As We All Predicted, Rookie Dan Vladar Was Fantastic In His First NHL Start For The Bruins

 

    After a rough stretch, the Bruins (15-8-4) were in desperate need of an energy boost. They got it tonight at PPG Paints Arena as they beat Pittsburgh (18-10-1) 2-1 behind 34 saves (including a show-stopping paddle save on a stunned Colton Sceviour) from rookie goaltender Dan Vladar in his first career NHL start. How improbable was this result? Well, the Penguins had won six games in a row along with their last seven consecutive contests at home against Boston. A third-round pick in 2015 (75th overall), Vladar's only other NHL appearance was mop-up duty in one loss last postseason against the Lightning. He's tall (6-foot-5) and could use a trip to the North End (185 pounds?) but the lanky 23-year-old Czech made it all work against one of the league's top teams. 

    This matchup on the second night of a back-to-back set felt like a playoff game for many reasons, beginning with the final score. Once again the B's scored first as superstar right wing David Pastrnak finished a breakaway with a nifty backhander through Penguins goaltender (and UNH alum/NH native) Casey DeSmith's five-hole. Pasta's team-high 13th goal of the season came just 3:20 into the first period and it was assisted by left wing Brad Marchand whose pass sprung him and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk picked up the second helper. Penguins left wing and one of my all-time favorite PC alums Brandon Tanev answered at 15:22 of the first period when he put in a rebound from the doorstep. BU center Evan Rodrigues and right wing Kasperi Kapanen had the assists on Tanev's seventh goal of the season.

    Boston defenseman Jarred Tinordi was in the middle of everything as a big hit on Penguins star Evgeni Malkin in the first period ended his night early. Later, he was on the other end of a monster collision with Tanev in the second period that resulted in Tinordi leaving with an upper-body injury and Tanev was wrongly assessed a boarding call and game misconduct penalty. The domino effect of this was that B's defenseman Charlie McAvoy ended up playing more than half of the game (30:16) which is insane in the regular season but what else could Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy do? The Black and Gold can't afford another injury to a defenseman so let's hope that Tinordi is alright. They are already missing Kevan Miller (of course), Brandon Carlo, Jeremy Lauzon and John Moore to various injuries so a journeyman that they just got off of waivers a few weeks ago is actually very important for the time being. 

    Another rookie for Boston came through with the game-winning goal as left wing Trent Frederic's floating wrist shot through major traffic found its way past DeSmith at 7:07 of the third period. Frederic's fourth goal of the season was assisted by defenseman Jakub Zboril and center Patrice Bergeron. With the victory, Boston improved to 3-1 against Pittsburgh this season and they pulled back within three points of them for third-place in the East Division (the Pens have still played 2 more games than them). The Bruins couldn't pick a better time to play the Sabres (6-18-4)-who are by far the worst team in the entire league. The B's are in Buffalo on Thursday (7, NESN) and Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) to take on a sorry excuse for an NHL team that has lost 12 straight games. It sounds like goaltender Tuukka Rask could return for one of those games but there's a little less of a rush now knowing that Vladar more than earned another start at some point this season.

Injuries & Inconsistency From Many Of Their Top Players Has Caught Up With The Bruins Right Now

 

    Unless you've been paying close attention lately, you might not realize that the Bruins (14-8-4) are a bit of a mess at the moment. Tonight, they began a back-to-back set at the PPG Paints Arena with a 4-1 loss to the red-hot Penguins (18-9-1). Unlike Saturday's lifeless 4-0 shutout loss to the Rangers (11-12-4) at the TD Garden, scoring chances weren't the main issue this evening as the B's outshot the Pens 43-26 but Pittsburgh's goaltender Tristan Jarry (42 saves, 12-7-1) was really tough to beat. Boston actually had more shots on goal in the first period alone (20) than they did all of Saturday (18) but that hardly seems to matter since it once again ended in a loss. The Bruins dropped to 3-5-2 in their last 10 games while the Penguins jumped to five points ahead of them courtesy of their sixth straight win-they are also 8-2-0 in their last 10. 

