Penguins recover, end Bruins win streak at three

PITTSBURGH-- Casey DeSmith made 48 saves, and Jake Guentzel scored midway through the third period to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 5-3 win against the Boston Bruins at PPG Paints Arena on Friday.

DeSmith's previous NHL career high was 42 on Dec. 4 in a 6-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche.

"It's always fun when you're getting peppered, as long as you come out on the right side of things," DeSmith said. "This league is really hard to play in, and there's no bad teams anymore. So it doesn't matter if it's the Chicago Blackhawks], Boston or [the Tampa Bay Lightning]. Everybody's really good. You're going to have to compete every night, whether you're home or away, to win. I thought we did that tonight."
***[WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Penguins highlights]*
After the Bruins came back with two goals to tie it 3-3 at 8:02 of the third period, Guentzel deflected a shot from Kris Letang to make it 4-3 at 10:47. The goal was Guentzel's second in nine games since scoring his first regular-season NHL hat trick Nov. 24 in a 4-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Zach Aston-Reese scored twice and had an assist for the Penguins (14-11-6), who are 4-1-1 in their past six games. He scored into an empty net with six seconds remaining to make it 5-3.

Chris Wagner and David Krejci scored 54 seconds apart in the third period for the Bruins (17-11-4), who had a three-game winning streak end. Jaroslav Halak made 23 saves.
"The way we came back, it felt like the momentum was on our side," Krejci said. "Tough break. I lost a defensive zone face-off. It's back in the net. When you need momentum, that's a momentum killer. It's hard to bounce back."
Derek Grant put the Penguins ahead 1-0 at 17:48 of the first period before Phil Kessel made it 2-0 at 1:56 of the second. Evgeni Malkin passed to Kessel in the left face-off circle for a one-timer.

Brandon Carlo made it 2-1 at 11:53 of the second with a slap shot into the left corner of the net. It ended Carlo's goal drought of 115 games dating to March 4, 2017.
"It had been a long while," Carlo said. "But I feel like with the way that I'm starting to put the puck to the net a little bit more, the opportunities were coming for me to shoot the puck, tonight especially. I thought it was going to come soon. You hope that they come, but it felt really good to put that one in the back of the net."

Aston-Reese scored shorthanded to make it 3-1 with 59 seconds left in the second on a wrist shot blocker side.
Wagner cut it to 3-2 with a slap shot at 7:08 of the third before Krejci tied it 3-3 at 8:02 on a wrist shot two seconds after linemate David Pastrnak hit the crossbar.

They said it

"[Carlo] is not a go-to guy by any means. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but I think he's a guy that is rangy enough, skates well enough and will find pucks up top there. They find him. So he can shoot it. Fairly accurate when he's on, so hopefully that's a monkey off his back and he gets going." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy
"I thought they had a lot of zone time when we were up a couple of goals. They obviously pushed. I think it was indicative of that. I thought we could've done a better job managing the puck. We fed their transition game a little bit in the second period. I thought we turned the puck over five or six times at both blue lines. ... We've got to be more willing to put pucks behind defense and establish a forecheck and create offense different ways." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan on being outshot 51-28
"I know [Letang] is going to shoot it. Just kind of put my stick there and hit it. ... [Sidney Crosby] kind of gave the nod, so we knew it was coming. Obviously, a great play by Sid on the draw." -- Penguins forward Jake Guentzel on his goal

Need to know

Letang left after colliding with Bruins forward Joakim Nordstrom late in the third period. Sullivan did not provide an update following the game. ... Bruins forward David Backes played after taking a skate to his face in a 4-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday. He had four shots in 16:08. ... Penguins goalie Matt Murray backed up DeSmith for a second straight game after missing nine with a lower-body injury. Murray has not started since allowing three goals on 10 shots in the first period against the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 17. ... Kessel played his 277th consecutive game to pass Nick Harbaruk for fourth in Penguins history.

What's next

Bruins: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; NHLN, NESN, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Penguins: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, ATTSN-PT, FS-W, NHL.TV)