PITTSBURGH — While getting a little bit of rest and regrouping here in Pittsburgh the past few days, the Penguins acknowledged that Thursday’s game had the potential to significantly alter their playoff path. Why pretend to be obvious to the standings?
But to them, the season’s final two weeks are about peaking, not peeking.
“The only thing we can really worry about is these last five games and trying to get on a roll and rack up some points here. Then wherever it falls, it falls,” Jeff Carter said Wednesday, adding, “The last five are big for our team. Obviously, you want to be going at full speed when that first [postseason] game starts.”
The sputtering Penguins finally punched their game into another gear Thursday to beat the Boston Bruins, 4-0, at PPG Paints Arena. Jake Guentzel got three of those goals and Casey DeSmith had a strong showing for the Penguins, who had lost nine of the previous 13. It was a rare complete effort in recent weeks.
They started strong, shrugged off a Bruins push at the start of the second period and then, leading 3-0, kept them at arm’s length during the final 20 minutes.
The Penguins entered the night neck and neck with the Washington Capitals in the Metropolitan Division. Both teams had 97 points. The visiting Bruins, meanwhile, were at 99, putting them ahead of the Penguins in the wild card picture.
The win increased the Penguins’ odds of staying on the Metro side of the bracket and avoiding the Florida Panthers, the NHL’s hottest team, in the first round.
Guentzel got the first goal of the game 7:49 into the opening period. After a rapid regroup in the neutral zone and a heads-up pass from Sidney Crosby, Guentzel got a step on the defense, pulled the puck onto his forehand and flicked a quick shot between the pads of Jeremy Swayman, Boston’s rookie netminder.
That was the highlight of a strong first period for the Penguins, one of their better periods over the past month. They generated a few good looks off the cycle game. They nearly had two minutes of sustained pressure on their lone power play. And they held the Bruins to just two shots from the slot, per Sportlogiq.
The start of the second period was, well, a significant departure from that.
The Bruins fired the first 10 shots and could have tied it when Brad Marchand teed one up from the right circle. But DeSmith got across to make the [expletive] save on Marchand, who resisted the urge to assault another Penguins goalie.
Still irked about Marchand punching Tristan Jarry and swinging his stick at Jarry in that game back in February, fans at PPG Paints Arena booed the Bruins pest every time he touched the puck or tangled with a Penguins player Thursday.
After the Bruins had them on their heels for the first six minutes of the second, the Penguins made it 2-0 on their first shot of the period. Jeff Carter purposefully tipped a pass into the path of a streaking Jason Zucker. He sniped Swayman for his second goal since returning from core muscle surgery three weeks ago.
Guentzel finished off a fancy play from Kris Letang for his second goal of the night, pushing the lead to 3-0. The blue-liner jumped into the play to seize a loose puck, faked a slapper then dusted defenseman Brandon Carlo with a toe drag. Pivoting near the goal line, he flung a perfect cross-ice pass over to Guentzel.
The Bruins peppered DeSmith with shots in the third period but with the goalie on his game and his defensemen sprawling to block shots, the Bruins were unable to pull closer. DeSmith made 52 saves for his third shutout of the season.
Guentzel hit the empty net for a hat trick and the second 40-goal season of his career. He is the eighth player to do it multiple times in a Penguins uniform.
The Penguins will hit the road Friday for back-to-back games over the weekend. They will be in Detroit on Saturday before visiting Philadelphia on Sunday.
