Game 27 Live Blog: Boston Bruins @ Pittsburgh Penguins

Here’s five thoughts from the second period with the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins still tied at one.

1.) NHL Officiating Is A Joke!

If you go back and check my Twitter handle on March 5, you will see that I absolutely blasted referees Dean Morton and Pierre Lambert for not calling a penalty on this cheapshot by Washington Capitals winger Tom Wilson on Brandon Carlo that left Carlo concussed and still out of the Bruins’ lineup.

So I ask you now, how does Lambert, who is reffing with the game with Francois St. Laurent tonight, call this a five-minute major for boarding on Penguins winger Brandon Tanev?

Scary sight here after Tinordi slams into the boards. pic.twitter.com/PZSf7Hne90

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 17, 2021

IMHO, this is a completely clean hit by Tanev and just another example of why so many NHL players have no clue what’s clean and waht’s not! If there wasn’t even a penalty on Wilson, then how the hell is this a penalty? Absolutely pathetic!

2.) Power Failure

Regardless of if that was a penalty or not on Tanev, the Boston bruins powerplay had a great chance to break this game open with a five-minute powerplay and they were absolutely listless on that man advantage. They had just three shots and struggled to formulate their attack. Give credit to the Penguins’ PK for suffocating the Bruins as they came through the neutral zone. The Bruins are now 1-for-4 on the PP through two periods of play.

3.) PK Brilliance

After killing off three Penguins powerplays thus far tonight, the Boston Bruins penalty kill has now killed off 17 straight powerplay attempts against. They have not allowed a goal since Brock Nelson scored a powerplay goal for the New York Islanders 16:18 into the second period of a 2-1 shootout loss for the Bruins on March 9. The Bruins came into the game with the best PK in the league and if they stay perfect for the rest of this game, they will surely maintain that top ranking.

4.) Vladar Zeroed In

Vladar continued to be solid in the second period as he stopped all nine shots by the Penguins. The Boston Bruins rookie goaltender seems to be confident standing up and using his 6-foot-5, 185-pound frame to challenge shooters, even when those shooters are Sidney Crosby, who was tied with Bruins winger Nick Ritchie with five shots leading all players so far. It’s a good sign that he didn’t get rattled by the Tanev goal at 15:22 of the first period. I like this kid’s resilience!

5.) Kuraly/Scouts

Detroit Red Wings Assistant GM Pat Verbeek, former Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli (St. Louis Blues), and four other scouts are on hand tonight in Pittsburgh to scout the pens and B’s. According to colleague Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now, Verbeek has been a frequent visitor at PPG Paints Arena lately but I find it interesting that the Blue Jackets are scouting a Bruins game for the fourth straight game. Bruins center Sean Kuraly is on an expiring deal and has been a healthy scratch twice lately. Could they be scouting the Dublin, Ohio native?

Some interesting names on the scouts list (scheduled to appear)

St. Louis (Pete Chiarelli)
Detroit (AGM. 4-5th visit)
Carolina
Nashville
Columbus
Anaheim

— Dan Kingerski (@TheDanKingerski) March 16, 2021