In the second period, Matt Hunwick whirled around the Pittsburgh net, tucked a backhander over the glove of Marc-Andre Fleury and under the crossbar, and saw the puck hit the back of the net.
But as Hunwick spotted the red light and raised his arms to celebrate, he heard an interrupted blare of the goal horn. He saw several Penguins rushing past him, far too fast, he thought, to be going off the ice for a line change. That’s when he saw referee Bill McCreary waving his arms to indicate no goal.
“You always wonder what’s going to happen next - whether we’re going to score another goal, they’re going to score, or what’s going to happen,’’ said Hunwick. “You’re just hoping that when they look at it on video, they make the right call.’’
More than a minute later, after a stoppage allowed McCreary to consult with video judge Kyle Messier, a review confirmed what seemed to be clear during live action: Hunwick had scored what would be the game-winning goal in the Bruins’ 3-0 victory over Pittsburgh before 17,565 at TD Garden last night.
“We get the privilege of having our video guy look at those replays,’’ said coach Claude Julien, referring to video analyst Brant Berglund. “We were told even before the whistle was blown that it was a goal, so there was no need to panic.’’
At the other end, Tim Thomas bricked up the Boston net. Thomas stopped 27 shots, including 13 in the second period, to record his first win since Oct. 24. And for the first time all season, the Bruins posted back-to-back wins (they beat Buffalo Saturday, 4-2). Over the last seven games (3-3-1), the Bruins have allowed only eight goals.
“The Stanley Cup champions may be banged up a little bit,’’ said Julien of the Penguins, who were without Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Maxime Talbot, Kris Letang, and Tyler Kennedy, then lost Brooks Orpik in the first period. “But at the same time, we also can’t forget that we played a pretty good Buffalo team that’s had some success also. If you want to be part of those elite teams, you’ve got to be able to compete with them. We did a good job tonight.’’
The Bruins dominated play in a scoreless first period, posting a 10-2 shot advantage. But after Hunwick scored his fourth goal of the season (helpers to Dennis Wideman and Steve Begin), the Penguins found some jump in their skates and began to apply heavy pressure on the Boston net.
Five minutes into the second period, after a behind-the-net giveaway by Andrew Ference, Pascal Dupuis had a close-range bid that Thomas stuffed. Less than three minutes later, after Hunwick and Mark Stuart dived into the bench to avoid a too-many-men call, Jordan Staal and Bill Guerin broke away on a two-on-one that the Bruins turned aside.
