"When the Penguins and Boston last met, Sidney Crosby was in the lineup for the Penguins, the Bruins were on a 13-0-1 roll, and the teams were the class of the Eastern Conference.

That was Dec. 5 at Consol Energy Center. The Bruins won, 3-1, to climb to within a point of the first-place Penguins in the East.

Today, when the teams meet for a matinee at TD Garden in Boston, the Penguins will have their necks craned. The defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins are second in the East, with 66 points, while the Penguins sit fifth with 62.

The Penguins are 3-6 against the four teams ahead of them in the East, with two of those wins coming against Florida.

Friday, Penguins winger Matt Cooke called the game this afternoon "one of the biggest challenges of the year."

The Penguins have been streaky since the earlier meeting. That game started a stretch of four losses in five games. Then came a four-game winning streak, a six-game losing streak and an eight-game winning streak before a 1-0 loss Wednesday in the road half of back-to-back games against Toronto."