The Bruins took a big step toward capturing the Atlantic Division and badly dented the Penguins playoff chances in the process.
Against a Pittsburgh team in a desperate dogfight to make the playoffs, Boston matched their intensity and made enough plays to hold on for a 6-4 win.
The Bruins (47-18-15, 109 points) are at Washington on Monday. They can clinch with any combination of two points they earn or Florida (51-26-6, 108) fails to earn. The Panthers have just one game left. Boston can finish no worse than second in the Atlantic.
The Penguins (37-31-12, 86 points) entered the day in the second wild-card spot, but are now a point back of Washington (38-31-11, 87 points) with two games left.
After a scoreless first period, the Bruins seized momentum shortly before the midway point in the second period. After Jake DeBrusk jammed the puck under Alex Nedeljkovic for his first goal in nine games, 8:08 into the middle frame, Pavel Zacha made it 2-0, 14 seconds later.
The flurry started a busy period. Brian Rust scored to get Pittsburgh on the board and Kevin Shattenkirk answered to send Nedeljkovic to the bench with 8:25 left in the second. Brad Marchand greeted new goalie Tristan Jarry with a shorthanded goal with 5:06 left in the period.
It was Marchand’s 36th career goal with a man down. That moved him into a tie for eighth in NHL history and gave Boston a 4-1 lead and seemingly a lot of momentum.
But Michael Bunting grabbed some of it back, scoring 58 seconds later to make it 4-2 going into the third. Drew O’Connor brought the arena back to life early in the third with his own shorthanded goal that made it 4-3.
But the Bruins held on until Lauko set up Morgan Geekie, whose insurance goal helped seal the game for Boston.
Hours after his alma mater won an NCAA Championship, Danton Heinen added an empty-net goal for the Bruins to make it 6-3 with 2:47 left. Bunting scored his second late, but it was too little, too late for Pittsburgh.
Linus Ullmark finished with 28 saves.
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