Bruins ride momentum of offensive eruption into clash vs. Pens
The Boston Bruins look to continue rolling along on a five-game homestand as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday in the finale of a weekend back-to-back for both teams.
It was a historic Saturday for the Bruins as Marat Khusnutdinov (four goals, one assist) and Pavel Zacha both recorded their first career hat tricks and David Pastrnak tied a franchise record with a career-high six assists in a 10-2 thrashing of the New York Rangers.
Boston's second straight win and fourth in the last six games (4-1-1) came on the strength of its first 10-goal outburst since 1988. Khusnutdinov and Zacha represent the first pair of Bruins to record hat tricks in the same game since 1964.
"Forget about how (many goals) we scored, but we played really, really good," Bruins coach Marco Sturm said of his team's overall effort. "They should feel really good about it."
Plenty of others got in on the fun as well. Fraser Minten scored twice and added an assist, while defenseman Charlie McAvoy scored and set up a goal. Elias Lindholm and Henri Jokiharju each dished out a pair of assists.
All of Boston's offense supported soon-to-be U.S. Olympian Jeremy Swayman, who made 27 stops en route to his third win in four starts. With the tight turnaround, Joonas Korpisalo likely will start versus Pittsburgh after his 28-save effort in a 4-1 Thursday win over Calgary to begin the homestand.
"It's pretty fun to watch and be a part of (a game like that)," rugged Bruins forward Mark Kastelic said. "Just to see how everybody played together for pretty much the full 60 minutes."
However, Boston finished Saturday's game down two forwards after Morgan Geekie exited to tend to a family matter and Lindholm sustained a lower-body injury. Both likely will be Sunday game-time decisions.
Pittsburgh arrives in Boston after having a six-game win streak snapped with a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
"(The Flames) did a good job. They compete hard. Not a lot of time and space," Penguins superstar captain Sidney Crosby said. "That's hockey. Games aren't always going to be up and down. We've got to find different ways to create. We did at times, but it was difficult for us to sustain that the way we have, so we've got to find ways to be able to do that."
Egor Chinakhov scored the Penguins' lone goal. Rookie Arturs Silovs made 23 saves as he has continued to alternate starts with Stuart Skinner since the latter's arrival from the Edmonton Oilers earlier this month.
"You saw how many odd-man rushes he had to face," Penguins coach Dan Muse said. "He kept the game close for us."
Saturday's game marked the end of an eight-game point streak for Crosby, who logged five goals and nine assists over that span. However, longtime teammate Evgeni Malkin notched his 854th career assist, which is good for the 10th-most with a single franchise in NHL history.
The Penguins, who went 0-for-3 on the power play and had a third-period goal wiped away due to goaltender interference, were without top-line winger Bryan Rust due to a lower-body injury.
Massachusetts native Kevin Hayes jumped into the lineup as a result of Rust's absence, while Rafael Harvey-Pinard was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League in what Muse called a "precautionary" transaction.
The Pittsburgh lineup includes former Bruins forwards Justin Brazeau and Noel Acciari and defenseman Parker Wotherspoon. Brazeau (12 goals) is one of the team's four double-digit goal scorers.