{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
National Hockey League
Boston 6, Pittsburgh 2
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, December 18, 2015
Where: Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Referees: Dean Morton, Ian Walsh
Linesmen: Matt MacPherson, Mark Shewchyk
Attendance: 18585

PITTSBURGH -- Boston Bruins rookie center Frank Vatrano couldn't seem to stop scoring, getting a hat trick in only his 17th NHL game. The Pittsburgh Penguins, already on their second coach, can't seem to stop losing.

Vatrano's three goals combined with center Patrice Bergeron's two more to lead the Bruins scored to a sweep in a home-and-home series against the Penguins, winning 6-2 Friday night.

Left winger Loui Eriksson also had a goal for Boston.

The Bruins scored goals four different ways -- 5-on-5, 4-on-4, short-handed and on the power play -- to support goaltender Tuukka Rask, who made 30 saves in improving to 8-0-2 in his last 10 games. The Bruins are 11-2-2 on the road this season.

"We got a lot from everybody, from the goaltender to the d's (defensemen), who continue to play (well) in front of Tuukka ... and we're finding ways to score goals," said Bruins coach Claude Julien, whose team followed up a 3-0 win in Boston on Wednesday.

The Bruins are 10-1-1 in their last 12 against the Penguins, including playoff games. The Penguins, 1-5-1 in their last seven overall, lost their fourth in a row and are 0-3 under new coach Mike Sullivan, who coached Boston from 2003-06.

"Let's face it, there are a lot of doubters right now," Sullivan said. "But I believe we can pull this group together. It's a long season, we have a lot of hockey left and, for me, when you get on the other side of these experiences, it makes your group stronger. That's what we're going to do, get on the other side of this."

Penguins rookie right winger Conor Sheary scored his first NHL goal and added an assist, and center Sidney Crosby had two assists but the NHL's 28th-ranked offense did little else against Rask, who won his last five. Pittsburgh was 0-for-5 on the power play and is 0-for-19 in its last seven games.

The Bruins led 3-2 entering the third period, then scored three more times against goalie Jeff Zatkoff, with Bergeron making it 4-2 only 35 seconds into the period with an alert goal off a rebound of a Zdeno Chara shot off the glass. Vatrano scored twice in the period; he had two goals in his first 16 games.

"It (the hat trick) is a little bit sooner than expected, obviously, but I'm glad I was rewarded and it's even better to celebrate a hat trick with a win," Vatrano said.

Sheary, who made his NHL debut Wednesday night in Boston, moved up to Crosby's top line after less than 17 minutes of playing time and immediately produced a goal. Crosby gathered the puck following left winger Chris Kunitz's hit on center Patrice Bergeron along the boards and found Sheary in the low slot for a wrister at 8:20.

Sheary said he "tried to stick to my game," rather than adjusting it considerably to play on Crosby's line in only his second NHL game. The goal stopped Rask's scoreless streak of 150:49 against Pittsburgh.

But Sheary's former teammate at the University of Massachusetts, Vatrano, answered 1:43 later by snapping off a shot from the top of the left circle for his third goal.

Bergeron scored Boston's sixth short-handed goal of the season to make it 2-1 only 1:03 into the second period after center Brad Marchand outfought three Penguins for the puck and fed Bergeron for a wrist shot from the high slot.

Defenseman Trevor Daley scored his first goal for Pittsburgh four days after being traded by the Chicago Blackhawks. Daley scored on a slap shot from high above the right circle at 2:39, but Boston regained the lead with another special-teams goal.

Only 17 seconds after Penguins defenseman Ian Cole went off for high sticking, Eriksson was denied by Zatkoff on his first two attempts only to put a third into the net for a power-play goal and his 12th goal of the season. Boston's power play leads the league.

Zatkoff started back-to-back NHL games for the first time because of normal No. 1 Marc-Andre Fleury's concussion.

"It's been different things every game," said Crosby, the former NHL scoring champion who has only one goal in 10 games and six in 31 games. "The fact is, we've got to find a way to win a hockey game."

NOTES: Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury, who played in 25 of the first 30 games, is expected to miss about a week with a concussion. ... The Bruins scratched RW Tyler Randell, D Joe Morrow and D Zach Trotman. ... Penguins rookie RW Conor Sheary received a promotion after one NHL game to join C Sidney Crosby's top line, which includes Chris Kunitz at left wing. Sheary made his NHL debut on Wednesday night in Boston, playing 16:41. ... Penguins C Nick Bonino returned after missing one game with an illness. ... Bruins coach Claude Julien on RW Jimmy Hayes: "He's a big man who has to play that (big man's) game." ... Crosby scored his first NHL goal on Oct. 8, 2005, against Boston when new Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was Bruins coach. ... Sullivan said D Kris Letang (upper-body injury) remains day-to-day. ... Former Penguins C Max Talbot, who scored both goals in Pittsburgh's 2-1 victory in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit, played his fifth game for Boston since being recalled from the Bruins' top farm club. ... Pittsburgh held out D Adam Clendening, RW Daniel Sprong and Fleury.
Top Game Performances
 
Boston   Pittsburgh
Ryan Spooner 4 Points Conor Sheary 2
Frank Vatrano 3 Goals Conor Sheary 1
Ryan Spooner 4 Assists Sidney Crosby 2
Loui Eriksson 1 Power Play Goals N/A
Patrice Bergeron 1 Short Handed Goals N/A
Tuukka Rask .938 Save Percentage Jeff Zatkoff .824
Tuukka Rask 30 Saves Jeff Zatkoff 28
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Boston 34 6 1-4 5-5 12 38
Pittsburgh 32 2 0-5 3-4 10 35
Upcoming Games
  • Pittsburgh will play their next game at home against Carolina. The Penguins have a W/L % of .533 after a win and .438 after a loss.
  • Boston will play their next game at home against New Jersey. The Bruins have a W/L % of .588 after a win and .571 after a loss.