Mistakes, Lethargy, Penguins Lose Again; Blame Detailed Below

November 6, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

PITTSBURGH — On paper, Thursday night’s game at PPG Paints Arena between the Pittsburgh Penguins (5-9-2) and Boston Bruins (12-4-1) looked lopsided in Boston’s favor, and that is exactly how it played out in a 6-2 Bruins win. The Penguins made mistake after mistake in a listless effort, and the Bruins were more than happy to capitalize on many of them.

Visit chickenroad.qpon for more information.

The first period started off well enough for the Penguins. They killed a Bruins power play and grabbed a 1-0 lead midway through the period, but the wheels fell off after that. The Bruins scored three unanswered goals in less than seven minutes to close out the first. It was less what the Bruins were doing to the Penguins than the mistakes Pittsburgh made on its own, including seven first-period giveaways, several of which Boston turned into goals.

The second period followed a similar script. The Penguins scored the first goal of the frame, but the Bruins got the next two and dominated play. Pittsburgh committed five more giveaways, and by the end of the period Erik Karlsson was a minus-4. In what was a microcosm of the poor decisions the Penguins made all night, down by three in the waning seconds of the period, Rickard Rakell inexplicably passed up a glorious scoring chance and instead tried a shot-pass to Sidney Crosby that didn’t come close to connecting, much to the chagrin of the PPG Paints Arena crowd.

The third period was simply a lost cause. The Penguins gave up another goal, squandered an embarrassing two-on-none, and generally looked like they were skating in mud.

The Penguins have now lost four consecutive games and remain stuck at 12 points, mired at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. Things don’t get any easier as they embark on a three-game California road trip through Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Jose.

Goals:

Penguins 1, Bruins 0 — After a dump-in by defenseman Kaedan Korczak, forward Hendrix Lapierre went below the goal line on the forecheck to retrieve the puck. He not only won the puck battle but also made a quick pass to Justin Brazeau (1), stationed squarely inside the right faceoff circle. Brazeau wasted no time, unleashing a laser of a wrist shot that beat Boston goaltender Michael DiPietro to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 12:07 of the first.

Penguins 1, Bruins 1 — Egor Chinakhov tried to bat the puck out of the air and out of harm’s way, but instead he batted it right to Bruins forward J.J. Peterka. Apparently the rest of Chinakhov’s teammates also thought he had cleared it, because most of them vacated the zone, leaving Pavel Zacha alone in front of the Penguins’ net. Zacha waited patiently until teammate David Pastrnak got him the puck, then easily wristed it past Penguins netminder Arturs Silovs for his fourth goal at 12:07 of the first.

Bruins 2, Penguins 1 — Bruins defenseman Frederic Brunet wristed a seemingly harmless shot from the left point that traveled through Brazeau’s legs to the slot. There, Boston forward Mark Kastelic (3) expertly redirected it straight down and past Silovs at 15:04 of the first.

Bruins 3, Penguins 1 — Erik Karlsson committed an atrocious giveaway, blindly throwing a bouncing puck at his own blue line straight to the Bruins’ Elias Lindholm (6). Lindholm walked in all alone and deked Silovs to put Boston ahead by two at 18:57 of the first.

Bruins 3, Penguins 2 — After some sustained pressure in the Boston zone, the puck found Korczak at the right point. His wrist shot was deftly tipped in the low slot by Nick Robertson (7) and past DiPietro at 9:04 of the second, pulling the Penguins within one.

Bruins 4, Penguins 2 — Samuel Girard pinched inside the blue line, Peterka simply chipped the puck around him, and the Bruins were off to the races on a two-on-one with Zacha and Pastrnak. Crosby raced back to try to break up the play but couldn’t get there in time. Karlsson played the odd-man rush poorly, allowing Pastrnak to pass across to Zacha (5), who netted his second of the game at 14:24 of the second.

Bruins 5, Penguins 2 — Morgan Geekie (4) took a cross-ice stretch pass from Hampus Lindholm that spanned both blue lines. He broke in alone and beat Silovs glove side at 16:57 of the second to push Boston’s lead to three.

Bruins 6, Penguins 2 — The Bruins kept pouring it on. Fraser Minten (6) streaked down the right wing and, taking advantage of the huge cushion Penguins defenseman Declan Carlile gave him, wired a wrist shot past Silovs at 8:39 of the third.

Forward Lines:
Tommy Novak – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell
Egor Chinakhov – Ben Kindel – Evgeni Malkin
Ville Koivunen – Hendrix Lapierre – Justin Brazeau
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Nick Robertson

Defensive Pairings:
Samuel Girard – Erik Karlsson
Spencer Stastney – Kaeden Korczak
Declan Carlile – Kris Letang

Scratches:
Defensemen Jake Livanavage and Ilya Solovyov, and forward Andrei Kuzmenko

Related Headlines