The Boston Bruins kept the good times rolling on Thursday night as they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in a shootout for their fourth straight win.

Claude Julien smartened up sending Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand in secession to take on Ben Bishop. Bergeron and Marchand scored while Tuukka Rask stopped both shots en route to his 28th victory of the season.

It was a very physical and high energy game from start to finish Thursday. Boston mustered 15 total shots after the first period including overtime and somehow still held on to get two points.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Black and Gold as they now travel to Pittsburgh to face off against the Penguins who are coming off a 6-4 win against the Edmonton Oilers.

The Penguins sit as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference — and third in the Metropolitan Division — while sporting a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 contests.

The last meeting between these two teams Bergeron scored in overtime to lift the B’s to a 3-2 win. Stakes will be even higher Saturday afternoon with teams fighting for playoff position.

Here is your complete Bruins-Penguins preview:

Gametime: 1:00 PM
Records: Bruins 35-22-10 (80 points)/Penguins 39-18-10 (88 points)
TV/Radio: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Location: CONSOL Energy Center

Bruins’ projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Milan Lucic-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak
Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Max Talbot

Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg-Matt Bartkowski
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

Penguins’ projected lines:

David Perron-Sidney Crosby-Patric Hornqvist
Chris Kunitz-Evgeni Malkin-Black Comeau
Daniel Winnik-Brandon Sutter-Beau Bennett
Nick Spaling-Maxim Lapierre-Steve Downie

Paul Martin-Kris Letang
Derrick Pouliot-Ben Lovejoy
Rob Scuderi-Ian Cole

Marc-Andre Fleury
Thomas Greiss

Who to watch for Bruins: David Pastrnak

We saw the skill this 18 year-old has in one-five minute overtime, especially in a 3-on-3 situation. He was racing up and down the ice, curling and dragging while almost burying one top corner past Bishop and he isn’t afraid to shoot.

On Boston.com: 3-on-3 OT a sign of things to come?

Pastrnak scored his ninth goal on Thursday night against the Lightning and has points in 11 of his last 15 games including two goals and two assists in his last five games.

The new-look line of Lucic-Spooner-Pastrnak has carried the B’s as of late with Carl Soderberg and Chris Kelly struggling.

Pastrnak will be facing off against a bunch of skilled guys yet again on Saturday afternoon, but he has some nifty moves of his own that he needs to continue to display if the B’s want to continue to climb up the standings.

Who to watch for Penguins: Brandon Sutter

Let’s take the focus off of Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby for once. Sutter is having a fine season at age 26. The centerman has 15 goals and 12 assists on the season including four short-handed goals that lead the NHL.

In his team’s 6-4 victory over Edmonton Thursday night, Sutter scored twice, including one short-handed goal. He also added six shots and played right around 15 minutes for the night.

During the last contest with the B’s on January 7th in Pittsburgh, Sutter was a non-factor. He had four shots on net in just over 20 minutes of ice time and won just 26 percent of his face-offs.

Sutter has points in five of his last nine games where his team has been clicking as of late.

Game Day Edge: Continue with confidence

Ever since the trade deadline was over and the Black and Gold knew what team was going to finish the season in Boston, they have been nearly unstoppable. The B’s are 6-0-1 over their last seven games and they are playing with confidence.

Their mindset should not change this weekend in Pittsburgh. The B’s play the Pens tough and for the most part know how to contain Crosby and Malkin.

The B’s have scored the first goal in 10 straight games and their goaltender is playing at a Vezina level right now. That can’t sit well with the Pens. Score the first goal in 11 straight games, take the crowd out of it and play with confidence. If that’s the case, the Black and Gold will have a chance to take the first wild card spot away from the Washington Capitals Sunday night at the Verizon Center.