    The lone goal for the Bruins came on the power play but not from who you'd expect: defenseman Matt Grzelcyk used a screen from left wing Nick Ritchie to score on a wrist shot from the point for his first goal of the season at 6:47 of the first period. Left wing Brad Marchand and right wing David Pastrnak provided the assists that gave Boston an all too brief lead. Matt's former BU teammate center Evan Rodrigues tied it with a true knuckle puck that Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak (23 saves, 6-4-2) couldn't glove cleanly before it trickled over the goal line. Right wing Kasperi Kapanen and center Evgeni Malkin had the assists on baby-faced Rodrigues' second goal of the season. Halak allowed another goal that I'm sure he'd like back when Pittsburgh's superstar center Sidney Crosby one-timed a low shot from a tough angle that Jaroslav couldn't contain for some reason. Left wing Jake Guentzel and BC defenseman Brian Dumoulin had the helpers on Crosby's 11th goal of the season at 18:34. 

    Down only 2-1 after the first period, Boston was still in it until Malkin scored a power play goal at 11:40 of the second period. His one-timer from the slot was his eighth goal of the season and it was assisted by Crosby and defenseman Kris Letang. A troubling trend for the Bruins is their lack of scoring punch in March as they've managed one goal or less in five of those seven contests. Yeesh. Guentzel's empty-net goal (his 11th goal of the season) at 19:44 of the third period wrapped it up for the Penguins who improved to a very impressive 12-2-0 at home. 

    Tomorrow's game (7, NESN) brings more uncertainty for the B's because Halak understandably won't start on back-to-back nights (and 3 times in the last 4 days) so it'll either be rookie Dan Vladar making his NHL debut or Providence's Jeremy Swayman-a rookie that went to the University of Maine-who has begun his pro career 7-0-0 in the AHL. For this reason, it's easy to predict that the Penguins will be a heavy favorite in the rematch. Even a pity point (losing in overtime or a shootout) would be a fine result for the Bruins since it feels like they are teetering on the verge of a major slump.

Monday Night Hockey (B's vs. Pens) > Monday Night Football (When It's Cowboys vs. Giants)

Outside of holidays (which usually have sleepy afternoon start times) and playoff games in the spring, there are never too many Bruins home games on Monday nights during the regular season. Everybody knows that Mondays are the worst day of the week so it's nice to have something to reward us at the end of those miserable 24 hours. Doubly so when it's such an entertaining contest like the one that Boston (11-1-2) and Pittsburgh (8-6-1) had this evening at TD Garden. The Bruins scored the first three goals to chase Pens goaltender Matt Murray (8 saves) then watched the Penguins score four in a row in the second to take a 4-3 lead before closing it out 6-4 thanks to a 3-0 third period. Boston has won six games in a row and they have points in 10 straight games (8-0-2).

As you would expect from such a gong show, there was a ton of highlights, lowlights and everything in between for both clubs. Murray put his team in a major hole early by allowing a soft goal to Jake DeBrusk, then Brad Marchand knocked a puck in the net out of mid-air (a new lead-off hitter for the Red Sox if Mookie Betts gets traded?) and David Pastrnak beat him shortside early in the second for the quick hook. DeBrusk's third goal of the season at 5:24 of the first period was technically unassisted by Kris Letang coughed the puck up right to him and Jake beat Murray down low to the far side. Marchand's ninth goal of the season came at 13:05 of the first and it was assisted by Pasta and Zdeno Chara. It was the beginning of Marchand's second five-point (2 goals, 3 assists) performance in his last four games (also Oct. 27 at NYR). It also extended his career-best point streak (13) and assist streak (12-most for a Bruin since Marc Savard in 2007!). The B's led 2-0 after one and when Pastrnak bagged his NHL-leading 14th goal at 4:22 of the second, this felt like another routine two points for the home team. Marchand and Carlo assisted on Pastrnak's tally that extended his point streak to 12 games (14 goals, 15 assists) which tied a career-best from two years ago (Nov. 22-Dec. 16, 2017).

