Penguins Bag Bruins, 6-5, on Sid’s Game-Winner

In terms of pure hockey entertainment, last night’s wild-and-woolly affair between the NHL’s two black-and-gold teams was the pinnacle, featuring goal-scoring in bunches, wild momentum swings and a dramatic finish.

Tough on the ol’ ticker, too.

In the end the big-game hunting Penguins bagged the Bruins, 6-5, at TD Garden, to keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff scramble.

The contest opened with a bang as Bruins nemesis Brad Marchand slammed the puck past Pens goalie Alex Nedeljkovic from the doorstep just 41 seconds in. The conflagration escalated from dumpster fire to four-alarm blaze in a hurry, with most of the damage fortunately being inflicted by the good guys.

Drew O’Connor knotted the score at 5:04, burying a juicy rebound off the pads of B’s goalie Jeremy Swayman. Ryan Graves staked us to a lead just over a minute later when his shot from center point deflected off Charlie Coyle’s stick and knuckled into the net.

The Bruins countered on the ensuing shift on a tally by David Pastrnák, somehow left unattended around the net through a typical comedy of errors in d-zone coverage.

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