Mantha gets 2 goals in 3rd for Pittsburgh; Zacha has hat trick for Boston
Bruins at Penguins | Recap
PITTSBURGH — Tommy Novak scored 17 seconds into overtime, and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from down three goals for a 5-4 win against the Boston Bruins at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.
Novak won it with a one-timer from the slot. Egor Chinakhov drove to the net and had the puck knocked off his stick before gloving it out of midair and chipping a pass to Novak.
“Obviously, they’re right in the race with us too,” Novak said. “So, being able to come back there is, obviously, really big.”
BOS@PIT: Novak snaps shot home 17 seconds into overtime
Anthony Mantha scored two tying goals in the third period, Chinakhov had a goal and an assist, and Erik Karlsson had three assists for the Penguins (32-17-14), who had lost three in a row (0-2-1), including 4-3 in a shootout to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Arturs Silovs made 24 saves.
“You’re down in a game, it’s a game where there’s some opportunities for guys to really step up and make a big play,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “A game where things haven’t gone your way. You just dig into the third period, and you keep staying with it. You want to carry that with you.”
Pavel Zacha scored his second NHL hat trick, David Pastrnak ended an eight-game goal drought, and Viktor Arvidsson and Jonathan Aspirot each had two assists for the Bruins (35-22-6), who are 0-3-4 on the road since a 5-2 win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 17. Joonas Korpisalo made 34 saves.
“Two-goal lead going into the third and playing really, overall, solid defense,” Boston coach Marco Sturm. “Then you just give it up in the third period. Of course, not happy about that, but at the end of the day, it’s a good point for us. Something we have to learn [from] and move forward.”
Chinakhov cut it to 3-1 on a 5-on-3 power play at 14:44 of the second period with a wrist shot from high in the left circle.
BOS@PIT: Chinakhov scores PPG to cut Penguins’ deficit in 2nd period
Connor Dewar and Mantha scored 33 seconds apart early in the third period for the Penguins.
Dewar spun off Aspirot in the left circle for a backhand that cut it to 3-2 at 6:02. Mantha scored with his own backhand on a partial breakaway to tie it 3-3 at 6:35.
Zacha put the Bruins back in front 4-3 at 8:34 with a wrist shot off a pass from Arvidsson, who was behind the net. His only previous NHL hat trick came in a 10-2 win against the New York Rangers on Jan. 10.
“I think it was a good feeling in the moment,” Zacha said. “I think after a loss, you don’t really think about it anymore. We were leading most of the game, so it was a good feeling. I was able to score the third goal, but right after the game, it kind of goes away if you don’t win.”
Mantha tied it 4-4 at 11:18 by knocking down a point shot from Parker Wotherspoon and chipping it in from the crease.
“They had us for two periods there,” Mantha said. “We came in here between the second and the third, we just knew it was going to feel good. We said it in here. … It actually feels really good.”
Zacha put Boston ahead 1-0 on a power play at 9:27 of the first period, dropping to one knee in the right face-off circle for a one-timer.
He made it 2-0 at 8:47 of the second period, stickhandling around Pittsburgh forward Ben Kindel before lifting a backhand over Silovs.
BOS@PIT: Zacha nets three goals vs. Penguins
Pastrnak extended the lead to 3-0 at 12:23. Silovs retrieved the puck along the end boards and attempted a pass to Wotherspoon that Pastrnak intercepted and wrapped around the right post into the vacated net.
The Penguins went on to score five of the final six goals.
“We just should’ve played a little better,” Pastrnak said. “We were able to get another lead and, unfortunately, made too many mistakes. Cost us a point, those mistakes.”
NOTES: Pittsburgh won after trailing by at least three goals in a game without forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for the first time since Feb. 10, 2001 (a 5-4 overtime win against the New Jersey Devils). Crosby missed his seventh straight game with a lower-body injury; Malkin served the second game of a five-game suspension for a slash to the face of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin on Thursday. … Zacha has eight points (four goals, four assists) on a five-game point streak. … Forward Elmer Soderblom had three shots on goal in 10:21 of ice time in his first game for the Penguins since being acquired in a trade from the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. … Pittsburgh forward Justin Brazeau did not play because of an upper-body injury. He is day-to-day. … Mantha is the second Penguins player to score multiple tying goals in the third period of a game, joining Alex Kovalev (March 23, 2002, against the Flyers).
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