Bruins Win Fourth Straight On Pastrnak's Third Period Goal Vs. Penguins
By DOUG ALDEN , Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Matt Grzelcyk scored his first career goal, David Krejci had a goal and an assist and the Boston Bruins stretched their season-long winning streak to four straight in a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.
David Pastrnak's goal on a breakaway 5:06 into the third broke a 3-all tie and Anton Khudobin shut out the Penguins the rest of the way to win his fourth straight start. Khudobin finished with 17 saves for Boston, which outshot Pittsburgh 33-20 and has its longest winning streak of the season.
Sydney Crosby had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to tie it with three goals in the second period. Jake Guentzel and Phil Kessel also scored for the Penguins, who lost their third straight.
After being outshot 14-4 in the first period, Pittsburgh pulled within 2-1 just 1:02 into the second on a one-timer by Jake Guentzel with assists by Crosby and Kris Letang.
Grzelcyk put Boston back up 3-1 at 10:31 of the second when Krejci misfired on a slap shot from the blue line and the puck slowly found Grzelcyk for a wrist shot that hit Murray's glove and continued into the net. Grzelcyk is the seventh Boston player to score his first career goal this season.
Kessel pulled the Penguins within 3-2 with 14:07 into the second, then Crosby tied it with 2:16 left in the period on a goal that withstood two video reviews. Crosby tapped the puck in off Khudobin after he deflected a shot straight up and the puck landed on his chest. The play was under review for several minutes before the referees called it a goal. Boston coach Bruce Cassidy felt Crosby interfered with Khudobin and challenged, but after a much shorter review the goal was still good.
Guentzel scored 1:02 into the second on a one-timer off passes from Letang and Crosby.
Krejci scored 6:13 into the game and Sean Kuraly added a goal 10:51 in to put Boston up 2-0.
NOTES: The Penguins hadn't lost three straight since Jan. 11-14 last season. ... Pittsburgh C Evgeni Malkin was out of the lineup with an upper-body injury he sustained Wednesday in a game at Vancouver. ... Crosby played in his 806th game for the Penguins, tying him with Jaromir Jagr for second most in team history. ... C Sidney Crosby played in his 806th game with the Penguins, tying Jaromir Jagr for second place on the team's all-time list, while RW Patric Hornqvist played in his 600th NHL game. ... Boston D Torey Krug returned after missing three games with an upper body injury. ... The Bruins were still without LW Brad Marchand (upper body) and RW Anders Bjork (undisclosed), both on IR and out for the fifth straight game.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host Tampa Bay on Saturday night.
Bruins: Host Edmonton on Sunday.