Penguins edge Bruins 3-2 in heated Wednesday night battle
By Larry Snyder
Oct 30, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) greets left wing Jussi Jokinen (36) at the bench after Jokinen scored a goal against the Boston Bruins during the third period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Pittsburgh Penguins won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Pittsburgh Penguins got third period goals from Brandon Sutter and Jussi Jokinen to edge the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Monday night at Consol Energy Center.
The victory pushed the Pens’ record to 9-4-0 and 18 points, one of their best Octobers ever. Pittsburgh is in first place in the Metropolitan Division while the Bruins are in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 7-4-0 and 14 points.
Sutter plowed through the neutral zone and down the right boards before sending a wrist shot past Bruins’ goaltender Tuukka Rask to give the Black and Gold a one-goal lead with nine minutes remaining in the third period.
Jokinen intercepted a pass from the Bruins’ Johnny Boychuk that was meant for Jordan Caron and found the back of the net with only 2:02 left in the game, blasting a shot past Rask. The game-winning goal was Jokinen’s sixth score of the season.
Bruins right wing Jarome Iginla got his third goal of the season when his slapshot off a feed from left wing Milan Lucic made its way past Marc-Andre Fleury with 1:43 remaining on the clock in the third, but Boston couldn’t get another.
Boston center Patrice Bergeron tied the game up at 1:05 in to the third period when he picked up his third goal of the season. He tipped the puck behind Fleury off a shot from defenseman Dennis Seidenberg.
Pittsburgh got on the scoreboard at 6:54 of the second period, when Chris Kunitz put a backhand past Rask off a rebound on Kris Letang‘s deflection while on the power play.
Fleury improved his record to 9-2-0 with a 1.81 goals-against-average, as he stopped 21 of 23 shots, while Rask was 28 of 31 between the pipes on the night.
The Penguins will host the Columbus Blue Jackets (5-6-0) at Consol Energy Center on Friday, and the opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
From The Clipboard: Pittsburgh right wing Chuck Kobasew, right wing Matt D’Agostini, and defenseman Rob Scuderi were the scratches…Sidney Crosby won 12 of his 25 faceoffs while center Joe Vitale won five of nine…Wednesday night’s game was the first of three meetings this season between the Bruins and Penguins.