Halak makes 29 saves, Bruins shut down Penguins

BOSTON --Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves for the Boston Bruins, including five in the final nine seconds of the second period, in a 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden on Thursday.

With the Bruins leading 2-1, Halak stopped a shot by Bryan Rust at 19:51, then made consecutive saves on Zach Aston-Reese in a three-second span, beginning at 19:53. After Sidney Crosby won a face-off, Halak made the save on a shot by Kris Letang at 19:59.
Rust's shot came on a 2-on-0 break, with Aston-Reese setting him up.
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"I'm thinking hopefully they're going to run out of time," Halak said. "But that didn't happen, so I just don't know, I just tried to play the guy with the puck. Thank God he shot it because if they start making plays out there, I think that's the hardest thing for a goalie. I just try to stay with the shooter, that's it."
Patrice Bergeron reached the 20-goal mark for the seventh straight season for Boston (28-9-12), which is 4-1-1 in the past six games.

Crosby scored for the second straight game after missing 28 games following core muscle surgery, and Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for Pittsburgh (29-13-5), which lost in regulation for the second time in its past 11 games (8-2-1) and for the first time in its past six road games.
"There were points where we got outplayed," Crosby said. "We definitely had some chances and could have gotten back in the game. Look at our power play, and zone time in general, they controlled more. We just weren't good enough tonight."

Crosby scored 24 seconds into the first period on slap shot from the left face-off circle on the first shot of the game for a 1-0 lead.
"Tonight, obviously got scored on early, that can deflate a team [but] stuck with it," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We played through some of the stuff that we didn't do well early, and I liked our effort. I thought we checked really well against a good offensive team, managed the puck well, got over people. In that part of the game I thought we were hard to play against in terms of solid defending."
Sean Kuraly tied it 1-1 at 10:03 with wrist shot from the perimeter that deflected past Jarry.
Par Lindholm gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 12:16 with a redirection of a pass by Karson Kuhlman.
"I think it was big," Kuraly said about bouncing back from the early goal. "I think when you can get contributions from up and down the lineup, I think it helps a lot. We had, I think, the whole team playing well tonight, and when we can all play and contribute I think we're a tough team to play against."

Bergeron's wrist shot from the high slot after a steal and pass by David Pastrnak increased the lead to 3-1 at 3:19 of the third period
Brad Marchand scored into an empty net at 19:07 for the 4-1 final.
"I don't think we were good enough tonight," Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist said. "I don't think we had the jump that we normally have, so we didn't make as many clean plays, we didn't control territory like we're capable. But it starts with puck battles, you have to win puck battles."

They said it

"I think Rust made the right play. I think [Halak] was about to cheat over. If [Rust] slid the puck over to me Halak would have gotten a stick on it anyways." -- Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese on the 2-on-0 break against Jaroslav Halak
"Well, we don't win the game probably without it, so those are four or five saves that we needed, and you know he's been there for us all year, so for him to do it again, I'm sure he feels really good about his game and it pushed us in the right direction because we were able to come out in the third period and extend the lead. If he doesn't make any of those saves it's a different complexion of the game." -- Bruins defenseman Torey Krug on Halak's five-save sequence

Need to know

Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson got his 300th NHL point with an assist on Crosby's goal. … Crosby has 12 regular-season opening-minute goals in his NHL career, second to Mark Messier (13). … Bergeron has scored 20 or more goals 11 times in his NHL career, second-most in Bruins history (Johnny Bucyk, 16 seasons). … Pastrnak had two assists to give him 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in his past 16 games. … Kuhlman had two assists -- his first two points of the season -- in 9:56 after missing 40 games with a fractured right tibia.

What's next

Penguins: At the Detroit Red Wings on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, FS-D, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)
Bruins:At the Penguins on Sunday (12:30 p.m. ET; NBC, TVAS)