BOSTON -- It would have been quite a story if Boston coach Bruce Cassidy and his assistants had stayed up for the previous day and a half, concocting a game plan to attack the Penguins that no one outside of the staff could have anticipated, let alone countered.
Didn't really happen that way, though.
Instead, Cassidy told his players before their 7-5 victory over the Penguins Saturday at TD Garden to send as many bodies and pucks as possible toward goalie Casey DeSmith, with the intent of creating traffic and chaos and, most importantly, goals.
Innovative?
Hardly.
Effective.
Well, yeah, considering that the Penguins -- who had allowed as many as three goals just twice in the previous 14 games -- were scorched for the most they have allowed in 2020-21. By a team that had limited to one Thursday night, no less.
The Bruins did a lot of things to the Penguins Saturday, but surprising them with their strategy didn't make the list.
"We were prepared for it," Cody Ceci said. "We just didn't handle it very well."
No, they really didn't.
Not unless the Penguins' game plan was to wear out the Bruins by making them raise their arms so often to celebrate goals.
The Penguins had been 6-0-1 in their previous seven games, at least in part because of their taut team defense, a nice complement to the quality goaltending they've been getting from DeSmith and Tristan Jarry.
The goalies have been stopping initial shots, and the guys in front of them had been tying up opponents and their sticks around the net, dramatically reducing the number of second-chance scoring opportunities opponents had.
That rarely happened Saturday, as the Bruins operated almost at will in the Penguins' end -- especially during the second period, when Boston scored five times -- while the Penguins' routinely strayed from the fundamentally sound style that has served them so well recently.
"Some of the details got away from us tonight, especially in the second period," Mike Sullivan said. "Mostly in the second period. That's why we gave up the types of chances that we gave up. ... I thought we competed hard most of the night. But we can play the game a whole lot smarter, with a whole lot more attention to detail."
They actually did that during the first period, when Boston managed just six shots on DeSmith and Mark Jankowski -- yes, that Mark Jankowski -- gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead by deflecting a Mike Matheson shot past goalie Jaroslav Halak at 3:24.
But the Penguins' advantage disappeared when Patrice Bergeron scored from the inner edge of the right circle just 11 seconds into the second, and Boston went in front 34 second after that, as David Pastrnak beat DeSmith from the inner edge of the left circle. (Lucky for the Penguins that there wasn't a middle circle, too.)
"They came out and played really strong in the second," Ceci said.
True, but the Penguins actually regained their equilibrium and reclaimed the lead on goals by Jake Guentzel at 2:45 and Jared McCann at 5:11.
Boston couldn't pull even again until 14:56, when Brad Marchand was allowed to move unimpeded from the right point to between the left circle and crease before throwing the puck past DeSmith to make it 3-3.
Allowing Boston to tie the game had to be deflating for the Penguins, but not nearly as much as closing out the period the same way they started it -- by allowing two quick goals.
David Krejci steered in a Marchand feed from the right side of the crease during a power play at 18:29, and Marchand put the Bruins up by two with 19.9 seconds to go before intermission.
"The game kind of got away from us in the second," Ceci said.
Kind of.
Strangely, considering that this was a game in which the save percentages practically could have been mistaken for batting averages -- only 45 of 57 totals shots were rejected by DeSmith and Halak -- the outcome ultimately might have been determined largely by a save.
The Penguins were trailing, 5-4, and pushing hard for the tying goal after Ceci had scored at 4:38 of the third when Guentzel had a chance against Halak from close range.
"Just a great play by (Brian Dumoulin) to find me on the back post," Guentzel said. "I just tried to get (the shot) off as fast as I could. I couldn't raise it as much as I wanted to. It was a good save. I definitely would have liked to bury that one to try to get it back to a tie game."
He didn't and shortly thereafter, Pastrnak scored what proved to be the game-winner. He and Nick Ritchie tag-teamed to steal the puck from Matheson just outside the Penguins' blue line, then executed a flawless two-on-one break that culminated in Pastrnak beating DeSmith from the inner edge of the right circle at 13:28 to give the Bruins a 6-4 lead.
