PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust both hit the 20-goal mark and Jeff Carter scored, too, as the Penguins won, 4-2, at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday afternoon.
They took all three games this week against the New Jersey Devils to momentarily move into first place in the East Division. Now their attention turns to the Boston Bruins, one of the NHL’s hottest teams since the April 12 trade deadline.
In a potential playoff preview and with seeding ramifications at stake, the Penguins host the Bruins at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday afternoon and again Tuesday night. The Bruins are 6-1-0 since adding Taylor Hall, Mike Reilly and Curtis Lazar. Getting former Vezina winner Tuukka Rask back in net certainly helped, too.
The Penguins are 2-3-1 against the fourth-place Bruins so far. The Bruins spanked them up in Beantown, 7-5, in their last meeting, on April 3. Their top trio of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak scored six of the goals.
Entering Sunday, the Penguins lead the Bruins by five points in the standings. The Bruins have played two fewer games than the Penguins, who have eight left.
The Penguins on Friday were peppered by reporters with questions about the tight playoff race. To a man, they all insisted they were taking it one game at a time and would not overlook a Devils team with two wins in its past 16 games.
A day later, they went out and handled their business at PPG Paints Arena.
Jeff Carter gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead midway through the first period, putting his shot from the right faceoff dot off the post and in behind Mackenzie Blackwood. That effortless snap shot reminded why the 36-year-old ranks third in the stacked 2003 draft class in career goals, trailing only Eric Staal and Zach Parise.
Three minutes later, Jared McCann scored on the power play to push it to 2-0. The Penguins are now 14 for 38 with an opponent in the penalty box since March 25 and McCann is a major reason why. He had six of those power-play tallies.
Bryan Rust was credited with his 20th goal of the season in the second period when Cody Ceci’s slapper from the point deflected off Rust’s shin pad and in.
Casey DeSmith, who had a .828 save percentage in his previous four games, was steady in goal. He stopped 35 of 37 shots to earn his 11th win of 2021. Jack Hughes scored New Jersey’s first goal on a pinball play in front of DeSmith in the second period. Miles Wood buried a one-timer with 9:02 left in the third.
Sidney Crosby scored an empty-netter just before the final buzzer to become the first player in franchise history to reach the 20-goal mark in 13 seasons.
Tristan Jarry is expected to be between the pipes Sunday. He has one win in eight career games against the Bruins. That came on March 15 of this season.
Pittsburgh finished the season series against New Jersey with a 6-1-1 record.