Murray has probably been playing too much anyway (already his 12th start in 15 games) so it's not wonder he played like a guy that's fatigued. I couldn't tell you much about his backup Tristan Jarry (12 saves) but that move certainly flipped the momentum in Pittsburgh's favor. Suddenly, Boston kept giving up breakaways and Grade A scoring chances as the Penguins outshot them 21-5 in the second period (the most shots on goal allowed by the B's in a period in over a year). Dominik Kahun got the rally started with a one-timer at 5:35. Jared McCann and Justin Schultz had the assists on Kahun's third goal of the season which gave him five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in his last three games. Kris Letang hit Nick Bjugstad with a beautiful stretch pass and he cut it to 3-2 at 9:56. BC's Brian Dumoulin had the second assist on the former Panther's first goal of the season. Pittsburgh was flying up and down the ice, showing off their elite skill like when Evgeni Malkin (in his 2nd game back from injury) fed Bryan Rust with an absurd backhand tape-to-tape pass and the former Notre Dame star tied it at 15:59. Alex Galchenyuk had the second helper on the speedy Rust's second goal of the season.

You would have thought that was a perfect time for Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy to make use of his timeout but since it's still early November, he decided to let it play out and unfortunately, that decision backfired spectacularly. Coming out of the penalty box, North Easton MA native and Harvard product John Marino received an errant pass right on his stick, walked in on a breakaway and tucked one home past Jaroslav Halak (40 saves, 4-1-1) with 3.4 seconds left in the second period for his unforgettable first NHL goal. The stunned Bruins fans had no choice but to boo them off the ice as they went to the dressing room trailing 4-3. With a back-to-back looming in Montreal, Boston wanted no part of overtime or a shootout so they got the job done with a strong finish.

Leave it to some of their biggest stars to put this wild game to bed. Torey Krug one-timed a laser top shelf on Jarry from Marchand at 8:14 to tie it up at four apiece. Krug's second goal of the season (1 goal, 8 assists in his last 9 games) was also assisted by David Krejci. Brad got the game-winner with a fortuitous bounce following a wicked snap shot: the puck went off a post, ricocheted off Jarry's back and over the goal-line before Sidney Crosby (game-low minus-4!) could prevent that from happening. Marchand's 10th goal of the season was unassisted at 18:03 and it sent the Garden into delirium. Fittingly Mr. Steady himself Patrice Bergeron ended it with an empty-netter at 19:46. His seventh goal of the season (4-game point streak and 15 points in his last 13 games) was assisted by Krejci and Marchand.

Boston has already faced Toronto (7-5-3) twice this season and I'm not the first one to say that the Bruins-Leafs rivalry has been juicier the last few seasons than B's-Canadiens (7-5-2) mostly because Montreal has been an afterthought in the league. Of course, it won't feel like that tomorrow night (7:30, NBCSN) in the first encounter of this campaign at the Bell Centre with Tuukka Rask (7-0-1) in net for the Black and Gold plus former Bruins head coach Claude Julien aka Handsome Ralph behind the bench for the Habs. Boston had to work harder than they would have liked tonight after going up by three goals but they are such a professional team that I bet they find a way to get up for Montreal because duh.

Charlie McAvoy left the game late in the third period after crashing head first into a post on Boston's net. Cassidy thought it was only a cut and not a concussion which would be a relief while Krug also suffered a grizzly flesh wound on his chin after Rust's skate accidentally caught him when they were tangled up in the net following another collision. Cameron Hughes made his NHL debut on the fourth line for Boston and with David Backes and Par Lindholm both out with upper-body injuries, I'm guessing that he'll get another game (not that he really did much vs. Pittsburgh).

