Hanpus Lindholm scored the game-winning goal at 3:37 of overtime to give the Boston Bruins an improbable 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Lindholm finished a four-point night and factored in the last four goals to help Boston move to a franchise-best 9-1-0 on the season.
Sidney Crosby scored his fifth goal of the season, unassisted, just 30 seconds into the game for Pittsburgh as he scooped up a puck in the slot off the skate of Bruins’ defenseman Hampus Lindholm and beat goaltender Linus Ullmark with a wrist shot glove side.
Charlie Coyle would tie it at 1-1 at the 5:19 mark of the first period with a rebound goal off a Trent Frederic net drive. That is three straight games with a goal for the Weymouth, Massachusetts native. AJ Greer had the other assist for Boston, his third of the season.
Jakub Lauko would give Boston the lead with 6:40 remaining in the first on a beautiful feed by Nick Foligno. It is the first NHL goal for Lauko in his sixth career game.
Evgeni Malkin would score his fifth goal of the season just 1:47 into the second period to tie the game at two on a feed from Pierre-Olivier Joseph. The Penguins would take the lead 3-2 on a Jason Zucker goal, his second of the year. Pittsburgh would then score two goals in 20 seconds midway through the second period as Bryan Rust and Rickard Rackell would score to chase Ullmark from the net in favor of Jeremy Swayman.
The Bruins thought they had a response just seconds after, but Patrice Bergeron was called for goaltender interference to keep the score 5-2. Just 44 seconds later, Brad Marchand would make it 5-3 with a one-timer on the power play, his third goal in two games, all on the man advantage.
The third period began with sloppy play from each team until Pavel Zacha tipped in a Hampus Lindholm shot to make it 5-4, his second tally of the season. Then with the goalie pulled, Taylor Hall scored his fifth goal of the year on his first shot of the night to tie it at 5 with 1:17 to go in regulation. Lindholm would go end-to-end and send a wrist shot by Penguins’ goalie Tristan Jarry to win it.
Game notes:
Tough night for Boston on the injury front as they lost Derek Forbort (upper-body) and Jeremy Swayman (lower-body) to injuries. Pittsburgh have now lost five in a row, and this was their first home loss. Hampus Lindholm is second on the Bruins’ team with eight assists…Jakub Lauko is the first Bruins’ draft pick from 2018-2022 to score a goal…The Penguins are 228-2-2 when leading by three goals or more in the last 10 years. The Bruins will face the Rangers in New York on Thursday, while the Penguins will be in Buffalo Wednesday.
