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Staal's third period goal lifts Pens over Bruins

Jan 15, 2011 - 11:48 PM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Jordan Staal posted the game-winning score early in the third period as Pittsburgh edged Boston, 3-2, at TD Garden.

Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis also tallied for the Penguins, who won for the third time in their last eight outings and closed within a point of idle Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference standings.

Marc-Andre Fleury earned his 20th win of the season by stopping a season-high 44 shots.

"I like the fact that we refocused. They've come back against us before," Pens head coach Dan Bylsma said of his club, which surrendered four goals in the final 3 1/2 minutes in a Monday loss to Boston. "To refocus, come out and get the lead in the third, there were some scrambles at times, but we held the fort and got the win. Two big points for us."

Dennis Seidenberg and Michael Ryder lit the lamp for the Bruins, who couldn't sustain the momentum from Thursday's wild comeback victory over the Flyers and saw their three-game win streak ended.

Tuukka Rask suffered the loss despite making 33 saves.

The Penguins moved ahead for good at the 3:25 mark of the third period, as Matt Cooke sent a pass from behind the goal line to the left side, where Staal managed to backhand the bouncing puck past Rask at the left post.

"It's one of those games you want to step up and win the game for your team because they played so well," Rask said of the Bruins, who had scored five times in the third against the Flyers in a Thursday win. "It's a tough loss to swallow, at least for me. I think nobody's happy here right now."

Boston kept up the attack from there, and nearly tied the game with under seven minutes left when Ryder snuck a shot through Fleury's pads -- but the puck trickled off the left post.

Rask was pulled for an extra skater with well over a minute left but the Bruins could not find the net.

The Bruins flew at the Penguins for the first part of the opening period and held a significant shot advantage, but the Pens got on the board first, as Staal dished into the slot for Kunitz, who redirected the puck in with his skate at 10:57.

It was 2-0 for the visitors at 41 seconds of the second period when Dupuis followed up an errant Zbynek Michalek shot and banked the puck off Rask, but Rask atoned by stopping Evgeni Malkin twice on a breakaway just after the midway point.

After more feverish work inside the Pittsburgh zone, Seidenberg finally ripped a shot from the point past Fleury to make it 2-1 at 11:28. Only 13 seconds later, Ryder slipped a shot through a screen provided by a Pens defender.

Game Notes

Fleury's previous best was a 43-save performance in a 2-1 win over Ottawa on November 26...Penguins captain Sidney Crosby missed his fifth straight game after suffering a mild concussion...Staal added an assist, and now has five points in his last two games. He missed Pittsburgh's first 39 games this year due to various injuries and was scoreless in his first five games back in the lineup...Bruins forward Mark Recchi played in his 1,615th NHL game, tying him with Larry Murphy for seventh on the all-time list.