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Bruins Blank Penguins 2-0 For Their Fifth Straight Win (Making Them 8-1-1 in The Last 10 Games)

Remember a few short weeks ago when even the biggest Bruins honk felt like they were going nowhere for the rest of this ill-fated season? My how things have changed since today's 2-0 win by Boston (36-22-10) at CONSOL Energy Center vs. Pittsburgh (39-19-10) was their fifth straight victory (best current streak in the NHL) and left them 8-1-1 in their last 10 games (tied with Rangers for best mark). The Bruins are now tied with the Capitals for seventh-place (82 points) in the Eastern Conference and only five points behind the Red Wings (37-19-11) who are also faltering at this most important time.

Sure the B's caught two enormous breaks since Sidney Crosby was in pregame warmups but didn't suit up because of an undisclosed injury while Evgeni Malkin played a grand total of five shifts before leaving with a mysterious injury of his own. Chris Kelly had hit him which seemed to cause the injury but it was a clean, routine play and nothing dirty by any means. Still, the Bruins wouldn't have taken advantage of that earlier in the season so it was nice to see them continue to get the job done in any number of ways. Once again, they rode Tuukka Rask (30 saves; 3rd shutout of the season) who has been one of the league's best over the last month-plus.

The other thing that went Boston's way happened before the game began as the Penguins started backup goaltender Thomas Greiss (28 saves) in order to rest Marc-Andre Fleury for a matchup vs. Detroit on Sunday. Greiss was fine except that he allowed a rather soft goal to Milan Lucic at 9:53 of the first period. David Pastrnak and Dougie Hamilton assisted on Lucic's low wrist shot that should have been stopped but went in for his 15th goal of the season.

Really not that much else happened the rest of the way which was fine with the Bruins. Boston's power play was 0 for 4 but they held Pittsburgh to 0 for 3 so that was basically a draw. Captain Zdeno Chara clinched it for Boston with a rink-long empty-netter when there were 38 seconds left in regulation. Gregory Campbell assisted on Chara's seventh goal of the season which made it 2-0 for the visitors.

Ironically enough, the B's are in DC tomorrow night (7:30, NBCSN) to face the Capitals (36-23-10). Boston has played one less game than Washington so a win against them on Sunday would give them some extra space. It is the second leg of a back-to-back (when you'd normally play the backup goalie) but I believe that Rask will make another start since the game is so important in the Wild Card standings.

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Bruins Celebrate Being Halfway Done w/Reg. Season by Winning 3-2 in OT at Penguins

We are living in the movie Groundhog Day: for the fourth straight game, the Bruins went to overtime. The key difference tonight at CONSOL Energy Center is that unlike the previous three contests, where they fell in either overtime or a shootout, Boston (20-15-6) decided to get the two points as Patrice Bergeron tipped in Milan Lucic's shot at 2:43 for a thrilling 3-2 win over the Penguins. What's more, that victory put the Bruins in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Even though they seem to usually match up well with them, the Penguins (24-10-6) are one of the top teams in the East. That's what made this Boston's best win of 2014-15 (this was Game 41 of 82). You can't logically argue against the fact that Pittsburgh deserved better as they outshot Boston 39-24 (although B's owned overtime, 5-2) and saw Beau Bennett hit the post earlier in the extra session.

Bergeron's 10th goal of the season (and 2nd of the game) took a while to review since at first glance he appeared to tip the puck with a high stick. However, it was called a goal on the ice and thankfully it remained that way with Torey Krug picking up the second assist.

The alarming trend continued for the B's of poor starts that lack any kind of emotion. Bennett scored 3:37 into the game as he put in a sneaky pass from Evgeni Malkin that caught everyone including Tuukka Rask (37 saves) by surprise and out of position. Simon Despres had the other assist on Bennett's second goal of the season.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara has been playing like he is in quicksand (apparently he's human too) but he still managed to tie it at 17:57 of the first period with a blast from the point that beat Marc-Andre Fleury (21 saves). It was the captain's third goal of the season with assists to Reilly Smith and David Krejci.

