Bruins Put Bow On Road Schedule With Win in Pittsburgh

The road has not been kind to the Boston Bruins. Among an assortment of other issues, a losing record away from home ice is one the chief reasons the Bruins are missing the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons.

But in their final road matchup of the year, the Bruins made sure to take care of business with a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena.

“We played some good hockey,” Elias Lindholm said. “We looked pretty fast today and had some good luck. We tried to control the game, and I think we did a pretty good job.”

Lindholm put Boston on the board first when he tipped in a shot from David Pastrank with 2.3 seconds remaining on the clock in the opening period for his 17th goal of the season.

The centerman has come alive since being put back on the top line next to Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie, with seven points in his last five games after struggling through much of his first year in Boston.

“He’s doing what he needs to be effective on that line, not only defensively, but offensively,” said Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco. “He’s been doing that lately. He’s getting to that net front, the top of the blue paint area, and it’s critical.”

The Bruins added to their lead with a pair of goals in the second period, starting with the first goal of Fabian Lysell’s NHL career coming while on the power play.

After carrying the puck into the attacking end and winning a battle for it along the side boards, Pavel Zacha pivoted and whipped a pass to the rookie Lstanding all alone in front of the net to bang a shot through the legs of Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry.

The next Boston goal Jarry likely never saw coming as Geekie rifled a shot past him at that exited the net just as quickly as it entered it.

Skating over the blue line, Geekie put on the breaks, collected a feed from Pastrnak, and fired a blast that ricocheted off the back post to give Boston a 3-0 lead with his 32nd goal of the season. With two assists in the game, Pastrnak recorded his fifth straight multi-point game.

While the Bruins held his counterpart under siege, Joonas Korpisalo held firm between the posts for Boston, stopping 24 of the 25 shots that came his way. Rickard Rakell scored on the power play with less than a minute to go in the second period, making the first, last, and only by the Penguins.

“They had some momentum going there,” said Lindholm. “It was good for us to get in here and talk a little bit and regroup. I thought in the third they had some looks, but [Korpisalo] was good in net. I thought overall, we played a solid 60 minutes.”

Jakub Lauko put a stamp on the game for the Bruins as he hit an empty net with under two minutes left to play.

Boston’s record improved to 33-39-9 with the win.

The Bruins still hold the league’s fourth-worst record with 75 points, but the margin is slim. Teams such as Seattle and Philadelphia, who both have games in hand, are just one point ahead of them in the standings, with positioning in the NHL draft lottery at a premium.

Boston has one game left before turning out the lights on the 2024-25 season, coming Tuesday night at home against the New Jersey Devils.

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