By Canadian Press

David Pastrnak reaches 40 goals as Bruins beat fading Penguins 5-1

Mar 9, 2024 | 4:17 PM

BOSTON (AP) — David Pastrnak reached 40 goals for the third consecutive season, and the Boston Bruins beat the fading Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Saturday.

Coming off a 4-1 victory over Toronto on Thursday, the Bruins posted consecutive regulation wins for the first time since Jan. 20 and 22. They are fighting for the NHL’s top record a year after setting league records for victories (65) and overall points (135).

“I won’t take it for granted, obviously,” Pastrnak said of reaching 40 goals again. “It’s my job to score goals, but, at the same time, I play in the best league in the world, so I don’t take it for granted. It doesn’t mean anything to me right now, but I love scoring, so it makes me happy.”

Pavel Zacha had two goals and an assist for Boston, which has 91 points. Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk each had a goal and an assist, and Linus Ullmark made 38 saves.

“He was our best player,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said of Ullmark. “It wasn’t close. … Glad he’s still a Bruin.”

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Ullmark was rumored to be on the trade block Friday.

“I’m just very happy to be here,” Ullmark said when asked if he utilized a no-trade clause in his contract. “This is the team that I want to be (with). I’m very fortunate to be a part of this group, and ever since Day 1 I’ve loved it here, so I’m very happy with where I am right now.”

Kris Letang scored for Pittsburgh, and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 17 shots. The Penguins have lost five of six games to drop into 13th place in the Eastern Conference, far behind the eighth and final playoff spot.

“It’s a lot of work to get there, but we’ve got to find a way to just go a game at a time at this point,” Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. “You can’t grab all those points at once.”

Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm returned to the lineup after missing the previous nine games with an undisclosed injury.

Pastrnak one-timed DeBrusk’s pass from the high slot for his milestone goal, sending it over Nedeljkovic to make it 1-0 at 2:26 of the second period.

Zacha chipped in a shot from the edge of the crease for a power-play goal, making it 2-0 at 12:48 of the second. Marchand cut across the front of the net and slipped a backhander into the top right corner with 1:35 left in the period.

Ullmark stopped all 14 shots in a busy opening period, including a glove save on Michael Bunting’s clean break-in. Bunting was acquired in a trade with Carolina on Thursday night.

Looking for a spark after struggling to close out some games this past month, the Bruins added some beef at Friday’s trade deadline, acquiring veteran forward Patrick Maroon from Minnesota and defenseman Andrew Peeke from Columbus. Neither played on Saturday.

“Pat Maroon is a proven champion. He’s going to add a lot of leadership to our group. Obviously, he has a lot of moxie, too,” Montgomery said.

Maroon won the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019, when it defeated Boston in seven games, and two championships with Tampa Bay, which faced Boston in the playoffs.

“I feel like I’m hated here,” Maroon said, smiling. “Obviously, there’s been a lot of chirps and a lot of fighting with these guys.”

UP NEXT

Penguins: Host Edmonton on Sunday.

Bruins: Face St. Louis on Monday in the finale of a four-game homestand.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Ken Powtak, The Associated Press