Zacha Scores Twice as Bruins Rout Penguins 6-2 for Third Straight Win

PITTSBURGH — The first shot of the night belonged to Pittsburgh. Everything after it belonged to Boston. Justin Brazeau dropped to one knee in the right face-off circle and snapped the Penguins in front just 9:04 into the game, on the home side's very first shot on goal. For about three minutes it looked like one of those nights where the struggling home team might steal one. Then the Bruins did what they have been doing all season: they answered, and then they kept answering. Pavel Zacha started it. David Pastrnak slipped a saucer feed through the crease off a pass from JJ Peterka, and Zacha buried it high over Arturs Silovs at 12:07 to tie the game 1-1. Less than three minutes later Mark Kastelic tipped a Frederic Brunet point shot home in the slot, and before the period was out Elias Lindholm had made it 3-1, picking off a pass from Erik Karlsson in Pittsburgh's own zone and sliding the puck under Silovs' glove. Three goals in six minutes and fifty seconds, and a game that had started with a Penguins lead was suddenly a rout in progress. Pittsburgh pushed back. Nicholas Robertson redirected a Kaedan Korczak shot for his team-leading seventh goal at 7:57 of the second, cutting it to 3-2. The belief lasted less than seven minutes. Peterka raced down the ice on a two-on-one, drew two Penguins toward him, and found Zacha with a step on his man. Zacha fired it home at 14:24 for his second of the night, and the air went out of the building for good. Morgan Geekie made it 5-2 at 16:57, walking in alone on a breakaway after Hampus Lindholm caught Pittsburgh in the middle of a line change — his third straight game with a goal. Fraser Minten's snap shot at 8:39 of the third closed the scoring at 6-2. Five different Bruins scored, four recorded multiple points, and Pastrnak and Peterka each finished with two assists, both on Zacha's goals. That depth is the story of this Boston team. "We've been deeper this year than in the past, we feel like," head coach Marco Sturm said. "Every line can score and every line can be out there in any time of the game. ... It's always nice to see all the goals, all the lines, contribute." Zacha, who now has five goals and 12 points in 16 games, put it the same way. "When we're playing the right way as lines, I think we find ways," he said. "I think we have a lot of skill but I think when we can kind of add winning the battles and making the wall plays, that's how we scored some goals. ... I think every line can score, which is great." Geekie was blunter. "I think we rely on our structure a lot throughout the game and we kind of just wait for mistakes," he said. "Sometimes it takes 60 minutes to finally see a breakthrough." The numbers back up the talk. Boston improved to 12-4-1 and has now won 10 of its last 13, sitting on top of the Atlantic Division, while Michael DiPietro needed only 16 saves. Pittsburgh fell to 5-9-2 with a fourth straight loss, Silovs wearing six goals on 24 shots. One sour note for the winners: rookie James Hagens left early in the third after a crosscheck to the back from Samuel Girard. For Zacha, the night carried a familiar ring — he scored his second career hat trick against these same Penguins back in March. On Thursday he did not need three. Two was plenty.