Penguins lose to Bruins, fall out of playoff position

The Boston Bruins weren’t at their best on Saturday as they rolled into PPG Paints Arena to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Having already secured the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top overall team in the regular season (and home-ice advantage throughout the postseason), the Bruins started their backup goaltender, Jeremy Swayman, and scratched their captain, forward Patrice Bergeron, to give him an opportunity to rest a nagging but minor injury.

But on the first day of April, no one should be fooled as how good the Bruins are regardless of any circumstances. They are the class of the NHL.

That was evident by the 4-3 victory they claimed against a Penguins team seemingly — or supposedly — desperate to stay in the playoff battle.

With Saturday’s result, the Penguins (37-29-10, 84 points) fell out of the final wild-card position in the Eastern Conference as they were surmounted by the Florida Panthers (39-31-7, 85 points), who bludgeoned the draft lottery-contending Columbus Blue Jackets, 7-0, some three hours to the west.

Thanks to a hat trick by star forward David Pastrnak and a lopsided special teams advantage, the Bruins were able to complete a regular season series sweep of the Penguins (0-2-1).

The Penguins’ power play was blanked on all six chances it was afforded while their penalty killers gave up two goals on three opportunities.

“They were spreading us, moving our box and getting it in between us,” Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry said of the penalty kill. “It’s tough when we’re playing a style of play where we want to stay tight, we want to stay together and help each other. When they’re spreading us and getting us apart, it’s tough to cover multiple guys.”

A power-play score 6:20 into regulation put the Bruins in front, 1-0.

From the top of the right circle of the offensive zone, Bruins forward David Krejci slipped a pass to Bruins forward Tyler Bertuzzi, positioned to the right of the cage. From there, Bertuzzi tried to one-touch the puck to the slot but had it partially broken up by the stick of Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Bruins forward Pavel Zacha reacted to the slight deflection and lunged at the puck above the crease then fed a clever backhand pass to McAvoy, hovering near the left of the blue paint. With Jarry unable to get into position, McAvoy leaned down and swept in a wrister for his seventh goal of the season off assists from Zacha and Bertuzzi.

Only 73 seconds later, Penguins forward Bryan Rust’s 17th goal tied the game.

Claiming a puck out of a battle in front of the home bench, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby roared up ice and gained the offensive blue line on the left wing. Fending off a stick check from McAvoy, Crosby veered to the slot and dished a clever backhand pass through the legs of Bruins defenseman Dmitry Orlov to Rust who accepted the puck on his backhand and chopped a forehand shot over Swayman’s glove. Crosby and defenseman Mark Friedman had assists.

Pastrnak scored his 54th goal and 100th point of the season on a power-play opportunity 101 seconds into the second frame.

From his own left circle, Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel tried to clear a puck only to have it intercepted at the blue line by Orlov. Fending off pressure from Penguins forward Drew O’Connor, Orlov floated a backhander toward the cage. Pastrnak, cutting across the front of the crease, managed to get the shaft of his stick on the puck, causing it to deflect downward off the ice and through Jarry’s five hole. Orlov had the lone assist.

The Penguins had a marvelous opportunity to tie the game at 17:10 of the second period when Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo was penalized for interference. That set the Penguins up with 45 seconds of a five-on-three power-play scenario. But even after calling a time-out to get organized and despite Bruins forward Charlie Coyle losing his stick for much of the sequence, all the Penguins could muster with all that open ice was one shot on three attempts.

“It’s disappointing,” Penguins forward Jake Guentzel said. “It’s a chance to change the game. You can’t let that one miss.”

Rust’s second goal of the contest tied the contest, 2-2, at 4:09 of the third period.

After Pastrnak hit the Penguins’ crossbar at the 4:01 mark, Rust beat Orlov to the rebound along the Penguins’ left wall and and transitioned it into offense, leading a rush up the right wing into the offensive zone. As Rust coasted through the Bruins’ right circle, McAvoy leaned down to prevent a pass, prompting Rust to lift a wrister. After Swayman absorbed the shot, McAvoy inadvertently slid — backend-first — into Swayman, pushing him and the puck into the cage. There were no assists.

Pastrnak scored again at 7:08 of the third to reclaim a lead.

Accepting a pass at the top of the right circle of the Penguins’ zone, Pastrnak swiped a one-timer that beat Jarry over the left shoulder on the near side. The puck hit off the backbar in the cage and immediately deflected out. Play continued on for a few moments before Jarry froze the puck. After a quick consultation with off-ice officials, Pastrnak’s goal was confirmed. Assists went to Zacha and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk.

Things were tied again, 3-3, at 12:30 of the third period thanks to Guentzel’s team-best 35th goal.

Chasing down a loose puck in the right circle of the offensive zone, Dumoulin faked a slapper then dealt a forehand pass to the slot for Guentzel who ripped a wrister through the legs of Crosby — positioned above the crease — and by the left skate of a sluggish Swayman. Dumoulin and Rust registered assists.

After the Bruins issued an unsuccessful coach’s challenge citing goaltender interference, they incurred a delay of game penalty. That was followed by a boarding infraction by Bruins forward David Krjeci at 15:12 of the third. Despite ample power-play time in the third period, the Penguins generated only four shots on nine attempts.

“We didn’t put the puck in the back of the net,” Rust said of the malfunctioning power play. “That’s the biggest problem.”

An even more persistent problem Saturday afternoon was Pastrnak ,who completed his 14th career hat trick by converting a defensive zone turnover by Penguins defenseman Kris Letang.

From his own right corner, Letang blindly backhanded a puck in a clearing attempt that was intercepted by Zacha in the right circle. Settling the puck, Zacha dealt it to Krejci who coolly slid a pass from the right dot to the slot. From there, Pastrnak stroked a one-timer past Dumoulin and beyond the grasp of Jarry’s blocker. Krejci and Zacha had assists.

Jarry made 31 saves on 35 shots and his record fell to 22-11-6.

As they now look up at the Panthers in the standings, the Penguins turn their attention to the rival Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday for a home contest that has become a virtual must-win for the hosts.

“We battled back and not to get any points out of it is frustrating,” Crosby said. “But we’ve got a game (Sunday). So, we’ve got to focus on that.”

Notes:

• Dumoulin (135 points) surpassed forward John Chabot (134 points) for 67th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Thanks to a roughing infraction in the first period, Ruhwedel set a new career high with 18 penalty minutes.

• Penguins forward Josh Archibald appeared in his 300th career game.

• Penguins forward Alex Nylander (healthy) and defenseman Jan Rutta (suspected left knee) were scratched.

• The Penguins went nearly two years between allowing hat tricks to the Bruins. Forward Brad Marchand had two goals against goaltender Casey DeSmith and one on an empty net in a 7-5 home win at TD Garden, April 3, 2021.

• The Penguins were swept in a regular season series by the Bruins for the sixth time:

2022-23 - 0-2-1

2015-16 - 0-3-0

2005-06 - 0-3-1

1983-84 - 0-3-0

1977-78 - 0-5-0

1973-74 - 0-5-0