Pavel Zacha gave Boston the kind of lift that can turn a road night into a rout, scoring twice as the Bruins rolled past the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
The Bruins kept the pressure on throughout and got production from all over the lineup. Morgan Geekie finished with a goal and an assist, while David Pastrnak and JJ Peterka each set up two goals. Michael DiPietro stopped 16 shots as Boston improved to 12-4-1, stretching its winning streak to three games and its run to five wins in seven.
“We've been deeper this year than in the past, we feel like,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “Every line can score and every line can be out there in any time of the game. ...
I think we probably caught them at the right time too, Pittsburgh. But yeah, it's always nice to see all the goals, all the lines, contribute.”
Pittsburgh got the early jump when Justin Brazeau scored on the Penguins’ first shot on goal at 9:04 of the opening period. He dropped to one knee in the right face-off circle and snapped home a shot after Hendrix Lapierre worked the puck from below the goal line.
That lead didn’t last long. Boston answered with three goals in a span of 6:50 and took control before the first intermission.
Zacha tied it 1-1 at 12:07 with a wrist shot over Arturs Silovs after Pastrnak threaded a pass through the crease. Mark Kastelic then put the Bruins ahead 2-1 at 15:04 when he tipped in a point shot from Frederic Brunet in the slot. Elias Lindholm made it 3-1 at 18:57 after picking off an Erik Karlsson pass in the Pittsburgh zone, freezing Silovs with a shot fake and slipping the puck under his glove.
The Penguins briefly clawed back in the second period. Nicholas Robertson cut the deficit to 3-2 at 7:57, redirecting a Kaedan Korczak shot for his team-leading seventh goal.
Boston answered again, and again it was Zacha. At 14:24, he finished a 2-on-1 by taking a pass from Peterka and beating Silovs with a wrist shot to make it 4-2.
“When we’re playing the right way as lines, I think we find ways,” Zacha said. “I think we have a lot of skill but I think when we can kind of add winning the battles and making the wall plays, that’s how we scored some goals, good wall plays.
And we have a fast team through the neutral zone, so we know we can use that. Just using guys for their skill sets, and I think every line can score, which is great.”
Geekie followed at 16:57, taking a pass from Hampus Lindholm during a Pittsburgh line change and going in alone for a breakaway wrist shot. It was his third straight game with a goal.
“I think we rely on our structure a lot throughout the game and we kind of just wait for mistakes,” Geekie said. “Teams are good.
Sometimes it takes 60 minutes to finally see a breakthrough. Tonight, we saw a couple go in a little earlier than that.
“But we all kind of play the same way. There’s not really any difference between the four lines. We’re all, kind of, workers.”
Fraser Minten capped the scoring at 8:39 of the third period, burying a snap shot on a 2-on-1 for the 6-2 final.
Silovs finished with 18 saves for Pittsburgh, which fell to 5-9-2 and has now lost four straight, going 0-3-1 during that stretch. Brazeau and Robertson scored for the Penguins, and Korczak picked up two assists in the defeat.
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