Jake DeBrusk scored a pair of third-period goals to lead the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins in Monday afternoon’s NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park.
DeBrusk netted the winner with 2:24 left in regulation, following the play after Taylor Hall cut inside from the left wing and had a backhand shot stopped by Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith.
It was DeBrusk’s fifth goal and seventh point in the last six games for the Bruins, who are 8-0-3 in their last 11 games and have won four of their five all-time outdoor contests.
DeBrusk recorded the 19th multi-goal game in NHL outdoor game history and the second by a Bruins player after David Pastrnak scored a hat trick in the 2021 NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe.
Linus Ullmark (21-1-1) made 26 saves for Boston, holding off a late Pittsburgh flurry on which Evgeni Malkin beat him just after the final buzzer sounded.
Kasperi Kapanen scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh, which is now on a five-game losing streak.
Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry exited the game with 4:30 left in the first period with an apparent lower-body injury. He did not return after stopping the first eight shots he faced.
A Rochester, N.H., native, DeSmith made 19 saves in relief.
The Bruins finished with a 29-27 shots advantage.
Each team was 0-for-3 on the power play.
Pittsburgh had a 14-10 edge in shots in the opening period, but neither team found the back of the net.
Each team did hit the goalpost within a 10-second span as DeBrusk fired a shot from the left circle off iron, leading to an odd-man rush opportunity for Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel.
Kapanen opened the scoring 8:40 into the second period, slotting home former Bruin Danton Heinen’s feed from behind the net with a wrist shot from his knees just outside the left circle.
Jeff Carter also assisted on Kapanen’s goal, marking his second helper in as many Winter Classic games at Fenway. He was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010.
DeSmith logged three big saves in the final 20 seconds of the middle frame, knocking down a David Pastrnak wrister with his glove before the period ended.
Just after a power play expired, the Bruins netted the tying goal with 12:14 left in regulation. DeBrusk spun free to score at the net front after Brad Marchand deked around a defender and dropped a pass from the right side.
–By Josh Kummins, Field Level Media