Penguins complete massive comeback for overtime win against Bruins

King Jemison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Mar 8, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — For their first eight periods against Boston this season, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ offense did almost nothing. They scored just two goals.

But something clicked in their final period versus the Bruins on Sunday. They scored twice within 33 seconds and added another five minutes later to flip a game that was hurtling out of control for the home team.

That sudden offensive emergence earned the Penguins a much-needed point. And for just the fifth time in 19 overtime games this season, they picked up the second as well.

Tommy Novak fired home an overtime winner, and the Penguins beat the Bruins, 5-4, at PPG Paints Arena. Pittsburgh came back from a 3-0 deficit in one of the team’s gutsiest and most important win of the year.

With his team trailing 3-1, Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea launched a stretch pass off the end boards that looked destined to be icing. But Connor Dewar beat the Bruins’ Jonathan Aspirot to the dot and pulled off a wicked spinning backhand move to bring Pittsburgh within one.

And about 30 seconds later, Anthony Mantha got loose on a breakaway and beat Joonas Korpisalo to tie the game.

But just as they did three times in Saturday’s shootout loss to the Flyers, the Penguins surrendered a quick response. A smattering of headwear hit the ice as Pavel Zacha scored for the third time and gave the Bruins a 4-3 lead.

Pittsburgh wasn’t done. Mantha went down low and tipped in a rebound off a Parker Wotherspoon shot to tie it again.

The sudden offensive emergence earned a much-needed point, the team’s first of the season against Boston after two regulation losses in their first three meetings.

Coming off a deflating shootout loss to the Flyers less than 24 hours before, the Penguins could have used an early goal to build back their momentum. They didn’t get it.

Instead, Egor Chinakhov was whistled for tripping in the Bruins’ zone, and Zacha scored on the ensuing power play to give Boston a 1-0 lead 9:27 into the game.

Pittsburgh controlled the puck for much of the first period but failed to generate hardly any Grade-A chances playing without Evgeni Malkin (suspension) and Sidney Crosby (lower-body injury).

Meanwhile, the Penguins continued to give them up. Zacha got lost in the middle of the ice about nine minutes into the second period, and Viktor Arvidsson found him. Zacha deked his way to his and his team’s second goal of the game.

It was one of several costly defensive lapses for Pittsburgh over the past week, at a time when they can ill afford them.

They had an even bigger mistake later in the period. Arturs Silovs tried to play a puck behind the net, but David Pastrnak stole it from him and scored for a 3-0 Bruins lead.

Gifted a 5-on-3 power play, the Penguins got on the board with a Chinakhov rocket from the circle later in the period. It was just their second goal in three games against Boston this season.

In his Penguins debut, trade deadline acquisition Elmer Soderblom won puck battles and showed off the forechecking ability coach Dan Muse and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas have lauded. The 6-foot-8 winger had a few scoring chances, too, but was part of the defensive breakdown that led to Zacha’s second goal.

It was over when …

Novak lifted the Penguins to an overtime win that seemed impossible a few minutes before.

Stat of the game

50%: The Penguins’ faceoff percentage, which represented a massive improvement from the past few games without Crosby.

Around the boards

— Malkin served the second of his five-game suspension for slashing Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin on Thursday.

— Crosby missed his seventh consecutive game with a lower-body injury suffered at the Olympics. He has been skating in recent days, including with the team Friday, so he appears to be nearing a return.

— Winger Justin Brazeau missed the game with an upper-body injury. He is considered day-to-day.

— Forward Noel Acciari, in the midst of a great game, dove for a puck and slid headfirst into the boards late in the third period. He skated off under his own power but appeared to be shaken up.

Up next

The Penguins head out for a challenging five-game road trip, all against teams in playoff position — starting with a road tilt against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday.

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