It was a good sign that in such an important game, Boston's best players stepped it up a notch. Bergeron made it 2-1 at 15:37 of the second period with a snipe that went over Fleury's shoulder. Daniel Paille and Lucic had the assists. Boston kept the lead after two periods but Malkin quickly erased it with a laser that whizzed by Rask 14 seconds into the third. That was Geno's 18th goal of the season, assisted by Christian Ehrhoff.

The B's are 1-5-1 in the second legs of back-to-backs so far this season but they'll have as good a chance as ever to change that tomorrow night (7, NESN) as they host the Devils at TD Garden. New Jersey (15-20-7) was off tonight but they are bad and going nowhere this season so if Boston wants to make the playoffs, they need to win against that type of overmatched opposition. If all else fails, they should kidnap Jaromir Jagr while he's in the building and get him back on the Bruins.

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Penguins Beat Bruins 3-2 In Overtime On Malkin's 2nd Goal of the Game

It is a cold reality but I guess we should be somewhat content that the shorthanded B's were able to take a point against the juggernaut Penguins tonight at TD Garden. Playing with what feels like half a team that rightfully belongs in Providence, Pittsburgh (14-4-2) beat Boston (13-9-1) 3-2 in overtime at TD Garden on Evgeni Malkin's goal just 32 seconds in.

Brad Marchand returned after missing three games with an undisclosed injury but David Krejci and Chris Kelly remained out. Boston made the curious decision to send Seth Griffith back to Providence this afternoon while Matt Fraser was a healthy scratch. That meant that their first-round pick from this past draft, David Pastrnak, made his NHL debut at the ripe old age of 18 (he's the youngest player to appear in the NHL this season). He only ended up playing 7:53 so his contributions were understandably limited. Furthermore, it's hard to say what they wanted out of Jordan Caron (3:35) and Alex Khokhlachev (2:53) when they each played five total shifts in the entire contest.

You can only keep Sidney Crosby and Malkin in check for so long, even in the best of times, which made it utterly predictable that Crosby opened the scoring at 3:33 with a backhander on a rebound from Tuukka Rask (30 saves). Harvard's Craig Adams and Kris Letang had the assists on Crosby's ninth goal of the season.

Pittsburgh led 1-0 after the first period but Boston tied it early in the second on Milan Lucic's tap-in from Loui Eriksson and Carl Soderberg at 1:43. Lucic has been lost without Krejci so it was nice to see him pick up his fourth goal of the season on Eriksson's slick pass. The Bruins took the lead only 28 seconds later as rookie Joe Morrow scored his first career NHL goal. Marc-Andre Fleury (27 saves) was screened while Dougie Hamilton and Simon Gagne were credited with the assists on Morrow's wrister from the point.

The B's had not one but two possible goals called off upon replay this evening. In the first period, Patrice Bergeron hit the puck in with what was determined to be a high stick. That seemed like the right call but the second one was much more shaky. In the following frame, the puck deflected in off Soderberg's body before Lucic knocked the net off of its mooring. The refs ruled that Soderberg used his glove which was not obvious at all.

Malkin and Crosby took over even further as Malkin tied it at two. His low but hard shot beat Rask to the nearside at 9:42 of the second period on the power play for his ninth goal of the season. Letang and Crosby had the assists on that tally. After the scoreless third period, where the Penguins outshot the Bruins 12-4, all Pittsburgh needed was one rush in overtime to end it. Crosby went blazing up the left wing before firing a one-timer over to Malkin who caught Rask in scramble mode going side-to-side (who could blame him?).

Boston is now off until Friday (7, NESN) when they host Winnipeg (10-9-3). The trend for the Bruins so far this season has been to beat the bad and average teams and then to lose against the good ones. However, it's tough to see them topping many teams in their current state of disarray with all the injuries and underachieving individuals. The scary part is that after that they go to the West Coast for four games in six days including the dreaded California trio of Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose.

