BOSTON – Six minutes decided Tuesday’s game, and the Boston Bruins spent the final 54 minutes holding on to the lead.
The Bruins (34-21-5) picked up a 2-1 win on Tuesday night, taking down the Pittsburgh Penguins (31-16-13) to pick up their 11th straight home victory. All of the action happened in the first six minutes. After that, it was lockdown defense and another superb performance from the goaltender.
“He’s Sway again,” Marco Sturm said after the game. “Like, just exactly the guy we had all year long.”
“He was the reason why we won this game today.”
Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves on Tuesday, with 28 of them coming in the final 40 minutes. Eight of the 34 were high-danger saves. The Penguins scored on their first shot, but Swayman closed the door for the rest of the night.
“It’s one shot at a time,” Swayman said about maintaining focus after the early goal. “No matter, you know, if that goal goes in any time of the game, it’s a next shot mentality. I think that the guys give me a ton of confidence. I know that nothing wavers on the bench. They play hard, and I want to do the same for them and just give them that confidence every single shift.”
The guys in front of him responded quickly.
Marat Khusnutdinov tied the game 4:28 later. He used a Fraser Minten screen and picked his corner with the shot.
Then, 50 seconds after the tying goal, Casey Mittelstadt buried his 13th of the season. He had a wide-open net, which caught him by surprise.
“Yeah, but it kind of surprised me, to be honest,” Mittelstadt said about the open-net. “I lost the puck, and all of a sudden it was right there. So thankfully, I didn’t have too much time to think.”
Image courtesy of NaturalStatTrick
In the second and third periods, the game shifted in Pittsburgh’s favor. The Penguins generated 41 attempts to the Bruins’ 28 at 5-on-5, and held a 28-16 advantage in shots in the last two periods.
Entering this game, the Penguins had the third-best power play in the NHL (26.8%). The Bruins’ penalty kill ranked 27th (76.7%).
The Penguins had four power play opportunities on Tuesday night, but could not convert on one. They were without Sidney Crosby, who has a team-leading 10 power play goals this season. For a Bruins’ penalty kill that struggled since the New Year, whatever changes the team made are showing early signs of success.
“We did some few changes,” Hampus Lindholm said about the penalty kill. “And Kells (Chris Kelly) is coming in with some good energy and helping us out, putting us in a good spot to succeed.”
Marco Sturm concurred, although he too did not specify what changed.
“First of all, the players buying in [to] what we try to do,” Marco Sturm said after the game. “Because we changed, definitely something, and the goal is to get things going right away. It was not easy, because guys were at the Olympics and you only have a few practices. So our practice is actually the game.”
The win marked the Bruins’ 11th straight at the TD Garden; their last home loss was on December 23, 2025.
“It’s excitement,” Swayman said. “It’s really fun to come to the rink and understand that we have a real chance at our ultimate goal. That’s something that we can rally around, especially at this time of year. We get through this week, and we know that we are pushing together, all for each other, and obviously for this incredible fanbase.”
“We’ve been so comfortable here,” Mikey Eyssimont added. “Our fans help us out so much, I’m not even just saying that, we truly feel it on the bench. Even before the game, we’re excited to be here.”
As the Bruins continue to push for the playoffs, the team will practice on Wednesday at Warrior Ice Arena. They will be in Nashville for a game against the Predators (27-26-8) on Thursday night.