By Danny Picard
CSNNE.com
BOSTON -- @font-facefont-family: "Times New Roman";p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormalmargin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; table.MsoNormalTablefont-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; div.Section1page: Section1; Perhaps this game didnt belong in overtime, but that's where it ended, as thePenguins defeated the Bruins 3-2 in the extra period on Saturday night at theTD Garden, thanks to Dustin Jeffreys game-winning goal with 3:08 left in OT.
It came just moments after David Krejcis goal, with 32.5seconds left in regulation, tied the game at 2-2. Krejci sniped the top-leftcorner from the slot, thanks to a key Tomas Kaberle block on an empty-net bidby Matt Cooke on the other end.
Kaberles block started the Bruins rush up ice, and the Bstook advantage, sending the game into overtime, and getting at least one pointout of it.
The Penguins had taken a 2-1 lead into the third period,thanks to goals from Jordan Staal and Dustin Jeffrey, 1:10 apart. The goalscame just minutes after Zdeno Chara had given the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
@font-facefont-family: "Times New Roman";p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormalmargin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; table.MsoNormalTablefont-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; div.Section1page: Section1;"They were on the puck, and we were doing a lot ofwatching, I thought, in that second period," said Bruins coach Claude Julien after the loss. "They just took the game away fromus at that point.
"To me, we played probably half a game."
Boston Bruins
Chara put the Bruins up 1-0 after he sniped the top shelf with a wrister from the highslot. But credit the entire play to David Krejcis wizard-like talents. Krejcitook the puck over the blue line, and sent a backhand sauce-pass to a wide openChara, who stepped in and had all day to pick the corner of his choice.
The Penguins got right back into the game, less than threeminutes after Charas goal, when Jordan Staal tied the game at 1-1. Staalconverted on a 2-on-1 with Tyler Kennedy, after Johnny Boychuk made a bad pinchat the Pittsburgh blue line to try and keep the puck in the offensive zone.Boychuk can be blamed for that one.
Exactly 1:10 after Staal tied the game, Dustin Jeffrey putthe Penguins up 2-1 after he beat Tim Thomas with a low, cross-body shot fromthe slot. The Bruins were caught flat-footed defensively, and seemed to be outof it for a few minutes after Boychuks decision to pinch.
Danny Picard is on Twitter at http:twitter.comDannyPicard. You can listen to Danny on his streaming radio show I'm Just Sayin'Monday-Friday from 9-10 a.m. on CSNNE.com.