The Confluence
Kunitz’ hat trick fuels Penguins to 6-4 win over Bruins
by Tony on 03/15/09 at 06:49 PM ET
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The Penguins and their fans celebrated the 100th consecutive sellout this afternoon at the Igloo with a spirited third period comeback against the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins.
New Penguin Chris Kunitz had his second career hat trick, including two straight goals to give the Penguins the third period lead, in a big 6-4 win over the Bruins. Bill Guerin and Sidney Crosby each added three points for the Pens, who improved to 10-1-3 under IHCDB.
The Pens are now all alone in 5th place in the East with 82 points, only two behind the Flyers for 4th place, although the Flyers have three games in hand. If the playoffs started today, Flyers/Penguins.
It wasn’t the Penguins’ prettiest game, for sure. The Bruins, as always, played a physical, tough defensive game. But the difference in today’s game, compared to recent Bruins/Pens games, is that the top line of Kunitz/Crosby/Guerin is finally a formidable one.
That first line connected right off the bat today, as only 50 seconds into the game Guerin took a centering pass in the slot from Crosby and one-timed it past Bruins’ goalie Tim Thomas to give the Pens a quick 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. Only 16 seconds later, Kris Letang was unable to get the puck out of the Pens’ zone. Mark Stuart one-timed the loose puck to the goal, where former Pen Mark Recchi barely deflected it past backup goalie Mathieu Garon to tie the game at one.
The Bruins took the lead midway through the first period after a nice centering feed from Blake Wheeler to Phil Kessel, who backhanded it past Garon to make it 2-1 Bruins.
The Pens got a fortunate bounce of the puck to tie the game late in the first. On the powerplay, Guerin threw a backhanded shot to the net that Thomas stopped, but Crosby was there to put the rebound to the goal, where it deflected off the skate of Kunitz and into the net to make it 2-2.
The second period only had one goal, but it looked to be a costly one. On a Pens powerplay, Wheeler stole the puck and drove to the net, where his shot went to the side of the goal. However, between Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Conchar, they couldn’t get control of the puck. David Krejci grabbed it and quickly fed Wheeler for the one-timer past Garon and the short-handed goal to make it 3-2 Bruins.
That lead evaporated quickly as the third period started, as on the powerplay Gonchar fired a shot from the center point that was deflected by Kunitz and past Thomas to tie the game at three only 43 seconds into the period.
The Igloo cheering continued only 18 seconds later after Kunitz blocked a shot. Guerin grabbed possession of the puck and made a great feed to Kunitz for a breakaway. Kunitz was able to go forehand/backhand to the five hole of Thomas to give the Pens a 4-3 lead.
The Bruins did anything but give up, though. On a Bruins’ powerplay, Brooks Oprik was unable to clear the puck, and it went right to Michael Ryder. Ryder turned and fired a hard wrister past Garon to tie the game at four at the 2:54 mark.
The Penguins got the eventual game-winner midway through the period, as Jordan Staal was able to keep possession of the puck behind the Bruins’ net. Staal then made a nice centering feed to Petr Sykora, who fired a one-timer past Thomas making it 5-4 Pens.
The score stayed the same until Staal launched an empty netter from the redline with 57 seconds remaining.
Other notes:
- The MYPP (Mike Yeo Power Play) went 2-for-8, but let’s not whitewash it, this unit is still having serious, serious problems.
- Only the second time this season that Thomas has given up at least five goals.
The Penguins will next host the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday night.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
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