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Boston Bruins Collapse, Fall 4-3 To Penguins

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The Boston Bruins appeared to be sailing smooth on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh. The Bruins jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before disaster struck in Pennsylvania. The Penguins stormed back to shock the Bruins, collecting a 4-3 victory in regulation time that left the Bruins in shock.

Bryan Rust scored his 21st goal of the season at 12:35 of the final period to complete an unlikely comeback for the home team. Evgeni Malkin easily won a puck battle with Charlie McAvoy behind the Bruins goal and fed Rust out in front. Rust made no mistake, snapping a quick shot by Jaroslav Halak to complete a shocking comeback.

Matt Murray made 34 saves in the victory, while Halak stopped 18 shots in a stunning defeat. For Murray, it was his 15th victory of the season and fifth in a row.

The Bruins jumped out and stuck early and often on this Sunday afternoon. It took just eleven seconds for Patrice Bergeron to tally his 21st goal of the season. The veteran center collected a tap-pass from Brad Marchand and quickly fired a shot that beat Murray glove side. The goal gave the Bruins a huge push early in this game, as they continued to pepper Murray.

After two more high danger chances, the Bruins connected to make it 2-0 just 2:02 into the game. Anders Bjork rifled a shot from the slot that fooled Murray and beat him over his shoulder. It was Bjork’s 8th goal of the season. Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk collected the assists on the goal, as the entire second line got on the board.

The Bruins extended the lead to three goals at 15:07 as David Pastrnak checked in. The Czech sniper scored his league-leading 37th goal of the season when he tried to send a cross-ice pass to Marchand. The pass deflected off of the Penguins’ Jack Johnson and slid in behind Murray.

It appeared like the Bruins had this game locked up. After all, the club was 200-1-6 when leading by three or more goals since the start of the 2010-11 season. No one told the Penguins that stat.

Dominik Simon gave the home team a little life at 16:34 of the first period. Simon scored his 6th goal of the season when he fired a sharp angle shot by the glove of Halak. Although the Bruins would take a 3-1 lead into the intermission, the Penguins had life.

Teddy Blueger scored the only goal of the second period just 33 seconds into the frame. Sidney Crosby collected a puck deep inside the Bruins zone and fed Blueger in front of Halak. The slick forward made a nice move and deposited his 7th goal of the campaign to get the Penguins within one.

Pittsburgh would complete the comeback in a stunning third period. After being the goat early in the game, Johnson would win fans back when he scored his 3rd goal of the season. The veteran defenseman evened the game just 1:41 into the third period when he hammered home a shorthanded goal.

Johnson took a Brandon Tanev pass and wired a slapshot by Halak with 39 seconds remaining on the Bruins powerplay. The goal sent PPG Paints Arena into a frenzy and turned all the momentum to the home team.

Rust’s goal at 12:35 proved to be the difference, as the Bruins took a penalty in the dying minutes and never truly threatened to tie the game.

The Bruins conclude their regular season series with the Penguins with a 2-1-0 record.

The Bruins return to the ice on Tuesday night when they host the Vegas Golden Knights at TD Garden.

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