Well, you didn’t think half a dozen Bruins scoring against the Islanders on Wednesday would be the start of something big, did you?

On Friday, the B’s scored the first goal of the game before everyone was in their seats at the Garden and didn’t score again after that, losing 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Philip Tomasino got the game winner in the third and then Tristan Jarry closed the door..

The first half of the first period was entertaining as both teams went up and down the ice, with too many odd opportunities for both coaches to enjoy.

But it was the Bruins who capitalized on one of the chances.

After some decent tic-tac-toe play from the third line, Trent Frederic took a feed from Tyler Johnson and Frederic in turn made a nice dish to a wide-open Charlie Coyle in the right circle. Coyle picked his spot under Jarry’s glove for his fifth goal of the season and first point of any kind in five games. It was Frederic’s first point in six games. It was only 1:24 into the game and it felt like this was going to be a 6-5 affair.

That didn’t happen.

Jeremy Swayman had to be good in the first one, and he was. His best streak came when Sidney Crosby came in all alone. Swayman stopped the original shot and held his position well enough to deflect Crosby’s clever follow-up move from close range.

The Penguins started the second period with 1:39 of the power play after a strange sequence. After a delayed penalty on Johnson, Evgeni Malkin was parked on the blue line in front of the Bruins bench. As he drifted away from the bench, his Russian compatriot, Nikita Zadorov, poked him with his stick. Malkin responded with a wild swing of the stick, which the officials caught. They had to go to the video to see who the Brown perpetrator was and sure enough, they got Zadorov. Both he and Malkin left for two minutes each.

The B’s converted that penalty in the second, but the Pens continued to test Swayman.

First he had to make a quick save after a deflection off Charlie McAvoy’s leg. The rebound went in, but Swayman was able to get some of Tomasino’s shot to deflect it off the glass.

Moments later, Anthony Beauvillier had a clean look on the rush, but Swayman flashed the glove to preserve the B’s one-goal lead, which was looking slimmer by the minute.

He couldn’t hold the pens back forever. Even with a Bruin power play, the ice began to tilt in Pittsburgh’s favor until finally, with 0.8 seconds left in the period, the Penguins got the equalizer. Crosby collected an Erik Karlsson shot behind the net, circled and fed Rickard Rackell, who smashed it over an outstretched Swayman.

Through two periods, the Pens outscored the B’s 27-20. Through the first four games of Joe Sacco’s tenure, the B’s had allowed no more than 25 shots in a game.

Both teams had a mixed history in the third period. The Pens had been outscored 13-1 in the third inning in their previous eight games, while the B’s had not scored a third-period goal at the Garden since the first home game of the season.

But the second period trends continued in the third and the Pens took the lead at 7:26. Pittsburgh won several puck battles down low until Malkin fed Tomasino and, from the inside of the left circle, Tomasino’s off-speed shot beat Swayman through the pads.

The B’s had chances to equalize, including on a failed power play with 7:00 left in regulation time. Jarry made a great late save from Andrew Peeke’s deflected shot, before Karlsson stoned Elias Lindholm on the rebound.

Originally published: November 29, 2024 at 9:10 PM EST