MELLON ARENA Pens tie record for home losses

Boston's 6-3 triumph was the 11th-straight defeat at The Igloo.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins were hoping a weeklong break would snap them out of one of the worst stretches in their 37-year history.
No such luck.
The Penguins' ongoing losing streaks reached record levels Tuesday night, with the Boston Bruins scoring three power-play goals in a 6-3 decision that left Pittsburgh within sight of the longest losing run in NHL history.
The Penguins became the fifth NHL team to lose 11 straight at home in a season, tying the Bruins (1924-25), Capitals (1975), Senators (1993) and Thrashers (2000) for the NHL record.
Pittsburgh can break that record with a loss Monday to Toronto.
"I think we're waiting for luck to come to us and you can't do that," rookie Brooks Orpik said of the Penguins, who have lost a club-record 12 in a row overall. "It's just a combination of a lot of things right now."
12th-straight overall
The Penguins, who haven't won since Jan. 12 at Philadelphia and at home since Dec. 29 against Chicago, edged closer to the NHL-record 17-game losing streaks by the Capitals in 1975 and the Sharks in 1993.
The Penguins already own the NHL record for the longest winning streak, 17 late in the 1992-93 season.
One night, it's the power play.
The next night, it's bad goaltending.
And the next, it's an inept offense that's averaging only two goals per game.
There are lots of things that potentially can go wrong for the talent-thin Penguins and, right now, it seems all of them are.
"We watch video after video and we all shake our heads, we know what we're supposed to do but we don't do it," Orpik said.
Still, the Bruins felt fortunate to win their sixth straight, especially with leading goal scorer Glen Murray out with an undisclosed illness.
Boston didn't score 5-on-5, but overwhelmed Pittsburgh's special teams by going 3-for-5 on the power play.
The Bruins also scored short-handed (Brian Rolston) and into an empty net (Joe Thornton).
Thornton had a goal and two assists, including a cross-ice pass that set up the decisive goal by Dan McGillis on a power play with slightly less than five minutes left in the second period.
McGillis was coming off a two-game layoff with a strained hip muscle and hadn't scored in 25 games since Dec. 11 before putting Boston up 4-3.
"Whoever I'm passing it to is scoring right now," Thornton said. "They've got some hot sticks."
Rookie Ryan Malone owns the only such stick for the Penguins, who broke the club-record 11-game losing streak set by the 1982-83 team that won only 16 games.
Malone followed up his goal in Saturday's Young Stars game by scoring Pittsburgh's first two goals, but only Matt Bradley scored after that against Bruins rookie goalie Andrew Raycroft.
The Bruins were worried their four-day layoff might halt the momentum created when they won their final five games before the All-Star break, but they shook off a slow start to keep their winning streak going.
"Early on, it was a struggle to get into the game. Before the break, everybody was rolling and going good," Thornton said. "So to get a win here was a good confidence booster."
Notes
Sergei Samsonov scored Boston's first goal, but didn't play in the final two periods because of a rib injury. ... Murray had scored in six consecutive games, totaling nine goals. ... The Penguins have allowed a league-leading 12 short-handed goals. They also have given up 15 power-play goals in 11 games. ... Pittsburgh has been outscored 55-17 during its home losing streak.