Game 11: Showdown In Pittsburgh

For all of the hype that has surrounded the individual games that the Boston Bruins have played so far this season, only a select few are worthy of circulation on the calendar. 

Wednesday night was certainly one of those games. 

The Black and Gold were featured on "Wednesday Night Rivalry" for the second straight week. Last week, Loui Eriksson suffered a concussion. What would happen this week?

The Bruins were in action against the Pittsburgh Penguins. We all remember what happened last season in regards to the Penguins. In somewhat slick fashion, they acquired several veteran players (including Jarome Iginla) at the trade deadline to make a serious run at the Stanley Cup. The "lock" that Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli described them as proved to be inaccurate. The Bruins went on to sweep the Pens in the Eastern Conference Finals, receiving brief satisfaction and a sense of redemption. 

Now, a new season is upon us. This rivalry will write a new chapter and it started on Wednesday night. 

After a very hard-hitting and entertaining opening period, both teams remained scoreless. Tuukka Rask was outstanding for Boston and that continued into the second period. However, he was not invincible when it came to the Penguins power play. Chris Kunitz deflected a shot past Rask with the man advantage to give Pittsburgh the lead. 

In the third period, the Bruins started to play more physical. This created more scoring chances for them late in the game. Patrice Bergeron notched a goal by deflecting a shot by Dennis Seidenberg past Pens netminder Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game. At the end of the night, it was Pittsburgh standing tall. They added two more goals in the third period and rode their solid defensive play to the end. Iginla added a late goal for Boston, but it was not enough. The Penguins took this game by a score of 3-2.

The Bruins will play on Halloween night back at home against the Anaheim Ducks. 

Gold Star: Patrice Bergeron...Even without his goal, he played excellent at both ends of the ice.

Black Star: Torey Krug...This was a rare struggle for the youngster. He let skaters dance around him all game, including on the goal that put the Penguins in the lead for good.