PENGUINS

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Philip Tomasino celebrates his third-period goal at the visiting bench Friday night in Boston.

Mike Sullivan felt the Penguins' second line needed "a spark" in the second period of the 2-1 win over the Bruins on Friday night at TD Garden.

The Penguins were down a goal in a tight game. The spark was small, just swapping Michael Bunting and Drew O'Connor on their respective lines, putting O'Connor on the second with Evgeni Malkin and Philip Tomasino and putting Bunting on the third with Blake Lizotte and Anthony Beauvillier. The spark proved to be the catalyst -- the new second line was the Penguins' most effective all night, and it led to Tomasino scoring the winner in the third period.

Rickard Rakell gave the Penguins life near the end of the second period, tying the score at 1-1 with less than a second left. The Penguins carried the momentum into the third, Tomasino scoring from slot off a setup from Malkin at 7:26:

It was Tomasino's second game since being acquired in a trade with the Predators earlier in the week. After going goalless in 11 games with Nashville this season, he seemed thrilled.

"I mean, I haven't scored all year, so definitely a little bit of a relief for myself," he said. "I thought our whole group tonight, and especially our line, I thought we were really clicking. So I thought it was only a matter of time before we were going to get one. We had some pretty good looks early on. It was nice to get a big goal for our team here, obviously, but being the game-winner here, that just makes it even better for myself."

Perhaps on the same level for Tomasino as breaking a goal drought or winning the game ... one of his childhood idols had the lone assist.

"Oh my gosh," Tomasino said. "I said it 10 times, I've looked up to this guy my whole life, so it's awesome. He sees plays even before you do. He's awesome. He's one of the most skilled guys ever, but definitely one of the most skilled guys I've ever played with. So it's really cool."

At five-on-five, the O'Connor-Malkin-Tomasino line was the Penguins' most effective in controlling unblocked shot attempts (11-4, 7.33%) and shots on goal (10-3, 76.92%). Tomasino said his early impressions of playing alongside O'Connor was that O'Connor has a strong ability to win puck battles and make plays. But Tomasino thinks both their objectives are "let Geno do his thing and get open for him."

Tomasino himself was a huge part of that line's success, too -- he led the Penguins with six shots on seven attempts, including three high-danger attempts. He's not afraid to go to the net-front, and nearly scored from just outside the crease earlier in the game.

"We really like his vision and his offensive instincts," Sullivan said of Tomasino. "We think he's a guy that, hopefully, as young as he is, he's only going to get better."

When Kyle Dubas has spoken over the last several months, he's repeatedly talked about the desire to bring in young players. Last week on the Penguins' 'GM Show," he said the intention was to "help build a group around the existing core that the fans here have known so well, and start to transition to the next era of the team." The Tomasino trade was an example of that -- a 23-year-old with first-round pedigree who just couldn't crack the lineup regularly on his previous team. If O'Connor, Malkin and Tomasino can build on this game and become a regular line, that can accelerate this retooling period. To return to contention, the Penguins need those young players who can complement the core.