Thomas shuts out Penguins
Bruins goalie posts 14th career shutout; Crosby pointless in 5 games
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 | 1:17 AM ET
The Associated Press
Mark Stuart, left, of the Bruins and the Penguins' Jordan Staal fight for the puck. (Elsa/Getty Images)Tim Thomas stopped 27 shots for his second shutout of the season, and Sidney Crosby was held without a point for the fifth straight game as the Boston Bruins beat the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Matt Hunwick backhanded a rebound under the crossbar, then had to wait 77 seconds for a whistle so NHL officials could consult a video replay and give Boston the goal.
Mark Recchi had the 900th assist of his career, Daniel Paille had his first goal with the Bruins, and Patrice Bergeron added a short-handed empty-netter with 3.5 seconds left as Boston won back-to-back games for the first time all season.
Thomas recorded his 14th shutout — passing Andy Moog for 10th on the Bruins' career list — while handing Pittsburgh its second straight shutout.
The Penguins have not scored in 149 minutes nine seconds and have lost three straight games — all away from home — after opening the season 7-0 on the road.
It is the longest losing streak of the season for the Penguins, and their longest since Dan Bylsma took over as head coach on Feb. 15 and led them to the Stanley Cup championship. Marc-André Fleury made 26 saves.
"We've got to find a way to score some goals," Crosby, who recorded only two shots, said. "That's the way it's been going the last week or two for us. It's been a long road trip, longer when you don't win. We've got to find a way to play better."
Pittsburgh — already without Stanley Cup playoffs MVP Evgeni Malkin, along with Kris Letang, Sergei Gonchar and Tyler Kennedy — lost former Boston College defenceman Brooks Orpik in the first period to an unspecified injury.
And you don't need to look any farther than that to understand Crosby's scoring slump, Bruins coach Claude Julien said.
"Being honest, it was a lot easier because we didn't have a lot of guys to focus on," he said. "They're the defending Stanley Cup champs, and when they're healthy they have a lot of firepower. It was a lot easier to focus on him, with a lot of the other guys out of their lineup."
Hunwick scored at 18:24 of the second period, but it took a bit longer for the goal to count.
After he beat Fleury, three Bruins began celebrating and the TD Garden foghorn sounded, but the referee waved off the goal, and play continued until the next whistle with 17:07 left on the clock.
Referee Bill McCreary went over to talk to the replay official and soon signalled for the goal to count, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead and resetting the clock to the time of the goal.
With 16:26 left in the game, Recchi found Paille alone in the Penguins' zone and he beat Fleury on the stick side to make it 2-0.
The Penguins pulled the goalie for an extra attacker with a minute left, then got a two-man skating advantage on a Boston penalty.
But Bergeron bounced a shot from the middle of the Boston zone into the empty net to make it 3-0.
