When the Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings on New Year’s Eve Jeremy Swayman, who was in net for the Bruins, shared his thoughts on a surprisingly physical affair. “We don’t care who we play when we play them, we want to be piss and vinegar every time.”
If nothing else, it highlighted how, during their recent four-game winning streak, Boston was content to play any style their opponent desired. A philosophy that bit them Thursday night against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who opted for speed, tenacity, and puck possession.
At first, things were going smoothly, Brad Marchand’s netfront pursuit resulted in him jamming home a rebound goal just 41 seconds into regulation, but the good times would not last. Shortly thereafter, Drew O’Connor and Ryan Graves each got one past Swayman for a 2-1 lead. David Pastrnak would answer to tie the game at 2-2, but that’s when the wheels began to fall off the wagon.
Less than a minute following Pastrnak’s equalizer- Kris Letang found a streaking Sidney Crosby, who snuck behind Hampus Lindholm, outwaited Brandon Carlo, and feathered a gorgeous saucer pass to Jake Guentzel to recapture the lead. But Pittsburg wasn’t done yet; O’Connor’s slick moves opened up a passing lane to Lars Eller, who wired a one-timer past Swayman for a 4-2 lead at the end of the first period.
In the second period, Jeff Carter also chipped into the scoring, which appeared to put Pittsburg in a commanding lead. Boston would mount an impressive comeback down 5-2, capped off by a marvelous shorthanded goal from Brad Marchand to equal the score at five. Unfortunately, it was all for not as Sidney Crosby registered the game-winning goal with eight minutes and change remaining.
Outside of the frustration of coming up short, a recurring theme presented itself, Sidney Crosby dominated the game. For the most part, Boston has eked by with Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha, and Morgan Geekie simultaneously filling the top two center positions. Quickly glancing across the league standings, and that appears to have worked out spectacularly. But Crosby was an issue that Boston seemingly had no answer for.
Pittsburg ended the night with a 65% success rate at the faceoff dot. Individually, Crosby was 72% following his win, which immediately resulted in the game-winning goal, and over 76% with 2:41 remaining in regulation. On top of that, Pittsburgh manufactured 13 takeaways to Boston’s three and only gave away the puck five times compared to Boston’s eight. According to natural stattrick, the Penguins were statistical darlings, holding an advantage over Boston in Corsi, Fenwick, shots, scoring chances (25 to 12), high danger chances (16 to 6), and expected goals (69.2% to 30.8%).
Chalk it up to an off night or an example of what can happen when competing against an all-world center. Either way it leaves Boston in a difficult position, to add down the middle, or to not? Don Sweeney, their general manager, must navigate that exact conundrum.
