When the Penguins entered the third period of Sunday's game against Boston trailing, 3-2, they had the Bruins exactly where they wanted them. Thanks to a four-goal rally, including two from Chris Kunitz, who registered his second career hat trick, the Penguins pulled out a 6-4 win over the top team in the Eastern Conference.
The Penguins seem to have this third period thing backwards, as Sunday's win was their 11th when trailing after two periods, while they've also fumbled 11 possible points in the standings by surrendering third period leads. Either way, the Penguins jump ahead of Montreal to take over the No. 5 spot in the East with the win.
Mathieu Garon made his second start for the Penguins since being acquired back in January, giving up four goals on just 25 shots.
The star of the game for Pittsburgh was without question Kunitz, as he added an assist to go with this three goals, while being credited with four hits, including one on Zdeno Chara that sent the 6-foot-9 Norris Trophy candidate to the ice.
Kunitz started the Pittsburgh rally when he deflected a Sergei Gonchar wrist shot behind Boston goalie Tim Thomas just 43 seconds into the third period, tying the game at three. Just 18 seconds later he took a lead pass from Bill Guerin and beat Thomas on the backhand, giving the Penguins a 4-3 lead.
Since being acquired from Anaheim, Kunitz has 12 points in nine games with the Penguins, as he joins Guerin on the top line with Sidney Crosby.
While interim head coach Dan Bylsma has certainly changed the style the Penguins are playing, the fact Crosby is no longer playing with the likes of Chris Minard, Pascal Dupuis and Matt Cooke on the top line is making a world of difference.
Petr Sykora scored the game-winner for Pittsburgh, one-timing a slick feed from Jordan Staal behind Thomas with just over 10 minutes to play in regulation. Staal, who has been playing the best hockey of his career the past three weeks, clinched the win with an empty net goal.
