The Boston Bruins look to continue their five-game home streak as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday in the finale of a back-to-back weekend for both teams.
It was a historic Saturday for the Bruins as Marat Khusnutdinov (four goals, one assist) and Pavel Zacha both recorded their first career hat tricks and David Pastrnak tied a franchise record with six career assists in a 10-2 loss to the New York Rangers.
Boston’s second straight victory and fourth in the last six games (4-1-1) came thanks to its first 10-goal outburst since 1988. Khusnutdinov and Zacha represent the first pair of Bruins to record hat tricks in the same game since 1964.
“Forget how many goals we scored, but we played really, really well,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said of his team’s overall effort. “They should feel really good.”
Many others had fun too. Fraser Minten scored twice and added an assist, while defender Charlie McAvoy scored and set up a goal. Elias Lindholm and Henri Jokiharju each provided two assists.
Boston’s entire offense backed future U.S. Olympian Jeremy Swayman, who made 27 saves en route to his third win in four starts. With this tight turnaround, Joonas Korpisalo will likely start against Pittsburgh after his 28 saves in a 4-1 win Thursday over Calgary to open the home game.
“It’s pretty fun to watch and be a part of (a game like that),” Bruins forward Mark Kastelic said. “Just to see how everyone played together for almost 60 minutes.”
However, Boston finished Saturday’s game with two forwards after Morgan Geekie left to attend to a family matter and Lindholm suffered a lower-body injury. Both will likely be decisions in Sunday’s game.
Pittsburgh comes to Boston having ended a six-game winning streak with a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
“(The Flames) did a good job. They compete hard. Not a lot of time and space,” Penguins superstar captain Sidney Crosby said. “That’s what hockey is. Games aren’t always up and down. We have to find different ways to create. We did that at times, but it was difficult for us to maintain that the way we did, so we have to find ways to do that.”
Egor Chinakhov scored the only goal for the Penguins. Rookie Arturs Silovs made 23 saves as he continues to alternate starts with Stuart Skinner since the latter’s arrival from the Edmonton Oilers earlier this month.
“You saw how much pushing and shoving he had to do,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “He kept the game close for us.”
Saturday’s game marked the end of an eight-game point streak for Crosby, who had five goals and nine assists during that span. However, longtime teammate Evgeni Malkin picked up his 854th career assist, which is the 10th with a single franchise in NHL history.
The Penguins, who went 0 for 3 on the power play and had a goal erased in the third period due to goaltender interference, were without top-line winger Bryan Rust due to a lower-body injury.
Massachusetts native Kevin Hayes joined the roster due to Rust’s absence, while Rafael Harvey-Pinard was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League in what Muse called a “precautionary” trade.
Pittsburgh’s roster includes former Bruins forwards Justin Brazeau and Noel Acciari as well as defenseman Parker Wotherspoon. Brazeau (12 goals) is one of four double-digit scorers on the team.
–Field level media
