Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask blocks a shot with Pittsburgh’s Jeff Carter screening him during the Bruins’ 3-1 win on Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Rask stopped 25 shots. Gene Puskar/Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — It looked like a playoff game. It felt like a playoff game. Next month, it very well could be.
Tuukka Rask turned aside 25 shots and the Boston Bruins edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 on Tuesday night to tighten the playoff race in the hyper-competitive East Division.
Boston’s victory means the top four teams in the East – the Bruins, the Penguins, Washington and the New York Islanders – are separated by six points with just over two weeks to go in the regular season.
“We addressed some things before the game,” Boston forward David Krejci said. “We know where we’re at in the standings. We talked about some stuff. I thought, for the most part, we stuck to the game plan.”
Rask’s stellar play and goals by Krejci, Brad Marchand and Taylor Hall helped the Bruins bounce back from a shutout loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday and offer a glimpse of what lies ahead. Boston blocked 21 shots, kept the crease in front of Rask largely clutter free and turned aside three Penguin power plays early, then basically shut down the Penguins late.
“I think the past couple games have been playoff-type hockey,” Rask said. “Both teams are defending the ice out there. … I think today, we played a very smart and patient game. We got rewarded. Moving forward, we have to be comfortable playing those types of games.”
Jeff Carter spoiled Rask’s bid for his 52nd career shutout with his 11th of the season – and third since joining the Penguins at the trade deadline – with 2:21 left, but it wasn’t enough. Tristan Jarry made 28 saves for Pittsburgh as the Penguins saw their four-game winning streak come to a halt.
“The whole night it seemed like we were a step behind in terms of winning puck battles,” Penguins forward Teddy Blueger said. “Didn’t get enough pucks on net, didn’t have enough traffic in front of Rask.”
The Penguins could have clinched a 15th straight playoff berth with a win and a loss by the Rangers to Buffalo. Neither happened, meaning any potential celebration will have to wait after the Boston kept the NHL’s most potent attack in check to earn its fifth win in eight meetings with Pittsburgh.
The Penguins came into the game averaging 4.00 goals in April. They left it having been pushed around by the Bruins. Boston didn’t hesitate to initiate contact all over the ice and Pittsburgh found little room to work down low.
Krejci broke a scoreless tie with 1:50 left in the second period when he took a feed from Charlie McAvoy, sliced through the Pittsburgh zone and ripped a pretty backhand by Jarry to give the Bruins the lead.
Marchand, long an issue for the Penguins, doubled the advantage with his 26th goal 9:11 into the third period. Hall, whose arrival at the trade deadline sparked a turnaround that thrust the Bruins out of a midseason funk, collected his fifth of the season and fourth with the Boston just over three minutes later to seal it.
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