"We've got to make sure that we keep the game simple in certain circumstances so that we don't leave ourselves vulnerable to a transition game or a turnover where we don't have the ability to cover," Sullivan said.
Craig Smith had replaced Pastrnak on Boston's No. 1 line before the game, as Cassidy tried to get a little more diversity in his offense.
It worked, since Pastrnak scored twice and his absence didn't seem to bother his usual linemates, Bergeron and Marchand.
Bergeron scored Boston's first goal and Marchand accounted for three of the six that followed, reaffirming their place as one of the most lethal partnerships in the NHL.
"They're two good players who have been playing together a lot in their careers, so they read off each other well," Jankowski said. "They're always looking for each other, and they make good plays."
The Penguins didn't make nearly as many of those Saturday as they have in most games of late, and they suffered from a shortage of good decisions, too.
"We have to just play a little smarter, definitely, with and without the puck," Jankowski said.
Mind you, games like this are to happen over the course of a season. Even an abbreviated one.
The important thing for the Penguins is that they can't afford to let such occasional hiccups become habits.
"We go into every game with the expectation (that) we're going to win, but there are a lot of good teams and there are a lot of good players," Sullivan said. "We're just going to have to learn from the experiences and just try to become better as a group."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Jankowski's goal and assist marked his first multiple-point game since the opener Jan. 13 in Philadelphia.
• The Penguins benefited from a surprising ruling late in regulation, after DeSmith had been replaced by an extra attacker. Pastrnak stole the puck from Kris Letang in front of the net, prompting Letang to hook him as he shot toward the empty net. His shot went wide but, rather than Pastrnak being awarded a goal, Letang received a hooking minor. That nearly became an issue when Sidney Crosby scored a shorthanded goal at 18:45, but Marchand completed his hat trick 14 seconds later, after DeSmith had been pulled again.
• Crosby's shorthanded goal was his first since Nov. 27, 2010 against Calgary.
• Matheson's assist on Jankowski's goal was his 100th NHL point.
• Boston played without defenseman Brandon Carlo, who was injured in the first period of the Penguins' 4-1 victory Thursday and is listed as week-to-week by the Bruins. He had just returned from a concussion when he got hurt again. "It's been a trying year for him, obviously," Cassidy said.
• Although Jarry and center Teddy Blueger were full participants in practice Friday, neither was in uniform Saturday.
• After the game, the Penguins assigned backup goalie Maxime Lagace to the taxi squad.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at TD Garden:
1. Brad Marchand, Bruins
2. David Pastrnak, Bruins
3. David Krejci, Bruins
THE INJURIES
• Goalie Tristan Jarry is day-to-day with an unspecified upper-body injury sustained March 30 and practiced Friday.
• Center Evgeni Malkin is week-to-week because of an unspecified lower-body injury sustained March 16.
• Center Teddy Blueger has been out since March 15 with an unspecified upper-body injury, but practiced Friday.
• Defenseman Mark Friedman is day-to-day with an unspecified upper-body injury sustained March 4, but has been skating.
• Forward Kasperi Kapanen is week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained March 24 and hasn't skated yet.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Jared McCann-Evan Rodrigues
Zach Aston-Reese-Frederick Gaudreau-Brandon Tanev
Sam Lafferty-Mark Jankowski-Anthony Angello
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
And for Cassidy's Bruins:
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Craig Smith
Nick Ritchie-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Anders Bjork-Sean Kuraly-Charlie Coyle
Trent Frederic-Jack Studnicka-Zach Senyshyn
Matt Grzelcyk-Charlie McAvoy
Jakub Zboril-Steven Kampfer
Jarred Tinordi-Connor Clifton
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins were scheduled to fly home after the game and will have a day off Sunday. They'll practice in Cranberry on Monday.
THE CONTENT
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