Second period Quick hits:

It was a very uneventful second period for the Black and Gold, but they luckily still hold a 1-0 lead over the Penguins with 20 minutes to play.

-Seconds after the puck drop, it’s almost as if the Pens had a set play on the man-advantage that led to their best chance of the night, but Tuukka Rask made a great toe save to keep the score at 1-0. The Black and Gold went on to kill Loui Eriksson’s penalty.

-Injury news: Evgeni Malkin who was hurt in the first period then returned, was not present on the Pens bench to start the second. That is a situation we need to keep an eye on.

-The B’s penalty kill stayed strong in the second period thanks to the absence of Crosby and Malkin, but give the shorthanded unit credit as they are limiting scoring opportunities for the Penguins. Boston is 3-for-3 on the kill today.

-Rask continues to sizzle in March. Through two periods of play, the Finnish net-minder has turned away all 22 shots thrown on him by the desperate Pens.

-Blake Comeau has been all over the ice today in the absence of Malkin and Crosby with a game high in hits (6) and shots (6) through two periods.

Second period stats:

-Penguins have four giveaways through two periods to the Bruins one.

-Bruins still winning in the face-off department by a 24-17 margin.

-Dennis Seidenberg leading all Bruins skaters with 15:43 of total ice time.

-The stats are on the Bruins side after the second period. When leading after 40 minutes this season, they have a record of 25-1-2. The Penguins haven’t won yet when trailing after two periods (0-11-5).

Tuukka Rask and Thomas Greiss led their respective teams out for this Saturday’s matinee in Pittsburgh. The Bruins will look for their fifth straight win while trying to gain more ground on the idle Washington Capitals.

First period Quick hits:

-What a strange start. As the puck was about to be dropped, word came down that Sidney Crosby was a late scratch. Clearly, a big break for the Bruins as Crosby netted three goals in his last four games not to mention his 70 points on the season. Craig Adams took Crosby’s place. If that wasn’t bad enough, Evgeni Malkin took a clean hit from Chris Kelly but remained on his hands and knees for quite some time just a little over a minute into play. Malkin headed straight to the locker room, but returned halfway through the period.

-For the 11th straight game, the Black and Gold scored the first goal. Milan Lucic scored his 15th goal of the season with a very quick release off a pass from David Pastrnak who showed tremendous vision. It’s Pastrnak’s 10th assist of the year while Dougie Hamilton received the secondary assist, his 30th.

-Boston had a chance to extend their lead as they went on their first power-play of the afternoon (5-for-16 in last four games), but couldn’t despite a number of chances from their first PP unit.

-Claude Julien wasn’t pleased with the penalties his team was committing as of late. Well, the B’s committed two penalties in the game’s first 20 minutes. Zdeno Chara and company killed the first penalty while the B’s penalty kill killed off all of  28 seconds of the second penalty. Pens will remain on the PP as the second period resumes.

First period stats:

-Bruins hold 13-12 edge in the shots department

-Bruins have 11 face-off wins to the Penguins 7

-Neither team has a giveaway

-Bruins are 19-5-2 when leading after the first and 24-7-4 when scoring first. Those are a good omen compared to the Pens, who are 3-12-5 when trailing after 20 minutes and 8-13-5 when allowing the first goal.