The Boston Bruins overhauled their lines to devestating effect Saturday.
Brad Marchand scored a hat trick, and David Pastrnak scored twice to help the Bruins earn a 7-5 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden. Five of Boston’s and two of Pittsburgh’s goals came during the unbelievable second period, in which the Bruins seized an advantage they ultimately maintained through the end of the game.
Bruins goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves, many of them timely, in the winning effort.
With the victory, the Bruins improve to 19-10-5, while the Penguins fall to 24-12-2.
Here’s how it all went down:
SLOW START
The Penguins took the lead just 3:24 into the first period when Mark Jankowski deflected Mike Matheson’s shot past Halak.
The teams struggled to create many scoring opportunities over the course of the period, and the Penguins out-shot the Bruins 9-6.
GOAL EXPLOSION
The second period contained all the excitement the first lacked, as the teams combined to score seven goals.
Patrice Bergeron lit the fireworks after just 11 seconds when he collected a loose puck and beat Casey DeSmith with his shot.
Pastrnak put the Bruins ahead just 34 seconds later.
Nick Ritchie assisted Pastrnak’s goal, as did David Krejci, who increased his career assist total to 500.
However, Boston’s joy was short-lived, as Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel tied the game at 2-2 just two minutes after Pastrnak scored.
Jared McCann then put the Penguins back in front of the Bruins 26 seconds later.
After a short respite from goals, Marchand tied the score with 5:04 remaining in the period. Matt Grzelcyk should take a bow for his beautiful assist.
Krejci and Marchand ensured the Bruins ended the period ahead when they scored in quick succession.
The former tapped-in the latter’s seeing-eye pass to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead on the power play with 1:31 left to go.
Then, with 20 seconds remaining in the period, Marchand scored his second goal, which increased the Bruins’ lead to 5-3.
Bergeron’s assist on Marchand’s goal represented an historic point in the Bruins captain’s career.
WILD TO THE FINISH
Cody Ceci beat Halak with a wrist shot 4:38 into the third period to cut Boston’s lead to 5-4.
But Pastrnak kept the Penguins at bay when he scored an unassisted goal with 6:32 remaining.
However, there was no way this game would end without some more fireworks. Sidney Crosby made things interesting when he scored with 1:15 remaining. The Penguins superstar registered three points in the game.
Marchand responded by scoring into an empty net to complete his hat trick.
UP NEXT
The Bruins will host the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night at TD Garden. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
