Dan Vladar didn’t encounter the idealist scenario heading into his first career start Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. The struggling Boston Bruins entered their second game in as many nights against the Penguins in desperate need of confidence.
The Bruins brought the effort for the second straight night. Bruce Cassidy’s bunch generated several high-quality scoring chances, this time with Casey DeSmith manning the Pittsburgh pipes. They managed to beat DeSmith twice — on David Pastrnak’s first-period power-play marker and Trent Frederic’s game-winning 5v5 tally in the third.
Thanks to Vladar’s stellar regular-season debut, the two goals were good enough to give the Bruins a much-needed win.