Penguins Report Card: Impressive Win; Carter, Kapanen Dominant | PHN+

If one team earned a hard, defensive win at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday, one might have bet it was the Boston Bruins who shut down and shut out the Pittsburgh Penguins. You would be wrong and very wrong.

The Pittsburgh Penguins matched the Boston defensive intensity and broke the Boston defensive structure. The Penguins got to the rush several times in the second and increasingly in the third period.

The hobbled Penguins lineup beat–BEAT–the Boston Bruins, 1-0 on Sunday at PPG Paints Arena. The gritty little engine that could beat the reigning President’s Trophy winner, which had won six of their last seven games.

“You’ve got to be hard to play against. You have to have some structure and then you have to have some competitive spirit,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “And I thought (Sunday) was one of our more complete games on the defensive side of the puck for sure.”

The new report card format seems to be popular, so we’re going to stick with the team and unit grades, but a couple of players earned gold stars for their performances, and neither were with the Penguins last season.

Jeff Carter and Kasperi Kapanen. Speed and strength. I’m telling you…there’s something to this team.

Pittsburgh Penguins Chalkboard and Report Card