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Hey Penguins: Don't Poke The Bear Or Something

Repeat after me Bruins fans: it's only one game, it's only one game, good. Boston beat Pittsburgh 3-0 tonight in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Consol Energy Center. The B's basically did everything they could have hoped for and right away, they put all the pressure (as if it wasn't already) on the Penguins. Game 2 is Monday (8 p.m., NBCSN).

What we felt was Boston's only real advantage coming into the series turned out to be the truth in Game 1: Tuukka Rask (29 saves) recorded his first career playoff shutout while Tomas Vokoun (27 saves) wasn't good enough, leaving a few costly rebounds which the B's made the most of.

The Bruins top line of Milan Lucic (assist, +2), David Krejci (2 goals) and Nathan Horton (1 goal, 2 assists) was outstanding. Krejci added to his NHL-leading total (7 goals, 12 assists) further cementing his legacy as a truly clutch player whenever the postseason rolls around.

The difference between Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron was obvious already: Crosby is the best hockey player in the world but much like LeBron in the NBA he still takes the low-rent tactic of whining about everything 24/7. Meanwhile, Bergeron never fights but when the Penguins tried to be tough at the end of the second period he ended up brawling with Evgeni Malkin. That is a true leader, all Crosby could do was talk trash to Zdeno Chara with a referee safely between them.

Speaking of bush league, it only took Matt Cooke a little more than one period to show us that he'll never change. Shame on the pathetic Penguins fans and media that pretend he's reformed. It reminds me of Celtics honk media members saying that Rajon Rondo became a leader. Cooke took a run at Adam McQuaid and got a game misconduct for hitting from behind early in the second period. McQuaid was shaken up but soon returned to the ice after going to the dressing room.

Pittsburgh hit the post three times but Rask seemed to get in their heads as the game went on. Krejci gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 8:23 of the first period, assisted by Horton and Andrew Ference (first action since Game 5 vs. Maple Leafs). Ference started the play by driving to the net and Krejci's shot trickled through Vokoun's pads after the puck hit Paul Martin's skate and deflected.

Krejci made it 2-0 at 4:04 of the third period after his shot was blocked by Vokoun but popped high in the air around the crease. Like Daniel Paille in Game 3 vs. Rangers, Krejci's alertness and hustle paid off with his second goal-also assisted by Horton. Mr. Playoffs aka Horton iced it with a goal less than four minutes later from Lucic and Gregory Campbell. Once again, Vokoun's juicy rebound ended up in the back of his net.

An enjoyable aspect of this contest was the obvious disdain both clubs have for each other. Interestingly enough, this came after both enjoyed a week off. Crosby was pissed, probably cause he played terrible by his lofty standards (-2) and he took it out on poor Tyler Seguin in garbage time. Crosby chopped Seguin's legs with a slash, his second penalty of the night. I guess Cooke is really rubbing off on Sid the Kid.

This win means that Boston is 3-0 in Game 1s during the postseason. They also broke Pittsburgh's six-game win streak over them dating back to last season. Regardless, you can guarantee that the Penguins will play much better in Game 2. However, if the B's can somehow find themselves on top again well then Pittsburgh would certainly be reaching for the nearest panic button.

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Bruins Prove To Be No Match As The Penguins Roll To Their Ninth Straight Win

Let's get one thing straight, no matter if Tim Thomas or Marty Turco started in net this afternoon for the Boston Bruins, there was no way they were knocking off the freight train known as the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Pens (42-21-5) won their season-high ninth game in a row, 5-2 at the CONSOL Energy Center thanks to three assists from Evgeni Malkin, a goal and two assists from James Neal and a strong outing from goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (34 saves).

Despite having played yesterday afternoon-and having lost to the Washington Capitals-Thomas (7 saves) got the puzzling start. He didn't last long, although that wasn't really his fault. Pittsburgh scored twice in the first 7:12, the third time in five games that the B's have been down 2-0 within the first nine minutes. Even worse, it was 3-0 Penguins by the end of the first period. Enter Turco (20 saves) to start the second. He actually played fine which makes you wonder why he didn't start in the first place since Thomas is dead but I digress.

