The Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins faced off in a goaltending battle between Jeremy Swayman and Tristan Jarry. With both goaltenders playing strong and limiting their opponents, the Bruins and Penguins battled to a 2-1 game in favor of the Penguins as they move to 9-12-4, while the Bruins fall to 11-11-3.
Game Recap
The Penguins’ early-game struggles continued, allowing the Bruins to score less than two minutes into the game off a turnover by Jack St. Ivany at the offensive zone blue line, leading to a rush for the Bruins. The rush ended with Charlie Coyle being left wide open on the weak side of the play and alone in on Jarry after getting a cross-ice pass from Trent Frederic to put the Bruins up 1-0 early on. That was the only goal in the first 20 minutes, with Jarry and Swayman standing tall for their respective teams for the rest of the period.
The second period was the opposite when it came to the goal-scoring aspect. Both teams battled back and forth for the first 19-plus minutes of the game, with both netminders continuing to make big-time saves to keep the score at 1-0. The game stayed that way until the final second of the period when Sidney Crosby won a faceoff in the offensive zone that ended up back on his stick after a shot attempt by Erik Karlsson banked off the boards. Crosby beat the Bruins defense to the loose puck and found Rickard Rakell in the slot for an open shot to beat the buzzer, tying the game at 1-1 with .6 seconds remaining in the period.
The third period continued the theme of a back-and-forth contest. The Penguins broke the ice, scoring just under halfway through the period, with recently-acquired Phillip Tomasino causing a turnover in the offensive zone and cashing in on a low shot under Swayman’s pad after receiving a pass from Evgeni Malkin to put the Penguins up 2-1. The Bruins made a strong push to tie the game up, but Kris Letang and Karlsson made huge plays defensively to make stops themselves to help Jarry out and keep the 2-1 lead. The Penguins withstood a last-minute push from the Bruins with an empty net to hold on for the 2-1 win.
In the win, Jarry recorded 32 saves on 33 shots, while Swayman stopped 33 of 35 shots he faced in the loss. The Penguins return home on Saturday (Nov. 30) for a matchup against the Calgary Flames. The Bruins do not return to the ice until the calendar turns to December, returning home for an Original Six matchup against the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 1.
