Make no mistake, the Penguins appreciate these two points.
A lot.
And they should.
After all, they still haven't clinched a playoff spot in the East Division, let alone the division championship or home-ice advantage for Round 1 of postseason play.
The Penguins' 1-0 victory against Boston at PPG Paints Arena Sunday moved them a little closer to attaining some, and perhaps all, of those objectives.
But the real payoff for their work against the Bruins might not come for several weeks.
That's because the Penguins, who are 1-9 in their past 10 playoff games (no, that is not a typo), proved to the rest of the NHL -- and, more importantly, to themselves -- that they can beat a quality opponent in a playoff-style game.
Sure, this was not an actual playoff game, but it did a pretty fair impersonation of one. The defenses were stifling, open ice came in cube-sized chunks and the intensity level started high and never wavered.
"It's good for our team to get into these types of games," Mike Sullivan said. "We've got to find a comfort level playing in a one-goal, low-scoring game, because that's the nature of high-stakes hockey."
Jake Guentzel got the only goal of the game at 4:03 of the third period, when he beat Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman from the left dot with No. 24 of the Penguins' 30 shots.
That was the only puck that made it past Swayman, the favorite to be Tuukka Rask's long-term successor as Boston's go-to goalie, but it also was the only goal the Penguins would need.
That's because Tristan Jarry's teammates did a good job of limiting the Bruins' high-quality scoring chances, and Jarry rejected all 31 Boston shots that made it to the net.
"A huge performance by him," Guentzel said.
Although getting a goal is high on Jarry's to-do list, he never really had a scoring chance Sunday.
Of course, neither did many other guys, as both teams focused on playing well defensively.
"It was a hard-fought game," Sullivan said. "There wasn't a lot of space out there. You had to fight for every inch, on both sides. From that standpoint, it had a playoff feel to it. I don't think there was a ton of scoring chances on either side. That's just an indication of how hard both teams were trying to defend."
Those efforts paid off, which is why it took over 44 minutes for either side to manufacture a goal.
The Penguins finally broke through after Bryan Rust kept the puck in the Boston end, then nudged it down the left-wing boards to Brian Dumoulin, who fed a short, backhanded pass to Guentzel.
"(Guentzel) did a great job of presenting himself and being an option there," Dumoulin said. "Especially getting into my vision, where I could see him."
Guentzel promptly gave the puck to Sidney Crosby along the outer edge of the left circle. After Crosby slid it back to Guentzel, he rifled a shot over Swayman's glove.
"A goal-scorer's goal," Sullivan said.
It was Guentel's team-leading 21st of the season, but also his first in seven games.
"It's been a while for a goal," Guentzel said. "So it definitely feels good."
Guentzel not only scored the Penguins' lone goal, but made a play late in regulation that helped to make it hold up as the game-winner.
The Bruins, pressing for a goal that could have forced overtime, had replaced Swayman with an extra attacker, but the Penguins had the puck in Boston's zone.
The Bruins seemed ready to begin moving back up ice, but Guentzel worked to keep the play there and, surrounded by four Boston players, was high-sticked by Patrice Bergeron in the right circle at 18:32.
Sure he sold it, but that's a penalty all day long.
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@HeresYourReplay) April 25, 2021
🎥 @NHLonNBCSports pic.twitter.com/NNHoJshte1
That didn't get Guentzel onto the stat sheet, but it earned Bergeron a spot there -- and assured that Boston never would have more skaters than the Penguins for the rest of regulation.
Shortly after the power play began, Guentzel made one of his few conspicuous mistakes in this game -- he tried to get Crosby an empty-net goal rather than attempting to score it himself, only to have his pass not connect -- but if being unselfish was the grievous flaw in his performance, the coaching staff probably won't hold it against him.
The victory shrunk the Penguins' magic number for clinching a playoff spot to four and lifted them into first place in the East, one point ahead of Washington. They will stay in the top spot until at least Tuesday, since the Capitals -- who have a game-in-hand -- will not play until then.
Regardless of where they finish in the regular season, the nature of their victory against the Bruins reinforced the idea that the Penguins are capable of playing the kind of hockey that success in the playoffs requires.
"Obviously, this will be great benchmark game for us, especially defensively, of how we have to play and how hard we have to work without the puck," Dumoulin said.
With the likes of Crosby, Guentzel, Rust, Kasperi Kapanen and Evgeni Malkin, among others, are the payroll, the Penguins should be able to generate the offense they'll need to succeed in the playoffs. The key to winning then, however, tends to be a team-wide commitment to the kind of defense the Penguins played Sunday.
"It's hard to score your way to success in this league," Sullivan said. "You have to score goals, for sure, and we certainly don't want to take the stick out of our players' hands, by any stretch. But you have to have the ability to keep it out of your net, as well. We've got to be hard to play against. You have to have some structure to your game, and then you have to have some competitive spirit."
The Penguins have shown all of that fairly often in recent weeks. That's evidenced by their four-game winning streak and 8-1-1 record in their past 10 games.
"Winning teams I've been on, when we were playing our best hockey going into the playoffs, those are usually the times we had success in the playoffs," Dumoulin said. "Right now, we have to keep build on that."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Jared McCann was in obvious pain after being checked into an open door on the Boston bench during the final minute of play. There was no immediate word on the nature or severity of any injury he might have suffered.
• Bergeron had been uncertain to play because of an unspecified lower-body injury that forced him to sit out the Bruins' loss in Boston Friday and logged just 14:55 of ice time, about 3 1/2 minutes below his average. He had two shots and won 13 of 23 faceoffs.
• The Penguins are 3-3-1 against Boston, heading in the finale of the season series Tuesday evening.
• Each team was credited with 33 hits. Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller had a game-high six.
• The Penguins had a 29-27 edge on faceoffs against the NHL's top team on draws. Jeff Carter led the way, going 11-9.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Jake Guentzel Penguins
2. Tristan Jarry, Penguins
3. Jeremy Swayman, Bruins
THE INJURIES
• Center Evgeni Malkin has returned to practice after sustaining an unspecified lower-body injury March 16.
• Winger Brandon Tanev has resumed skating after suffering an unspecified upper-body injury April 3.
• Forward Frederick Gaudreau is back to practice, albeit without contact, after sustaining an unspecified lower-body injury April 11
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jared McCann-Jeff Carter-Jason Zucker
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Kasperi Kapanen
Colton Sceviour-Mark Jankowski-Evan Rodrigues
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
And for Bruce Cassidy's Bruins:
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall-David Krejci-Craig Smith
Nick Ritchie-Charlie Coyle-Jake DeBrusk
Sean Kuraly-Curtis Lazar-Chris Wagner
Matt Grzelcyk-Charlie McAvoy
Mike Reilly-Kevan Miller
Jeremy Lauzon-Steven Kampfer
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are off Monday before facing Boston Tuesday at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.