here at the Garden, where the Bruins will try to answer that late first-period goal by Pittsburgh.
First Intermission Notes: The Bruins played a better first period than most of their periods lately, but still come away down 1-0 after 20 minutes. The Bruins were more structured and didn't make many mistakes, though one of the few proved costly as Pittsburgh converted the only power play so far in the closing seconds of the frame.
That was a questionable slashing call on Rich Peverley. Evgeni Malkin certainly helped sell that one, then rubbed more salt in the wound by scoring the goal. That's his 13th goal in his last 13 games.
The Bruins had a 10-6 edge in shots, with half of Pittsburgh's shots coming on that late power play. Pittsburgh did have an 8-7 edge in hits, with Matt Cooke leading the way with three. Boston also won just 10 of 21 faceoffs (48 percent).
With Jordan Caron back up, the pressure is on Zach Hamill to keep his spot in the lineup. He played with a little more jump in the first, with a shot and a blocked shot in 4:29, but will still need to do more to solidify his hold on that final forward spot.
End First Period, Penguins 1-0: The Bruins will head to the first intermission down a goal after Pittsburgh gets a momentum-turning score in the closing seconds of the opening period.
First Period, 19:51, Penguins 1-0: The Penguins convert the power-play chance with Evgeni Malkin banging home a rebound at the left post with 8.1 seconds left in the period.
James Neal had the initial shot from the right point with Chris Kunitz looking for the tip in front. Thomas stopped that attempt, but couldn't get over to deny Malkin's rebound at the far post.
First Period, 19:16, 0-0: The Penguins get a late penalty call for the game's first power play. Rich Peverley heads to the box for slashing Evgeni Malkin, who did a pretty good job of selling that one.
First Period, 13:54, 0-0: The fourth line causes some havoc, with Gregory Campbell getting in quick on Fleury behind the net to force a turnover, but the Bruins can't convert. It remains scoreless at the Garden with the Bruins now up 8-3 in shots.
First Period, 10:21, 0-0: The Bruins starting to mount some pressure now. Boychuk had a nice idea with an indirect shot off the end boards that caromed to Peverley in front, but Peverley couldn't get off the shot in traffic. The Bergeron line then followed up with a strong shift created several chances. Shots now 6-3 in favor of Boston.
First Period, 8:03, 0-0: Zach Hamill flips in a shot from in deep on the left side and Fleury ties it up for a faceoff. Hamill looks to have a little more jump in his step in this one. Maybe having Caron back up to threaten his playing time will spark Hamill's game again, as he's been very quiet of late.
First Period, 4:10, 0-0: Not a lot going on early in this one, with neither team generating much in the way of scoring chances in the opening minutes. Seems to be a bit of a feeling-out process going on right now.
First Period, 0:00, 0-0: This one is under way here at the Garden, where the Bruins will try to bounce back from Thursday's loss against red-hot Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins.
1 p.m.: The Bruins will open with Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin up front, with Zdeno Chara and Johnny Boychuk on defense and Tim Thomas in goal.
The Penguins counter with Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin and James Neal up front, Brooks Orpik and Kris Letang on the blue line and Marc-Andre Fleury in net.
12:55 p.m.: The Bruins have scratched Jordan Caron and Steven Kampfer, along with Nathan Horton (concussion).
Colin McDonald and Ben Lovejoy are the scratches for Pittsburgh, along with Arron Asham (concussion). Deryk Engelland returns after missing one game.
12:45 p.m.: There were no changes to the Bruins lines in the rushes during warm-ups. Jordan Caron was not on the ice and the combinations all remain the same from Thursday.
Here are the full line combinations from warm-ups:
Lucic-Krejci-Peverley
Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin
Pouliot-Kelly-Hamill
Paille-Campbell-Thornton
Defense pairs:
Chara-Boychuk
Seidenberg-Corvo
Ference-McQuaid
12:30 p.m.: Tim Thomas and Marc-Andre Fleury lead the teams out for warm-ups, so we'll get the goaltending matchup expected for this one.
12:15 p.m.: The Bruins will close out their three-game homestand against Pittsburgh.
Jordan Caron was recalled from Providence this morning, but coach Claude Julien stated he will not be in the lineup against the Penguins. No lineup changes are expected, though Tim Thomas is likely to get the start after Tuukka Rask played in Thursday's loss to Carolina.
8 a.m. ET: The Bruins will look to bounce back from Thursday’s loss to last-place Carolina and snap out of their recent slump as they welcome Pittsburgh to the Garden for a Saturday matinee.
The Penguins (29-18-4, 62 points) were shut out themselves on Wednesday, losing 1-0 to Toronto. That snapped an eight-game win streak for Pittsburgh, which scored 33 goals in that span. Evgeni Malkin did the bulk of the damage, going 10-4-14 over that stretch. Overall, he leads the NHL with 27-32-59 totals in 44 games.
Pittsburgh has needed that production with Sidney Crosby sidelined since suffering another concussion the last time these two teams meet back on Dec. 5. Crosby collided with teammate Chris Kunitz in that game, but later stated that he thought it was an inadvertent elbow from David Krejci that caused this concussion.
That wasn’t the only incident from that game that could leave some bad blood to spill over into this clash. Brad Marchand was fined $2,500 for a slew foot on defenseman Matt Niskanen. Those two fought after the play, while Gregory Campbell also battled Joe Vitale after Vitale crashed the crease a little too aggressively on Tim Thomas.
Thomas made 45 saves in Boston's 3-1 win that night and is likely to play in this one as well after Tuukka Rask got the start on Thursday. Thomas is just 5-4-0 with a 2.89 GAA in his last nine starts.
In addition to Crosby, the Penguins are without forwards Jordan Staal (knee) and Arron Asham (concussion) and defensemen Robert Bortuzzo (concussion), Simon Despres (knee) and Deryk Engelland (undisclosed). They did add a body after claiming forward Cal O’Reilly on waivers from Phoenix on Wednesday.
The Bruins (32-15-2, 66 points) remain without forward Nathan Horton (concussion).
The puck drops at 1 p.m., so check back here for updates on all the action.
