Boston Bruins: 3 takeaways from 3-2 overtime win over Penguins
The Boston Bruins faced the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time of the season last night and won by a score of 3-2 in overtime. This was the Black and Gold’s third straight win while it also put an end to the four-game win streak of the Pens.
This game was mostly dominated by the B’s. After the first period, Boston was up 1-0, thanks to a beautiful shorthanded goal scored by left wing Brad Marchand. The B’s were also outshooting Pittsburgh 11-6 after the first period. The only issue was once again Boston’s discipline.
It was much of the same in the second period. The B’s dominated for most of it but took a lot of penalties. The score after the second was 2-0 as Nick Ritchie scored yet another powerplay goal.
The third period was the downfall for the Black and Gold as they allowed two goals in the frame. The first goal was scored by Jason Zucker with goaltender Tuukka Rask seeming to be hurt as he couldn’t get up from his knees. However, he stayed in the game. The second goal was scored by Kasperi Kapanen with him driving to the net and getting the puck passed Rask.
Overtime was exciting, it was back and forth and had breakaways, 2-on-0’s, and even 3-on-0’s. The Pens had the 3-on-0 but ultimately failed due to too many passes by center Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang and they allowed Rask to poke the puck away. Malkin also had a breakaway chance but hit the crossbar.
The game was ultimately decided thanks to a Boston 2-on-0 with David Krejci and Craig Smith as Smith got a shot passed net minder Tristan Jarry.
3. The Boston Bruins need to be better at defending opponents driving to the net.
Overall, the B’s defense has been pretty good so far this season. However, one thing that has been an issue is defending players driving to the net. This has resulted in collisions with their goalie and goals against.
While this hasn’t necessarily been an issue for a few games now, it was an issue last night. The Penguins consistently drove to the net and created scoring opportunities.
This started early in the game as Jake Guentzel drove to the net in the first period and made contact with Rask, knocking him into his own net. No penalty was called, but it seems like goalie interference isn’t call nowadays unless it results in a goal.
Additionally, Pittsburgh’s second goal was scored because Kapanen was able to drive to the net. If the Black and Gold are able to effectively defend this power move, they win the game in regulation.
2. The Boston Bruins’ third line continued to shine.
Since the third game of the season, the B’s third line has been the team’s best line. The duo of Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith has proved to be extremely effective at 5-on-5.
Even with Anders Bjork, who hasn’t been very noticeable since the first period of the first game, on their left wing, Coyle and Smith have created scoring chance after scoring chance.
Now, with Trent Frederic on their left wing, Coyle and Smith have been able to bring up their play to another notch that no one knew was possible.
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While Frederic hasn’t produced anything more than an assist so far this season, this isn’t an accurate representation of how well he’s been playing. He’s made the right plays and has brought energy, tenacity, and toughness to the team. His style of play complements Coyle and Smith nicely and helps them bring their game to the next level.
This play continued last night as the line created several good scoring opportunities throughout the game and had several shifts where they held the puck in the offensive zone and sustained pressure on the Penguins’ defense.
Although they didn’t score, they were the most noticeable and overall best line of the night.
1. The Boston Bruins’ discipline issues continued.
I know I’ve written about Boston’s discipline issues this season a decent amount so far, but it just continues and doesn’t seem to be getting better.
After a well-disciplined game against the Flyers in which they only took two penalties, the Black and Gold went back to their old ways and committed a season-high six penalties last night against the Pens.
This was the B’s fourth game of the season where they took at least five penalties. Boston has only played six games and more than half of them they’ve committed at least five penalties.
Although their lack of discipline didn’t directly hurt them tonight — they actually scored on one of the penalty kills — the Bruins really need to find away to cut down the number of penalties they take in games.
If the B’s were able to take at least one less penalty this game may not have gone overtime as they could’ve been using those two minutes to create scoring opportunities at 5-on-5 or even a powerplay instead of defending in their own zone or just dumping the puck down the ice to kill time.
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As I said before, taking a penalty kills momentum and can change the direction of the game in a second. Although Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron are two of the best players at scoring shorthanded goals, this shouldn’t be an incentive to take penalties.