Arron Asham (4th of the season at 3:24), Matt Niskanen (4th of the season at 7:12) and Neal (31st of the season at 18:48 on the power-play) made for a completely embarrassing first period by the Bruins, who couldn't do anything except get hurt and take penalties.

Adam McQuaid (upper body), Max Sauve (lower body, in his NHL debut) and Patrice Bergeron (blocked a shot) all exited the game with injuries but never returned. That left Boston with 10 skaters on the bench.

David Krejci (19th of the season) showed some pride for Boston when he cut it to 3-1 at 1:56 of the second period. Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic assisted on Krejci's snap shot for a goal.

Chris Kunitz (20th of the season) answered for the Penguins at 4:27 as he one-timed a pass from Neal. Malkin had the second assist, on the first goal allowed by Turco in a Bruins uniform.

Krejci scored again at 10:01 on a wrist shot from Lucic and Seguin to trim it to 4-2. Boston never gave up but Pascal Dupuis (18th of the season) put an exclamation point on the nice win for the home team when he scored with 3:53 left in the game. He went in on a breakaway thanks to passes from Jordan Staal and Deryk Engelland.

Boston gets one more crack at what could be the Eastern Conference's top team-four points behind the Rangers-on April 3 at TD Garden. One thing is clear, the Bruins don't want any part of the Penguins in the playoffs, particularly if Sidney Crosby ever returns and is healthy.

The B's have two more games on the road and they are both in the Sunshine State: Tuesday in Tampa Bay and Thursday in Sunrise (against the Panthers). Boston split the first two games with the Lightning, who have been probably the biggest disappointment in the East this season since they took the Bruins to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last spring.

All we can do right now is cross our fingers and toes that the B's can start to get more guys back in their lineup, otherwise there will be many more gongshow games like this one. Andrew Ference returned today but they still sorely miss Benoit Pouliot, Daniel Paille, Nathan Horton, Rich Peverley, Tuukka Rask, etc. Who knows if they'll all be back this season?

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For The First Time In Nearly Two Months, The Bruins Have Lost Two In A Row

Call it whatever you want-a funk, a tough stretch, a post All-Star break snooze-the Boston Bruins are currently struggling as much as they have since October concluded.

The B's (32-16-2) fell 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins (30-18-4) this afternoon at TD Garden. It was Boston's sixth loss in its last 10 games.

The NHL trade deadline is three weeks from Monday. A few weeks ago, I would have thought it was silly to even discuss a possible move in depth since the Bruins were on cruise control but now, with a few more sub par efforts, I think GM Peter Chiarelli and Co. will need to think long and hard about making a trade. They don't need a blockbuster but like last season, they could use an infusion of new blood that they can slot into the lineup.

Today's contest was further proof that even without Sidney Crosby, I feel that the Pens are the biggest obstacle between the Bruins and another Eastern Conference championship. They're deep, have plenty of talent, a great goaltender, they're tough and they have an outstanding coach. Pittsburgh seems like one of the only squads that isn't intimidated by Boston's physical play. In fact, they beat up the B's in this one.

I made a promise to myself after last season that I would never again partake in attending 1 p.m. games on Saturdays. I don't have the numbers to back it up but I feel like Boston always sleepwalks through those, can't score goals and usually lose.

The NHL's leading scorer Evgeni Malkin (28th goal of the season) gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal with nine seconds left in the first period. Chris Kunitz and James Neal had the assists but Malkin did the hard work as he fought for the rebound and beat Tim Thomas (26 saves; 22-10-0).

That killer goal gave Pittsburgh energy and public enemy No. 1 in Boston Matt Cooke (9th goal of the season) made it 2-0 at 1:53 of the third period. Dustin Jeffrey and Pascal Dupuis had the assists but once again, Thomas was the victim of a rebound he left basically on the doorstep of the crease.

