Pittsburgh Penguins Routed By Boston Bruins 6-2

The Pittsburgh Penguins prepared for revenge on Friday night at CONSOL Energy Center as the Boston Bruins came to town to complete a home-and-home set.

The Pittsburgh Penguins scratched rookie Daniel Sprong and Mike Sullivan moved Wilkes-Barre/Scranton call-up Conor Sheary onto the top line with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz.

Less than ten minutes into the experiment, Kunitz tracked down a puck and held off his opponent behind the net long enough for Crosby to grab it and hit Sheary in front of the net. The kid made no mistake of it, putting it off the post and into the net past Tuukka Rask. 1-0 Penguins.

Just shy of two minutes later, Frank Vatrano scored after the Penguins lost a battle along the boards. The shot was clear through to Jeff Zatkoff who couldn’t glove it down. The first period ended in a tie, 1-1.

With a power play to start the second period, the Pittsburgh Penguins looked set with an opportunity to reclaim the lead.

An errant pass by Zatkoff that could not be corralled by Sheary, Trevor Daley, or David Perron allowed Brad Marchand to pick up the puck and find Patrice Bergeron in the slot for an easy shorthanded goal. 2-1 Bruins.

Trevor Daley got his first goal with the Pens later in the second, nailing a slapshot from the point past Rask. 2-2.

Midway through the 2nd, the Pens found themselves on the penalty kill against the Bruins skilled power play.

Ryan Spooner passed down low to Loui Eriksson who turned and stabbed at the puck a couple of times before getting it past Zatkoff. 3-2 Bruins after two periods.

The third period was set to begin with the Penguins on the power play, but Crosby was called for kneeing just 15 seconds into the opportunity.

Seconds later a high blast from Zdeno Chara went off the glass and bounced over the net and right onto the stick of Patrice Bergeron for an easy tap in. Bruins 4-2.

At 12:18 in the third, Jimmy Hayes found Spooner in front of the net but Zatkoff made a spectacular save and fell onto his back with the puck still lose. After David Warsofsky attempted to bat the puck out of the crease with his hand, but Vatrano found it and scored his second. 5-2 Bruins.

The bleeding wasn’t over.

Three minutes later Olli Maatta took a shot from the point that was blocked and sprang a 3-on-1 rush for the Bruins. Vatrano’s initial attempt was stopped by Zatkoff, but he backhanded the rebound home for the hat trick.

Bruins win 6-2. Oy vey.

Player Performance

To keep this brief, I’d be shocked if one or both of David Warsofsky and Ian Cole are not scratched come tomorrow night’s game against the Hurricanes. They were both brutal. Brutal.

Likewise, while I do feel bad for Jeff Zatkoff and some of the situations the team puts him in, he was less than impressive tonight. There’s little argument to be had for starting him tomorrow night.

It should be Matt Murray‘s job to run with while Marc-Andre Fleury is out if Murray can better deal with the holes on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ blue line.

More from Pens Labyrinth

Trevor Daley got his first goal as a Penguin. It was nice, and nice to see some small dividend from the Rob Scuderi trade already showing itself. He put four shots on the net but was a minus-2 on the night. Not exactly the greatest stat line I’ve seen, but it’s hard to argue that he’s been far more useful than his predecessor.

Sidney Crosby‘s line got going tonight but Evgeni Malkin‘s was largely ineffective sans Phil Kessel who showed some real hustle. Crosby himself had a strong start and two assists, but he tailed off hard and took two penalties to cap things off.

Patric Hornqvist battled all night long, yet again had nothing to show for it. Not that he would, typically, playing on the third line with Nick Bonino as his center, but the effort is appreciated when it seems to be lacking in so many other areas. He’s still likely the odd man out if a move is made, however.

Brian Dumoulin and Ben Lovejoy were the only defensemen on the positive side of the ledger, but that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. The defense was rough all around.

Pittsburgh Penguins Player of the Game

Conor Sheary netted his first NHL goal and an assist in just his second game with the Penguins. The kid has made the most of his brief opportunity in Pittsburgh, to be sure.

The Big Picture

There’s really not much nice to say about the Pittsburgh Penguins right now.

Sullivan’s experiment with Conor Sheary on the top line produced two goals tonight for a goal starved team. That’s a big plus. The kid looks like he belongs here over several veterans who have no fear of being sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Hopefully he will be given the opportunity to hold that spot.

The Pens defense and goaltending were so bad overall that, among other notable mistakes, rookie Frank Vatrano managed his first hat trick. He had two goals in his career before tonight. There were several goals where players were just standing around flat-footed, and the game could certainly be summed up as an embarrassment.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have now lost by 3 goals or more in each of Mike Sullivan’s first three games behind the bench. And I don’t even blame him.

This loss was wholly on the players and their lack of commitment and hustle. Too many soft goals and easy chances given up.

Next: Three Thoughts On The Penguins' Recent Misfortunes

The Penguins had 21 scoring chances while the Bruins only recorded 13, yet the Bruins won 6-2. That pretty much tells the story of this Friday night at CONSOL Energy Center.

Tomorrow night the Pittsburgh Penguins face the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:00 PM EST. Let’s hope they can put this debacle behind them.

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