PITTSBURGH — This article originally appeared on PGHHockeyNOW.com.
On paper, Thursday night’s game at PPG Paints Arena between the Pittsburgh Penguins (5-9-2) and Boston Bruins (12-4-1) looked lopsided in Boston’s favor, and that is exactly how it played out in a 6-2 Bruins win. The Penguins made mistake after mistake in a listless effort, and the Bruins were more than happy to capitalize on many of them.
The first period started off well enough for the Penguins. They killed a Bruins power play and grabbed a 1-0 lead midway through the period, but the wheels fell off after that. The Bruins scored three unanswered goals in less than seven minutes to close out the first. It was less what the Bruins were doing to the Penguins than the mistakes Pittsburgh made on its own, including seven first-period giveaways, several of which Boston turned into goals.
The second period followed a similar script. The Penguins scored the first goal of the frame, but the Bruins answered with the next two and dominated play. Pittsburgh committed five more giveaways, and by the end of the period Erik Karlsson was a minus-4. With seconds left and the Penguins down by three, Rickard Rakell inexplicably passed up a glorious scoring chance and instead tried a shot-pass to Sidney Crosby that did not come close to connecting.
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