Patrice Bergeron scored twice, including on the power play in the third period, as the Boston Bruins downed the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 Thursday night.
Chris Wagner and Sean Kuraly also had goals as the Bruins extended their winning streak to four. Jaroslav Halak made 16 saves.
Cody Ceci scored for the Penguins, whose points streak ended at five (4-0-1). Tristan Jarry stopped 16 shots.
Boston completed a two-game home sweep of Pittsburgh after a 3-2 victory in overtime Tuesday. Unlike in that contest, when the Penguins rallied from 2-0 down in the third period, the visitors lacked any punch late.
Held to 11 shots over the first two periods, Pittsburgh went a man short when John Marino was whistled for interference 55 seconds into the third. Bergeron's second goal 45 seconds later made it 4-1 Bruins, and the Penguins hardly threatened the rest of the way.
Pittsburgh played without top defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who sustained a lower-body injury Tuesday. His replacement, Kevin Czuczman, had the puck bounce off his stick to an unmanned Wagner in the slot for Boston's first goal at 6:10 of the first period.
The Penguins knotted the score at 15:03 when Ceci went five-hole to take advantage of a lucky bounce his way during a line change for his first marker since Oct. 4, 2019. But the Bruins pulled back ahead 2-1 at 18:53 when a flipping puck put toward net by Anders Bjork bounced in off the leg of Kuraly.
Bergeron's first goal came on the backhand on a second chance after his initial attempt clanked off the skate of Kris Letang and back to him for a 3-1 margin at 8:13 of the second period.
Jake DeBrusk (lower body) missed the contest for the Bruins after getting injured on a Sidney Crosby hip check Tuesday. Boston's Matt Grzelcyk had an assist in his return from a two-game absence caused by a lower-body injury, but he was unavailable during the third period.
Pittsburgh played its first game following general manager Jim Rutherford's abrupt resignation Wednesday for personal reasons.
--Field Level Media
Pittsburgh | Boston | |
Cody Ceci 1 | Points | Patrice Bergeron 2 |
Cody Ceci 1 | Goals | Patrice Bergeron 2 |
Teddy Blueger 1 | Assists | Anders Bjork 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Patrice Bergeron 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Tristan Jarry .800 | Save Percentage | Jaroslav Halak .941 |
Tristan Jarry 16 | Saves | Jaroslav Halak 16 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Pittsburgh | 17 | 1 | 0-3 | 1-2 | 4 | 16 |
Boston | 20 | 4 | 1-2 | 3-3 | 6 | 27 |