The Boston Bruins (25-19-2) battled hard and found a way to grind out a pivotal, playoff-race swinging contest 1-0 over the Pittsburgh Penguins (21-14-9) on Sunday night inside TD Garden.
One day after disemboweling the New York Rangers 10-2, the Bruins played in a game that went the exact opposite way, blanking the Penguins behind Joonas Korpisalo's brilliant play.
The Bruins moved to 3-0-0 on this five-game home stand, and a part of a stretch of 9 games out of 12 taking place in TD Garden to end January.
The win catapults the Bruins into a tie on points for the final wild-card place in the playoffs. Additionally, the Bruins passed the Penguins and the Toronto Maple Leafs with the win.
In terms of pure significance, this was a massive game. To score only one goal and win in regulation is a real coup.
Korpisalo stole the show all night long, making 27 saves in the win, with none bigger than this pair of huge saves on Sidney Crosby late in the second period.
The winning goal came off the stick of Viktor Arvidsson, off a rebound from a Henri Jokliharju shot.
The goal was a brilliant display of in-tight skill from the Swedish forward, deftly knocking the puck to his stick and sneaking it through Stuart Skinner.
Skinner stopped 17 of 18 shots.
The Bruins had six power plays in this contest and only managed two shots on goal throughout all the opportunities. Without Morgan Geekie, the Penguins zeroed in on David Pastrnak, and the Bruins failed to generate any momentum whatsoever.
Casey Mittelstadt slid up to the top unit, and after the first couple of tries, it became clear the mix didn't fit. Marat Khusnutdinov or Alex Steeves could've made a lot more sense in Geekie's role as a shoot-first guy to draw more attention away from Pastrnak, but Boston didn't shake too much up.
The special teams ineptitude did not bite Boston today. The penalty kill went 2/2, denying both Penguin opportunities in routine fashion.
Next up for the Bruins is another national television game, Tuesday night in TD Garden on TNT/HBO MAX against the Detroit Red Wings. NESN will also be carrying the game.