Bruins deal blow to Penguins' playoff hopes with 6-4 victory

The Bruins got another taste of what the playoffs will be like and they passed another test. Barely.

Facing a desperate Penguins team in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, the B’s jumped out to a three-goal lead in the second, survived a furious comeback attempt and prevailed, 6-4.

The B’s win allowed them to maintain the one-point lead over the Florida Panthers with which they started the day. Meanwhile, the B’s win handed the Pens’ playoff hopes a crushing blow as all the other teams vying for a wild-card spot won on Saturday.

Linus Ullmark was busy in the scoreless first period, turning away all 13 shots. The best stop, perhaps, was the glove stop he made on Erik Karlsson from the inside of the left circle.

Each teams’ struggling power plays got one chance each in the first and the B’s put some pressure on Alex Nedeljkovic on their turn but they had nothing to show for it. David Pastrnak also hit the post on the power play, which came after linemate Danton Heinen hit one as well.

Pat Maroon, playing his first game since Jan. 27 after undergoing back surgery, saw his first few shifts as a Bruin in the first and his fourth line with Jesper Boqvist and Jakub Lauko showed some promise with Maroon landing a shot.

As it usually happens when the B’s and Penguins play, the goals started to come in the second period, six in all, as the B’s took a 4-2 lead.

The B’s took control with first two goals 14 seconds apart.

The first one came from a welcome source. Jake DeBrusk had gone eight games without a goal and coach Jim Montgomery bumped him back up to the second line with Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand. He responded with a goal at 8:08. Andrew Peeke moved down from his right point spot and fed DeBrusk for a redirect attempt. Nedeljkovic made the initial stop but before he could squeeze the pads on the puck, DeBrusk poked it home for his 19th of the season.

On the next shift, Nedeljkovic gave up a fat rebound off a Matt Grzelcyk shot and Pavel Zacha ripped his 20th into the half-empty net.

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