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BOSTON -- As the Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins neared the halfway point of the third period Wednesday night, the outcome of their TD Garden tilt was far from settled.

The Bruins, who had gotten two goals from David Pastrnak earlier in the contest, held a one-goal lead at the time, but given Pittsburgh's explosive offensive potential and Boston's shaky track record of closing out games, a Penguins equalizer would not have come as a surprise.

This time around, however, the B's did not crumble. Instead, they put together one of most impressive 20-second sequences of their season, then proceeded to drop the hammer on the visiting Pens en route to a 5-1 victory.

It started with defenseman Adam McQuaid, who, playing without a helmet after losing it in a tie-up with Penguins star Sidney Crosby, blocked a shot by Chris Kunitz at the left faceoff dot. The puck deflected into the corner, and Jimmy Hayes won it away from Kunitz, triggering a Bruins rush the other way.

Hayes slid a pass to center Ryan Spooner, then made a beeline down the ice, catching up to his much speedier linemate as Spooner navigated through the neutral zone. The third member of the line, left wing Matt Beleskey, created a bit of space with a subtle pick at the blue line, and Spooner carried the puck deep into the Pittsburgh zone.

Penguins defenseman Derrick Pouliot went prone in an effort to prevent a centering pass, but he left open the slightest of gaps. Spooner threaded it, and Hayes, who'd completed end-to-end race, hammered the feed past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and into the open net.

Hayes' 13th goal of the season gave Boston a commanding 3-1 lead, and the Bruins went on to pot two more in the five minutes that followed to seal the win, their first over a playoff team on home ice since Dec. 16.

In addition to clinching a season sweep of the Penguins, the result also vaulted the Bruins back into a tie for second place in Atlantic Division. They sit even with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who will visit the Garden on Sunday night.

Some additional notes from Wednesday's action:

-- Landon Ferraro had a busy night on the Bruins' fourth line, dropping the gloves with Pittsburgh's Scott Wilson in the second period and scoring his first goal since Dec. 9 in the third.

"Honestly, I didn't even see it go in," Ferraro said. "I heard everyone else get excited, then I got a little too excited again. It was nice to see. It was a big relief."

Ferraro's production has tailed off since the promising start to his Bruins career. He entered Wednesday without a point in 25 consecutive games and was a healthy scratch for two games on Boston's recent six-game road trip.

Julien was much happier with the forward's latest effort.

"He just seemed more engaged in all areas, right?" the Bruins coach said. "He got into a fight, he forechecked hard, he used his speed. I think he scored about 27 goals last year in the American League, so he's certainly a guy that can score. We can certainly use that on our fourth line."

-- The Bruins have struggled to generate scoring from the right wing position this season, but that was not an issue against the Penguins. Right wings accounted for four of their five goals: two by Pastrnak and one each by Hayes and Ferraro.

-- Ferraro's goal gave the Bruins a 4-1 lead with 5:34 remaining in the third period, and Brad Marchand scored one of his own 61 seconds later to officially ice the game. It was Marchand's team-leading 31st goal of the season and his 16th in his last 18 games.

-- While the B's gave the goal horn operator a workout, the Penguins found the back of the net just once, thanks in large part to the work of McQuaid and goalie Tuukka Rask.

Rask stopped a season-high 41 shots in the win, and McQuaid teamed with fellow D-man Zdeno Chara to limit the highly potent Crosby line after replacing Kevan Miller on Boston's top pairing early in the game.

"Well, you're always looking for different options, I guess, especially in that first period," Julien said. "We had some guys that had some tough issues there with the puck management part. When you're playing against a Crosby-(Patric) Hornqvist-Kunitz line, you can't afford to have too much of that, so we had to move players around a little bit. And then it seems, even as the game went on, everybody kind of settled down a little bit and had better pairs."

Crosby, Hornqvist and Kunitz all finished with zero points, and only Crosby tallied more than one shot on goal (three).

-- The Bruins will have a few special guests joining them on their upcoming trip to Carolina: their dads.

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Boston will visit the Hurricanes on Friday night before returning home to face the Lightning.

Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images