Pregame

The Penguins make a few lineup changes from last game to rotate Emil Bemstrom and P.O, Joseph in and give Boko Imama and Ryan Graves a night off. Alex Nedeljkovic starts after being pulled last game, it is the first game on a b-2-b.

First period

Pittsburgh allows a goal on the opponent’s first shot for the 13th shot of the season. Can’t blame the goalie for this one though, Matt Grzelcyk makes a pinch, David Pastrnak sneaks behind him. Pavel Zacha hits Pastrnak with a great pass and even better deke to the forehand makes it look easy for the NHL’s hottest player to extend his point streak to 17 games.

The Bruins get the game’s first power play, Brad Marchand gets hurt on it. Joseph checks him in the corner and Marchand’s legs buckle oddly and he crunches into the boards high. He stays down for a long time and requires help to slowly leave.

Undaunted, the Bruins don’t let their captain’s injury keep them down and they convert on the power play. Mason Lohrei has plenty of room and steps into a shot off the post and in. 2-0 early.

The Penguins get their first power play, but Sidney Crosby goes to the penalty box along with two Bruins. Evgeni Malkin gets tripped up and Pittsburgh gets a minute of 5v3 time, although they’re missing their own captain temporarily from his penalty. The Pens’ power play looks bad, does nothing.

Joseph is the latest player off with injury, Mark Kastelic runs POJ over with a clean but heavy hit.

Nikita Zadorov slashes Malkin to give the Pens a late period power play.

Shots are 11 a piece, the typical early-game break down and poor special teams problems color the game to the tune of a 2-0 B’s lead.

Second period

The Pens get another power play early on, again squander it.

Not much else going on, Nedeljkovic makes a great stop on a later Penguin power play to keep the team somewhat close.

Shots are 20-16 Boston through two periods.

Third period

Boston springs Pastrnak for another breakaway but Erik Karlsson hacks at the dangerous scorer from behind. Perhaps sensing a chance to inject some excitement (well, not really but it makes for a nice story) the refs award Pastrnak a penalty shot. This time he tries to deke to the backhand, but Nedeljkovic stays with him all the way and stops the shot. A little redemption for that first period goal where Pasta got the better of him. Game remains 2-0.

Mark Kastelic rips down Vincent Desharnais to send the Pens to yet another power play, 15:11 to play and a good chance to claw back into the game. It goes absolutely no where.

Blake Lizotte is the net to the penalty box, and the Pens strike. Kevin Hayes carries the puck up the ice, draws two defenders in and pulls up. Hayes feeds Anthony Beauvillier who finishes a nice wrister to get the Penguins on the board with 5:59 left to play. 2-1 game.

Pens lift Nedeljkovic with about two minutes to play. Cole Koepke lifts his stick into Rickard Rakell’s stick and opens up a cut under the eye for a four-minute penalty with 1:34 to play. The Pens go to a 6v4. Crosby can’t get one in from in front, the Bruins hold on long enough to get the puck back and score a long-range empty netter. 3-1 with 41 seconds left.

But the Pens keep at it, they keep Nedeljkovic on the bench (why not) and find a goal. Rust power moves to the front, the puck comes loose and Rakell finds it, slings it in. 21.4 seconds left, the Pens are back within 3-2. Time is not on their side though and they run out.

Some thoughts

Tough to see Marchand go down hard and pickup an injury. Joseph’s barely broken an egg in his career, end result was more unfortunate than intentional. Boston, namely Kastelic, responded by finishing checks on Joseph every chance they got. Nothing out of line but the target was on him from that moment on.
Note to buyers at the deadline: don’t scout today’s game just look at the assist totals on Matt Grzelcyk. Pinching mindlessly 90 seconds into the contest with an elite player like Pastrnak on the ice is no indication of his season! This barely happens! You’re welcome for the time savings.
An 1/7 power play game was a rotten effort, including squandering 1:03 of 5v3 time in the first period. Crosby was unavailable in the penalty box but still, they didn’t come anywhere close to scoring. Boston entered the day with a 75.8% PK rate, only 24th in the league, wasn’t like it was a great PK group.
No goals for Bryan Rust since February 1st (which is only five games for him), and only one in his last 10 dating back to January. Similarly, Rickard Rakell hasn’t scored his first goal in six games. Obviously a lot of players are not on great streaks but it’s going to be difficult for Pittsburgh to compete without those two pitching in. Nice for Rakell to get on the board, but a last minute goal while down two only goes so far.
Pastrnak is a joy to watch. He’s red hot on a 17-game point streak and has 19G+19A in 22 games played in calendar 2025. The Bruins are probably down by the Penguins in the standings if they didn’t have his contributions, what a player.
Boston scored two goals in the opening 6:33 and it looked like this game might go off the rails. Well, at least that didn’t happen. For entertainment/cringe purposes it would have been a sight to see though if the B’s got up to four or five goals by mid-way through the second as far as what the Pens would have done with Nedeljkovic. To his credit, he buckled down and kept pucks out of the net, and as usual without the greatest of help. The Bruins had plenty of odd man rushes and chances.

The Pens are back at it tomorrow afternoon against Toronto.