From there, the Penguins settled things down, got to their game and got themselves back in it.
"Our level went up," Warren Peters said. "We were harder and smarter with the puck. Obviously they were sitting on a lead so its indicative of only so much but at the same time, I think we got to our game."
But was it really a case of the Penguins elevating their play in the final 40 minutes or the Bruins sitting on a three goal lead? Maybe a little bit of both? I guess that will be answered Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre in Game Three.
Brad Thiessen came in to the game to start the second period and stopped all 16 shots he faced tonight. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get the start in Game Three, but not necessarily because Zatkoff has been playing poorly. Zatkoff was certainly held out to dry in the first four periods of this series.
There was another big hit in tonight's game that caused some tempers to flare. While on a forecheck, Peters put a big hit on defenseman Zach Trotman that left Trotman down and out. When he got back to his feet he was off-balance and needed to be helped off the ice by two of his teammates. There was no penalty called on the play. Here is Peters' take on the hit:
"On the forecheck, my job there is to track the D. I seen the puck going over, it was a slow pass. Unfortunately, I don't think he saw me coming at all and wasn't able to brace himself. As far as my posture, I felt like I was low. I felt like I stayed on the ice. It was a hard hit. I'm not out there to hurt anybody, I'm not trying to hurt anybody. Unfortunately, that was the result. As far as the rules go, it's defintitely unfortunate, but I thought that I stayed below his shoulders for sure."Naturally, the Bruins are submitting the clip of the hit to the league to be reviewed for supplemental discipline, but like the hits in last night's game (Bobby Robins on Dylan Reese & Joey Mormina on Justin Florek) no penalty was called on the play. Neither of the agressors in those two hits received suspensions, so I think it will be hard to hand one to Peters.
Two lineup changes for the Penguins in Game Two. Cody Wild replaced the injured Dylan Reese and played pretty well in his 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs debut. The other change was Chris Minella in for Bobby Farnham on the 4th line. Minella challenged Bruins enforcer Bobby Robins on the opening faceoff, but Robins declined the invitation.
There was a complete overhaul of the line combinations for tonight's game. Here's what they looked like:
Nesbitt-Smith-Megna
Collins-Gibbons-Kolarik
Holzapfel-Peters-Thompson
Payerl-Sill-Minella
Dumoulin-Samuelsson
Mormina-Grant
McNeill-Wild
Philip Samuelsson left the game in the final minutes, favoring a lower body ailment. With Reese already on the shelf, Peter Merth or Harrison Ruopp would be next in line on the blue line if Samuelsson is unable to play Wednesday.
It's been a tough series for defenseman when you talk about the injuries to Reese and possibly Samuelsson for the Penguins, the call up of Matt Bartowski and injuries to Kevan Miller and Zach Trotman for the Bruins.
The Penguins next practice is scheduled for Monday, so expect the next update to come after practice Monday afternoon.
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