Bruins squeeze past Penguins

BOSTON — Jake DeBrusk scored his second goal of the third period with just over two minutes remaining and the NHL-leading Boston Bruins rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park.

Linus Ullmark made 25 saves for Boston, which is 8-0-3 in its last 11 games. Because the Bruins were the “home” team, they improved their home record to 19-0-3 this season.

Kasperi Kapanen scored for the Penguins, and Casey DeSmith made 19 saves in relief of Tristan Jarry, who left with an apparent injury late in the first period.

Playing on an unseasonably warm day with temperatures in the upper 40s (4 Celsius) early in the game, the Bruins won for the fourth time in the NHL´s 14th annual showcase event that was held at the home of the MLB´s Boston Red Sox in front of a sellout crowd 39,243.

Playing with the stadium lights illuminating the ice, DeBrusk swooped in and banged home the rebound of Taylor Hall´s backhand shot with 2:24 left.

Mika Zibanejad, elsewhere, scored twice and the New York Rangers snapped a two-game skid with a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers.

Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin also scored for New York, which had gone 0-1-1 coming out of the holiday break. Jaroslav Halak finished with 32 saves for New York.

Nick Cousins, Sam Bennett and Eric Staal scored for the Panthers, who have lost their last two games and eight of the last 11. Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves.

Zibanejad scored his first goal on a power play at 14:36 of the first period and gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead with his second midway through the middle period.

That goal appeared to roust the Panthers, who scored twice in the period, yet trailed 3-2 going into the third.

“I thought we had a real good first period, real solid,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “We controlled the play, played the way we wanted to.”

Cousins put Florida on the board before Kreider made it 3-1.

Bennett´s power-play goal with under a minute remaining in the second period gave the Panthers a lift with a man advantage dating to a loss at Carolina.

“It´s always nice to beat these guys,” said Trocheck, who ended with two points in the win.

“I did not leave too long ago but in the COVID year, I played them eight times. So I have played them a ton already. It´s not as fresh as it was the first couple of times, but it is nice.”