The Pittsburgh Penguins (24-29-9) haven’t done themselves any favors since returning from the 4 Nations Face-off, dropping yet another contest, this time to the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena.
Usually, the Bruins and Penguins play meaningful games all season long, but at this point of the 2024-25 season, neither team is in a playoff spot as each club has had their fair share of struggles.
With a chance to carry over the momentum from their thrilling comeback win over the Philadelphia Flyers, the Penguins got into a hole early and, despite two goals in the dying minutes, could not get the timely responses they needed against a Boston team that lost its captain just 14 minutes into the game.
It’s time to discuss Pittsburgh’s latest setback before battling the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.
The Penguins fell behind 2-0 in the first period, once again giving up a goal on the first shot of the game, as David Pastrnak extended his point streak to 17 games to remain the hottest scorer in the NHL.
Although the Bruins’ leading scorer only had one goal, he had a chance to seal the victory with a penalty shot attempt in the third period that Alex Nedeljkovic stopped. That save gave the Penguins life and they responded with a shorthanded goal by Anthony Beauvillier at 14:01.
Eventually, Charlie Coyle scored into the Penguins’ empty net while killing a 6-on-4 power-play, but by the time Rickard Rakell scored with 22 seconds left, the home team had no chance of tying things up.
In the end, Boston controlled the pace and led in shots until the third, when Pittsburgh rediscovered its game. By then, Pittsburgh couldn’t solve Joonas Korpisalo, and the Bruins walked away with two points.
The Penguins lost Pierre-Oliver Joseph to an upper-body injury after he crushed Bruins’ captain Brad Marchand earlier in the first. Joseph became a target of several big hits, resulting in his departure from the game.
Ultimately, this meant that several defensemen needed to step up, which resulted in Erik Karlsson skating a game-high 29:07, only the second time this season that the Swedish defender skated over 27 minutes in a single game.
Unsurprisingly, Karlsson was minus-2 on Saturday, a growing concern as he’s minus-7 in the past four games. He has the second worst total on the team behind Sidney Crosby and Rakell, both minus-8 over the past four games.
As an elite defenseman and former Norris Trophy winner, Karlsson is one of the top players on the Penguins’…