• Who: Penguins (31-17-14) vs. Bruins (35-22-5)
• What: NHL regular season, Game 63
• When: 4:52 p.m.
• Where: PPG Paints Arena
• Goaltenders: Arturs Silovs (13-8-8, .900 SV%) vs. Joonas Korpisalo (11-9-2, .893 SV%)
• TV: TNT, truTV
• Stream: HBO Max
• Satellite: SiriusXM 219
• Radio: Penguins Radio Network
• Boxscore: NHL.com
• Media notes: Penguins | Bruins
► FOLLOW ALONG
• GOAL. Novak. Loose puck collected after a Chinakhov stickhandling display. Penguins win, 5-4, at :17 mark.
• End regulation. It’s a point. And, in all likelihood, of course, the only one they’ll get.
• No idea why Koivunen’s out there.
• Just 1:12 left. One would think both teams prefer to ensure the point, but that’s not how this has looked.
• Refs wait forever to blow a whistle after Acciari’s visibly hurt sliding into the end boards. What a league. What was he doing, faking it? They didn’t see/hear what happened?
• Good sliding play by Girard to break up a pass to Zacha.
• Time: 3:20 left. Good pace for the home team. Command, too.
• There’s the save I was referencing. Well done by Silovs to stop Minten right in front. That’s a kill.
• Oh, my. Two, three spectacular chances short-handed, but the Penguins just can’t get it to go. Thought Acciari could’ve hit a vacated net. Insane in here.
• Could probably use a save here.
• Wotherspoon’s off for clipping Lindholm with a high stick on a Boston rush. 6:32 left.
• This is no longer a Boston kinda game. Just saying.
• Fourth line nearly puts Penguins ahead. Puck skips through crease past Lizotte.
• GOAL. Mantha again. This is wild.Korpisalo can’t corral a Wotherspoon flick from the right point, and Mantha buries it. Other assist: Karlsson. Time: 11:18, third period. Tie, 4-4
• GOAL. And it’s all given right back. Zacha hat trick. Kindel totally lost him. This hasn’t been a good weekend for the kid at all. Long way to go in his defensive development. Assists: Arvidsson, Apirot. Time: 8:34, third period. Bruins, 4-3
• GOAL. Mantha breakaway. Wow. Bedlam in here. Gorgeous head-man from Novak. Other assist: Solovyov. Time: 6:35, third period. Tie, 3-3
• GOAL. Dewar. Spectacular backhand snipe. Hard to even describe. Stopped on a dime after a dump to the end boards and just chopped it up past Korpisalo. Assists: Shea, Silovs. Time: 6:02, second period. Bruins, 3-2
• That’s a kill.
• Bruins buzzing on the power play. One good save from Silovs.
• That’s period. Bad period capped by a bad penalty from Solovyov to end it. Can’t take a guy down at center red with 3.4 seconds left.
• Muse should’ve used his time out there to keep his main guys out. Golden chance to get back in it.
• GOAL. Chinakhov. Two men up. Long-range wrister. Unfair. Bruins, 3-1
• Now Lindholm’s off for whacking Karlsson’s wrists on a rush. That one’s legit. But it also never gets called if the score’s tight.
• Obligatory power play handed to the Penguins because the score’s getting too lopsided. Nobody on the Boston side did anything wrong. Sturm’s freaking out on the bench, and he’s right.
• GOAL. Pastrnak. Assist: Silovs. Time: 12:23, second period. Bruins, 3-0
• Always four Boston players down low defensively. Some things never change. Solid box. If anyone thought offense was tough to come by before this, just wait.
• GOAL. Zacha again. Way too easy. Dekes out Kindel, then undresses Silovs. Assists: Arvidsson, Aspirot. Time: 8:47, second period. Bruins, 2-0
• Those of you who are in the arena here, do an isolated shift on Girard. You won’t believe it.
• How in hell was Koivunen AHL player of the month just now? Where is this player?
• Second period’s underway.
• If the Penguins are mad at Letang, then scratch Letang. If they’re mad at Girard, then scratch Girard. Punishing Clifton for the sins of others ain’t it.
• That’s period. And it would’ve been a fine period if only the fourth line had logged all 20 minutes.
• More offense from the fourth line. Still none from the other three.
• Well, at least Lizotte showed up.
• The place just died with that goal. Like library-level.
• It’s Shea who failed to clear and then had his momentum carry him out of the zone. The goal’s wholly on him. He knew it, too.
• GOAL. Zacha’s 17th. Power-play one-timer from the right dot. No way that last pass should’ve made it through the PK box so easily. Big blunder. Assists: Geekie, McAvoy. Time: 9:27, first period. Bruins, 1-0
• Chinakhov’s off for a trip that created a scoring chance. Easy call.
• Quality pace for the home side in the early going. Especially (as ever) the fourth line. Couple really close calls for goals, too.
• Faceoff: Rakell vs. Zacha, 4:52 p.m.
• And for Dan Muse’s guys, a few changes from yesterday:
Egor Chinakhov-Rickard Rakell-Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha-Tommy Novak-Ville Koivunen
Elmer Soderblom-Ben Kindel-Avery Hayes
Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Kris Letang
Sam Girard-Ilya Solovyov
• Marco Sturm’s lines and pairings:
Marat Khusnutdinov-Elias Lindholm-David Pastrnak
Casey Mittelstadt-Pavel Zacha-Viktor Arvidsson
Mikey Eyssimont-Fraser Minten-Morgan Geekie
Tanner Jeannot-Sean Kuraly-Mark Kastelic
Jonathan Aspirot-Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm-Mason Lohrei
Nikita Zadorov-Andrew Peeke