The Boston Bruins fell victim to the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again on St. Patrick’s Day and they dropped to 19-5-3 (41 points). In the process, the Black and Gold missed out on the opportunity to take over first place in the Eastern Conference.

Tyler Seguin scored the lone goal for the Bruins and nearly tied it late in the third period, but the hockey gods went against the Bruins on this day. Sidney Crosby scored the first goal for the Pens as Joe Vitale scored the game-winner late in the first period for their 2-1 victory.

The Bruins did not take advantage of the Pens leaky defense and that was the story all day long. There was no penetration from the outside of the second line trio (Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin).

Tuukka Rask made 16 saves, but he would like to have the end of the first period back as Vitale jumped on a rebound. That proved costly as the Bruins had to play catch up hockey the rest of the way.

After coming off one of their best 60 minute efforts of the year yesterday versus the Capitals, the Bruins could not solve Tomas Vokoun, who made 31 saves in the Penguins’ triumph.

Despite the lack of offense, Claude Julien was overly upset at the way his team came out today in the least bit.

“I’m not disappointed in our efforts today,” said the Bruins bench boss. “Good game by both teams playing their third game in four nights.”

This loss may have come at a price too as David Krejci needed took a Johnny Boychuk slap shot off the top of his knee cap. Krejci needed help from the training staff and his teammates en route to the locker room, where he would obviously stay for the rest of the third period.

While Krejci walked gingerly to the team bus afterwards, Boychuk feels terrible of the situation and hopes the Bruins’ playmaker is okay.

“I got everything into that,” he said. “I feel so badly.”

If this injury is serious, the Bruins may need to really shake things up as a whole. With Chris Kelly out due to a broken left tibula, the third line has only tallied a goal – by Rich Peverely – and an assist in their last four games. The trade deadline is right around the corner and it will be interesting to see how GM Peter Chiarelli attacks this situation as his team needs another top forward as well as a defenseman.

The beat goes on, however, as the Boston travels to Winnipeg looking to sweep the season series from the Jets Tuesday night.