Tough choice.

Would you rather lose a scoreless game in shootout, or a high-scoring game on a colossal defensive breakdown?

After fighting back on four occasions to tie the game, and then suddenly taking a lead with 2:29 to play, the normally rock solid Bruins defense hit rock bottom in a 6-5 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday. (Recap.)

Entertaining hockey? You betcha. Lead changes, late rallies, crazy goals and a stunning defeat for Boston in Pittsburgh. On a night when 11 goals were poured into the nets, it wasn't difficult to identify a few lessons. 

A BROKEN STICK CAN LEAD TO A BROKEN DEFENSE

It was the type of situation the Bruins lived for last season. A late rally produced a go-ahead goal and the chance to secure two points by stuffing the opposition over the final minutes. P.J. Axelsson hits the empty net, or Phil Kessel pads his goal total by doing the same and the B’s win.

It was an altogether different deal Saturday.

After Patrice Bergeron’s broken stick led to a turnover just inside the Penguins blue line, Boston got caught up ice, allowing the Penguins to swiftly move the puck into the Bruins zone where a wide-open Bill Guerin had plenty of time to whisk the puck past Tim Thomas with less than a second (0.4 seconds, to be exact) to play.

“There was a little bit of bad luck at the end. If we don’t break that stick the game’s over,” Bruins coach Claude Julien told reporters.

True enough. But sticks will break, and highly skilled Penguins will break up ice. Had any Bruins forwards erred on the conservative side and started to back check and skate with Guerin while the puck was bounding around the Pittsburgh blue line, the outcome could have been different.

Then in overtime, Thomas and Dennis Wideman crossed signals behind the goal, allowing Pittsburgh center Jordan Staal to snare the puck. Staal immediately slid the puck in front of the cage for Pascal Duspuis to slam in for the game winner.

Just like that, the Bruins left the ice with another strange loss. On Thursday, they suffered the indignity of losing a scoreless game in the shootout, 1-0 to the Florida Panthers.

Against the Penguins, a defense that had not allowed an opponent more than two goals in eight straight games suddenly yielded six, including two in a 1:25 span with the game on the line.

“It’s just one of those games and there’s nothing you can do about it now,” Julien told reporters. “We have another big game on Monday, and we have to keep looking forward here.”

THERE IS LIFE IN THE SECOND LINE

The most encouraging development for the Bruins Saturday was the end of goal scoring droughts by many of the team’s key offensive components, especially the line of center David Krejci and wingers Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder.

In the first period, Wheeler ended a six-game scoring drought by tapping in a feed from behind the net from Krejci. In the second, Ryder ripped a wrist shot from the top of the right circle over the left shoulder of Pittsburgh goalie Brent Johnson for his first goal in 10 games. Then in the third, with the Bruins trailing, 4-3, Krejci whisked in a shot from the slot during a 5-on-3 power play to draw Boston even. The goal was just the second of the season for Krejci and his first in seven games.

Aside from the three occasions when they posted direct results on the scoreboard, the trio also showed considerably more confidence while generating several additional scoring chances. The line finished with a combined 10 shots on goal.

Defenseman Derek Morris also netted his first goal in nine games and Marco Sturm deflected in a Zdeno Chara shot for what appeared to be the game winner, giving the Bruins a 5-4 lead with 2:29 to play.

BERGERON HAD MIXED RESULTS AGAINST NHL ROYALTY

Bergeron’s line had a tough assignment trying to match the Penguins top line, which featured reigning league scoring leader and playoff MVP Evgeni Malkin back in the lineup skating with Sidney Crosby and Ruslan Fedetenko.

Things did not go well in the early going as Malkin and Fedotenko set up Pens defenseman Jay McKee for a goal just 102 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Bergeron was able to get some measure of revenge, as he assisted on the Morris score in the second period and he was also on the ice when Sturm gave the Bruins their brief late lead.

But Crosby set up two other goals, a third period tally by Mark Eaton and the game-tying goal by Guerin both while Bergeron was on the ice. The Penguins captain finished the night plus three.

Bergeron did better Crosby in the faceoff department, winning 60 percent of his draws (15 of 25) compared to 50 percent for Crosby (13 of 26)