Penguins/NHL
Pittsburgh 6 – Boston 5
Bill Guerin scored with 0.4 seconds remaining in the third period to force over-time and Pascal Dupuis scored his second goal of the game at 1:24 in overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Boston Bruins in thrilling fashion 6-5 Saturday night at Mellon Arena.
It was a wild finish in Pittsburgh as Billy Guerin blistered a snap shot just above the top right circles to beat Tim Thomas short-side in what was one of the great goals of the season.
With seconds remaining, Evgeni Malkin skated down the ice and found Guerin with a perfect pass who was coming down the right side and Tim Thomas never got set as Guerin blew it passed him.
Once Guerin scored to force over-time, momentum was with Pittsburgh.
The win snapped the Penguins four game losing streak and for a team that had scored just two goals in their four previous games, it was the return of Evgeni Malkin that sparked the Penguins offensive attack.
Playing for the first time in eight games following a shoulder injury, Malkin had three assists and linemate Sidney Crosby added a goal and two assists.
Crosby and Malkin played on a the same line for the first time this season and were in on four of the six Penguins goals.
“I know we get the message when we’re together,” Crosby said. “We know we have to create things. It’s hard for them to key on one of us when we’re together. Geno did a great job.”
Dupuis over-time winner was his fifth goal of the season and his 100th career goal.
“I don’t know what happened behind the net, but I ended up with the puck in the slot and basically just tapped it in,” Dupuis said. “One-hundredth goal of my career, game-winner, overtime, I’ll take it.”
Pittsburgh concludes their three game home-stand Monday night against Anaheim.
Notes
*Goaltender Brent Johnson got the start and made 28 saves to get the win.
*Mark Letestu made his NHL debut replacing Chris Kunitz in the lineup.
*Tyler Kennedy (groin), Sergei Gonchar (wrist), Kris Letang (shoulder) and Brooks Orpik (lower body) were also scratched for Pittsburgh.
*Defenseman Ben Lovejoy had one his assist, his first point of his NHL career.
*Pittsburgh was 0-for-3 on the power play.
*The Dallas Stars were among three teams with scouts in the team building.
