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Penguins man up and get tough, beat Boston 3-2

Chris Kunitz;  Kris Letang; Jordan Staal

Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Chris Kunitz (14) celebrates with teammates Kris Letang (58) and Jordan Staal (11) after scoring the fifth goal in a 5-0 victory against the Montreal Canadiens during third period National Hockey League action Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011 in Montreal. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)

AP

The Penguins needed a big performance this afternoon and they got a few of them. Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 44 shots, including 20 in the third period to give the Penguins a 3-2 win over the Bruins.

Much like their game on Monday in Pittsburgh, the Pens jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis. The Bruins bounced their way back into the game in the second period scoring goals 13 seconds apart from Dennis Seidenberg and Michael Ryder. Suddenly the Penguins were having flashbacks to their third period meltdown against Boston on Monday where the Pens blew a 2-0 lead with less than five minutes to play and lost 4-2. Fleury made sure those worries were allayed on this day.

With the teams knotted at two going to the third, Jordan Staal’s hard-working goal early in the period got the Penguins the lead once again. The goal seemed to inspire the Bruins into playing even harder than they were and the Pens spent essentially the final five or six minutes in their own end fighting off Boston’s attack. Fleury was cool and collected and didn’t give up anything else the rest of the way while Staal outworked the Bruins centers on faceoffs. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask stopped 33 shots in the loss.

The loss for Boston snapped the Bruins three game win streak and for Pittsburgh earned them a bit of redemption after their failure to close things out on Monday. The Bruins did get a scare late in the game as concussion-addled star center Marc Savard was crunched into the boards after a big, solid hit from Deryk Engelland. Savard was down momentarily and went to the bench looking dazed. It’ll be worth watching to see how he responds after the fact.