Penguins Blanked by Bruins, 1-0

How quickly the proverbial worm can turn.

To quote the Frank Sinatra classic, That’s Life, “You’re riding high in April, shot down in May.” Old Blue Eyes may well have been singing about our Penguins.

Although not for a lack of effort or try, our guys fell to the Bruins, 1-0, at TD Garden yesterday. Our second loss in a row on the heels an impressive six-game winning streak.

The Pens held sway in most statistical categories according to Natural Stat Trick, including shot attempts (62-56) and shots on goal (27-18), but had difficulty penetrating the Bruins’ lane-clogging 1-2-2 to get to the prime scoring areas.

Nor did it help that our goaltending kryptonite, Joonas Korpisalo, was stationed between the Bruins’ pipes. Ordinary against everyone else, the Finnish netminder shines against our Pens to the tune of a career .923 save percentage.

Along with an early goal from Viktor Arvidsson, Korpisalo’s stingy netminding proved to be the difference.

Puckpourri

Goalie Stuart Skinner continues to be a bright spot for our Pens. Big Stu stopped 17 of 18 shots in a losing cause. Over his past four starts, he’s turned aside 83 of 87 shots for a sparkling .954 save percentage.

In the not-helping-matters department, Bryan Rust missed his second game in a row with a lower-body injury. Sans the Rusty Razor, coach Dan Muse placed his top-three lines in a blender, set on purée. Anthony Mantha took Rust’s spot next to Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell. Kevin Hayes centered the recast second line for Evgeni Malkin and Egor Chinakhov. Tommy Novak dropped to the third line beside Ben Kindel and Justin Brazeau.

Somewhat predictably, the gears in the Pens’ engine just didn’t seem to mesh.

I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating. When the Pens are 100 percent healthy, they’re a machine humming on all cylinders. However, remove a key player or two like Rust, Malkin and/or Blake Lizotte? The wheels quickly seem to fall off the wagon.

Let’s hope (pray) Rust’s ailment isn’t serious or long-term.

Speaking of injuries, I wonder if Geno’s shoulder is fully healed. Muse seems to be making a concerted effort to keep the big guy away from the center slot, and that includes taking faceoffs. Late in the game, he shifted No. 71 to left wing beside Sid.

In Muse’s other lineup tweak, Connor Clifton slotted in on the third defense pair in place of Jack St. Ivany. Logistics may have played a part: it was Connor’s 400^th NHL game and he spent the majority of his career in Boston. If intentional, a nice touch by our rookie skipper.

Having not played since December 20, the aggressive defenseman (a game-high six hits) was understandably rusty (a team-worst xGF% of 17.87).

Speaking of milestones, Hayes logged his 800^th career NHL game before his hometown crowd.

Standings-wise, the Pens (21-14-9, 51 points) remain in fifth place in the Metro following their lost weekend. We’re one point out of a wild-card spot, albeit with four teams to leapfrog.

Next on our docket, some home cookin’ against the Lightning (Tuesday), Flyers (Thursday) and CBJ (Saturday) before we embark on a Western swing.

Needless to say, we’ll need to make hay while the sun shines.

If you think we’ve got problems, Mike Sullivan’s Rangers have just two regulation wins (five overall) in their past 17 games. They were destroyed by the Bruins, 10-2, on Saturday.