| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Herb Brooks says the Pittsburgh Penguins
haven't had enough time yet to learn his system. Try telling them that.
|  | | Pittsburgh's Martin Straka, center, celebrates his goal against Boston goalie Robbie Tallas. |
German Titov scored Pittsburgh's first short-handed goal this
season and the Penguins beat the Boston Bruins 4-2 Tuesday night
for their third straight victory under Brooks.
Martin Straka and Matthew Barnaby also scored for the Penguins,
who were six games under .500 before Brooks replaced Kevin
Constantine on Thursday but have since sliced that margin in half.
"I'm happy with the chemistry we've got going," Brooks said.
"That's something that really matters in the locker room. We've
got guys that have won the Olympics, world championships, Stanley
Cups. Their attitude is very professional."
The Penguins again played the up-tempo, crisscrossing European
style that Brooks prefers, yet limited Boston's scoring chances as Jean-Sebastien Aubin played his fourth consecutive strong game by
making 24 saves.
"They have two very dangerous lines going, and they're very
European," the Bruins' Rob DiMaio said. "If you let them wheel
and deal, it may be fun to watch but it's hard to play against
them."
Aubin allowed six goals while going 3-1 during Tom Barrasso's
four-game suspension for slashing Toronto's Yanic Perreault, only
to be rewarded only with a return trip to Wilkes-Barre-Scranton of
the AHL.
Because Aubin makes $300,000 if he stays on Pittsburgh's roster
but only $45,000 if he plays in the minors, the Penguins are
shuttling him to and from the minors between NHL starts.
"I'm not worried about going back again," said Aubin, who is
6-6 in Pittsburgh and 1-6 in Wilkes-Barre-Scranton. "For sure, I'd
like to be playing now, but for sure I'd like to be here. If I have
to go there to play, I'll go to the minors ... and wait until next
year."
Peter Skudra, a backup who hasn't played nearly as well as
Aubin, has stayed in Pittsburgh because he makes his $550,000
salary regardless of where he plays.
Aubin made a pair of goal-saving stops to keep Pittsburgh in the
lead. He stopped DiMaio's breakaway shortly after Titov's goal put
Pittsburgh up 2-1, then made a nice glove save of Joe Murphy's
backhander after Barnaby's tip-in made it 3-1 in the third.
"We had some chances we had to bury and we didn't bury them,"
Bruins coach Pat Burns said. "When you get opportunities like that
and don't bury them, they really hurt you."
The Bruins, coming off a 2-0 victory Monday over Phoenix that
stopped a four-game winless streak, are 1-3-2 in their last six
games.
Winning for the eighth time in their last nine home games, Pittsburgh
opened a 1-0 lead at 13:17 of the first on Straka's third goal.
Anson Carter's 10th goal tied it at 9:02 of the second, but a
rare defensive mistake by longtime All-Star Ray Bourque led to
Pittsburgh's go-ahead goal.
Bourque, who spent much of the night shadowing NHL scoring
leader Jaromir Jagr, gave the puck away in the Pittsburgh zone.
Alexei Kovalev raced in from the neutral zone and put a deflected
shot on Robbie Tallas that Titov batted in for his ninth goal. It
was the second short-handed goal allowed by Boston.
"We have a lot more opportunities to score goals right now,"
defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. "We just have to find a way to
score more."
Barnaby scored his third at 3:13 of the third, tipping in Alexei Morozov's shot from the high slot that ricocheted off the right post.
"Barnaby's goal was the killer," said Tallas, who made his
first start since Nov. 17. "He goes to the net and the puck hits
the post. Any other time, it's going to hit me or come right back
out, this time it hits him and goes in and it's the game-winning goal."
Dave Andreychuk's 16th goal again made it a one-goal game at
13:34 of the third before Jan Hrdina scored into an empty net at
19:34, with Straka and Jagr getting assists.
| |
ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Boston Clubhouse
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
RECAPS
New Jersey 7
Los Angeles 1
Edmonton 4
NY Islanders 2
Pittsburgh 4
Boston 2
Nashville 4
Tampa Bay 4
Buffalo 3
Philadelphia 1
Calgary 1
St. Louis 1
Chicago 5
San Jose 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 The puck gets past Boston goalie Rob Tallas.
avi: 575 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
|
