Boston Bruins

Odds are Saturday afternoon’s congregation at TD Garden would select a scoreboard sideshow as the highlight of their experience while watching the Bruins’ 2-1 falter to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

With 10:21 gone in the first period, the towering black bear of “Boston Bruins Hockey Rules” fame delivered a crisp, cut-and-dry dish of good wishes to the New England Patriots. And if only for a minute, the spirit of Super Bowl Sunday Eve enveloped the hockey atmosphere.

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik unloaded a gargantuan hit on Boston's Daniel Paille this afternoon that sent the Bruins forward flying high into the air.

If this isn't the hit of the season, it's at least in the top three.

Tyler Seguin’s initiative in the ninth minute of the second period wrote the Boston Bruins a radiant invitation to reverse the momentum in Saturday’s bout with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Discounting empty-netters, the Boston Bruins have allowed three goals or more in regulation on four consecutive occasions and in six of their last nine outings. They have been outscored 31-25 over those last nine games, amounting to a nightly median of 2.78 goals for and 3.44 in their own cage.

The Boston Bruins have now gone through nine consecutive games without raising the upper hand early and keeping it up until the final siren.

The last time they scored first and never looked back was en route to a 2-1 squeaker against the Montreal Canadiens Jan. 12. In addition, that was also the last time they mustered a set of back-to-back victories, something they have failed to do on four tries since then.

The late Ted Williams would surely take delight in any zealous New England sports fans who, on his behalf, continue to proclaim him the greatest baseball hitter who ever lived. Even if the only scrap of concrete evidence is one solid, single-season .406 batting average, the legendary Red Sox’ left fielder and his descendant supporters would not yield in that argument then, now or in the future.

Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara won his fifth straight hardest-shot title at the 2012 NHL Skills Challenge on Saturday night with a blast clocked at 107 mph in the final heat.

With the captain, coaching staff and Conn Smythe winner from last year’s Stanley Cup champions on their side, Team Chara may want to Xerox portions of the 2010-11 Boston Bruins’ playbook in their pursuit of bragging rights Sunday afternoon.

Actually, the smaller-scaled parallels to last year’s title series go beyond the Bruin-laden bench.

Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference was given a game misconduct and a major penalty for charging New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh in overtime Saturday, and faces a possible suspension from league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan.

Patrice Bergeron, the Boston Bruins’ most consistent and most multifaceted player, had a pointless skid extended to three games for the first time this season Saturday afternoon. Ditto Tyler Seguin, the team’s top striker and point-getter.