Marc Andre-Fleury's (28 saves) shutout bid was broken at 6:45 by Joe Corvo. The defenseman, who's been playing awful the last month or so, scored his third of the season thanks to a nice screen by Brad Marchand. Corvo's harmless wrist shot from the point found its way past Fleury. Marchand and Patrice Bergeron had the assists.

Boston pressed for another goal but they never found it. The lack of goal-scoring the past two games (1 total) isn't just because of Nathan Horton's absence but I think it's obvious that as much as we love Rich Peverley, he's not first line material.

The Penguins will play the Bruins twice more in the regular season: March 11 in Pittsburgh and April 3 in Boston.

The Bruins have a tough back-to-back as they travel to Washington D.C. to face the Capitals tomorrow afternoon (12:30 p.m.). In the last game before the All-Star break, the B's lost 5-3 to the Caps on January 24. Before I settle in for Super Bowl 46, it would ease my mind a bit if the B's can get two points.

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Bruins score as many goals vs. Penguins as they would have in a month last season

So far, this season by the Boston Bruins seems like a reward for their long suffering fans who watched last season end in such utter disgrace.

The games still don't mean much now but how can you not be excited by the way the Bs are playing? It's like they are a completely different squad (with only a few new faces) from the one that struggled so mightily last season to put the puck in the net.

Trailing in the second or third period doesn't mean anything as last night showed. Boston (8-3-1) was down 4-2 heading into the third at Pittsburgh's (7-8-1) CONSOL Energy Arena but rallied for five straight goals in a rousing 7-4 victory.

The most impressive stat was that 15 of 18 Bruins registered points in the game. Mark Recchi (1 goal, 2 assists), Patrice Bergeron (2 assists) and Nathan Horton (1 goal, 1 assist) led the way with multiple points.

Tim Thomas (42 saves) did not have his best performance but at least he was much better than Penguins goaltender Brent Johnson (26 saves).

The first period set the stage with a frenetic pace and a pair of fights. Arron Asham opened the scoring for Pittsburgh with a rebound off an Evgeni Malkin (2 assists) shot. Piece of shit Matt Cooke also assisted.

Shawn Thornton fought Eric Godard and two seconds later, Gregory Campbell squared off with Maxime Talbot.

The brawls seemed to fire up the Bruins as Recchi tied it up a few minutes later with a power play goal. Tyler Seguin set him up with a great cross ice feed and after Recchi's first shot was stopped, he stayed with it and roofed it for his first goal of the season. Bergeron also assisted on it.

Brad Marchand gave Boston a 2-1 lead later in the first period with an unassisted snipe and then Penguins defenseman (and BC product) Brooks Orpik tied it up with assists to Malkin and Sidney Crosby (1 goal, 2 assists).

In the last five minutes of the second period, Chris Kunitz (from Kris Letang and Crosby) and Crosby on the power play (from Alex Goligoski and Letang) put Pittsburgh up 4-2.

As they showed last week against the Capitals (before eventually falling 5-3), third period deficits don't faze the Bruins.

Horton (from Dennis Seidenberg and Matt Hunwick) and Zdeno Chara (from Jordan Caron - first NHL assist - and Recchi) scored 15 seconds apart to tie it up not even five minutes into the third period.

From there, it was all Boston as Thornton (from Campbell and Adam McQuaid) and Blake Wheeler (from Recchi and Michael Ryder) were the unlikely combo to score the most important goals. Milan Lucic wrapped it up with an empty-netter from Horton and Bergeron.

After losing two in a row and looking like they were going down again last night, the comeback was a great sign of things to build on. Boston comes home tonight to host bitter rival Montreal in the teams' first meeting this season.

I'll be there, I'm pumped for my first Bruins-Canadiens game. The clown Canadiens fans show up in big numbers which always makes it a great atmosphere.