Erik Karlsson scored the lone goal for the Penguins (31-16-13), who had their five-game point streak end (3-0-2). Stuart Skinner made 26 saves.
“As a group, we should be proud of how we played tonight,” Skinner said. “... Swayman has been having a heck of a year this year. Both of their (goaltenders, including Joonas Korpisalo) have been, and it’s a hard team to play in any situation, and the Garden, in my experience, has always been a tough building to win in.”
Karlsson gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead just 42 seconds into the game. Bryan Rust collected the puck behind the net following a turnover by Charlie McAvoy and moved it back up to the right point, where Karlsson scored with a wrist shot that found its way through traffic and past a screened Swayman.
“We gave ourselves a chance the whole game, and both goaltenders played tremendously and made the saves when they needed to,” Karlsson said. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t have a better (first) five minutes, but tonight wasn’t our best effort. Still, we did enough to give ourselves a chance to tie the game up, but it wasn’t our night tonight.”
After allowing a goal on the first shot, Swayman said he just needed to focus on making the next save.
“It really is just flipping the switch to the next shot and focusing on that next play, or else you’re living in the past, and that’s not a good thing for our team," he said.
Khusnutdinov tied it 1-1 at 5:10 of the first. Michael Eyssimont dug the puck out of the corner and fed Khusnutdinov for a quick wrist shot from the right face-off dot that beat Skinner to the far post.
Mittelstadt put Boston in front 2-1 less than a minute later at 6:00. He won his own puck battle in the corner before finding a wide-open Nikita Zadorov at the top of the slot. Skinner made the initial save on Zadorov's shot, but the rebound went right to Mittelstadt, who scored past the diving goaltender from below the right circle.
“We have to be better than that, especially against a team like this," Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. "If you get behind early, they’re just going to sit back and clog things up even more, and that’s what you saw for a lot of the game. It wasn’t good enough.”
The Bruins are 28-0-3 this season when leading after two periods.
“When you see a stat like that, it’s a sign of a mature team,” Eyssimont said. “We’re not the most veteran team in the League, but we do have a good deal of them, and even some of our younger guys are mature beyond their years, as far as game management, knowing what the score is and what it takes to win.”
