Strong finishing kick looked familiar for Bruins

WILMINGTON, Mass. – The Bruins have faded in many second or third periods on home ice this season, so finishing up strongly against the Penguins in a highly charged game on Wednesday night was exactly what was needed for the Black and Gold.

They battled to a 2-1 lead after the first 40 minutes, but then kicked in overdrive for three goals in the closing 20 minutes to really finish off the Penguins in a playoff-style 5-1 victory at TD Garden. Tuukka Rask stood tall with 41 saves and David Pastrnak scored a pair of electric goals to lead the offense, but it was the closing kick for a strong-looking Black and Gold club that had optimism abounding after it was all over.

“Obviously we wanted to improve our home record and stop giving up a lot of goals in general,” said Tuukka Rask. “You know we still gave up a lot of shots, but I thought it was a great defensive effort. We battled hard, and kept the goals-against down, and got the win.”

Instead of appearing like a young, nervous and undisciplined group straying from the offensive and defensive structure, the Bruins avoided the crushing breakdowns so prevalent at home games. Boston eventually won the war of wills with a Penguins club chasing them in the standings, and in doing so had a bit of a throwback performance while getting stronger as the game went along.

“It felt like some of the wins that I’ve been a part of [on past Bruins teams] for sure,” said Torey Krug. “It just goes to show that if we play our system for the full 60 minutes, then it’s eventually going to wear the other team down.

“I think Tuukka obviously played a big part of it, but we were able to wear down their defense, and they got a little frustrated when they weren’t allowed to make any plays. That resulted in turnovers, and it just goes to show that if we stick to our guns then things are going to be okay.”

The Bruins were still outshot by a 14-11 margin in the final 20 minutes against a Penguins team in chase mode, but it classic Claude Julien-coaching that had the Pittsburgh settling for largely perimeter offense against the motivated Bruins. It may not happen every night over the next couple of months, but it bodes well for the current B’s stretch of 11 games out of 14 against playoff competition the next month.