PITTSBURGH -- The Boston Bruins keep talking about fortunate bounces and a dash of luck, insisting the margin between themselves and the Pittsburgh Penguins is thin. At the moment, it looks like a chasm. Brad Marchand scored twice during a four-goal first period and the Bruins routed the Pittsburgh 6-1 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. "It doesnt matter what the series is at right now," Marchand said. "If they get the next one, theyre right back in it. The next one is the one thats most important." Its a phrase the top-seed Penguins repeated after losing Game 1 on Saturday night to fall behind in a series for the first time in the playoffs. The inspired play they needed never materialized. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were held scoreless for the second straight contest to send the NHLs highest-scoring team slouching to Boston for Game 3 on Wednesday with its season on the line. "Tonight was terrible, theres no other way to describe it," Crosby said. "A loss is a loss. Its frustrating. You dont like giving one like that. We really didnt do a lot of things to give ourselves a chance to win. This one we have to forget pretty quickly." It wont be easy. David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron and Johnny Boychuk also scored for Boston while Tuukka Rask stopped 26 shots. Pittsburghs top-ranked power play went 0 for 2 and the Penguins were never in it after the Bruins scored three times in 17 minutes to chase Tomas Vokoun. Brandon Sutter netted Pittsburghs lone goal. Vokoun gave up three first-period goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury. "Weve gotten away from our game," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "Weve gotten off our game plan." The Bruins had more than a little something to do with it. Pouncing on every mistake -- of which there were plenty to choose -- Boston buried the Penguins early. Not bad for a team that needed an improbable third-period rally in Game 7 of the first round against Toronto to advance. In the span of three weeks, Boston has morphed from a team hanging by a thread into one capable of bookending the Stanley Cup it won two years ago. "Winning that Toronto series created some momentum from that," Bruins forward Milan Lucic said. "Weve been able to keep riding that momentum. We need to keep pushing harder." Another nudge or two would almost certainly send the Penguins toppling over. Pittsburgh blamed its choppy play in the opener, including a rare fight by Malkin, on an eight-day layoff, stressing there was no need to panic. Might be time to start now. The last 16 teams to go up 2-0 in the conference finals have advanced to the Cup finals. The Penguins managed to escape a 2-0 hole against the Bruins in 1991 on their way to the franchises first championship. These days Mario Lemieux is relegated to watching from the owners box. At the moment, the view isnt pretty. Marchand took advantage of a sloppy play by Crosby to give Boston the lead just 28 seconds into the game. Crosby attempted to flip a bouncing puck back into Bostons zone. Marchand casually flipped it out of the air, then streaked in on Vokoun before putting a wrist shot over Vokouns glove. The Bruins -- and Marchand -- were just getting started. Boston poured in two more goals to rattle the Stanley Cup favourites and end Vokouns run through the post-season. Not that Vokoun had much help from the guys in front of him. Kris Letang failed to clear the puck at the end of a Boston power play and Torey Krug kept it in and fired a slap shot at the net. Neither Vokoun, Letang or Paul Martin could grab it and Horton reached down and tapped it in between a sea of sticks to make it 2-0. Krejcis eighth goal of the post-season pushed it to 3-0, though his shot was the easy part. Jaromir Jagr and Bergeron took care of the hard part, dismantling Pittsburghs defence with a series of slick passes that left the NHLs leading playoff scorer all by his lonesome in front of the Pittsburgh net. "We were playing catch-up right from the start," Crosby said. "Its not a good feeling." And it only got worse. The score put an abrupt end to Vokouns hot streak. The 36-year-old journeyman won six of his first seven starts after replacing a shaky Fleury in the opening series against the New York Islanders. He was hardly to blame for the loss in the opener against Boston, but Bylsma nodded at Fleury after Krejcis goal. Fleury returned to a warm ovation and for a moment it gave Pittsburgh a jolt. Sutter snapped a wrist shot over Rasks stick with 34 seconds left in the first period and the Penguins appeared to have life. Marchand quickly snuffed it out, rifling a shot over Fleurys outstretched glove to restore Bostons three-goal edge. That was more than enough. Way more. The Bruins allowed five goals in a game only three times all season. The Penguins never even came close to getting two as the NHLs highest-scoring team had trouble getting out of its own way. Players collided, tripped over themselves and seemed unable to generate any kind of energy. Boston squeezed away all the open ice Pittsburgh enjoyed while racing to the leagues second-best record. The Bruins blocked shots, poke-checked and pushed the Penguins all over the ice. The boos grew to a dull roar when Pittsburgh flubbed a second-period power play. They dissipated late, if only because so many left after Bergerons goal made it 5-1 only 27 seconds into the third period. Theres a chance it may be the last home game of the season. The Penguins need to win at least one of two in Boston to force a Game 5. NOTES: Krejcis 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) lead all scorers in the post-season ... Pittsburgh adjusted its lineup before the game, scratching D Mark Eaton and RW Tyler Kennedy in favour of D Deryk Engelland and C Joe Vitale. Hydro Flask Pullo . Pert has formerly spent time as an assistant coach with Cardiff City, Coventry City, and Bahrain mens national team. "Martyn is a highly-respected coach with experience at the top levels in England," said Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson. Hydro Flask 24 OZ . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. http://www.hydroflaskpullosuomi.com/hydro-flask-40-oz.html . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. Hydro Flask Hinta . LOUIS -- Heading into the final stretch of the season, the issues for the Chicago Bears banged-up defence only seem to be getting worse. Hydro Flask 32 OZ . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. HOUSTON -- The Houston Texans proved they were serious about upgrading their offense this offseason by luring Brock Osweiler from Denver with a four-year, $72 million contract. Now its time to see if the quarterback was worth it.All eyes will be on Osweiler when the Texans begin training camp on July 31 -- especially with star defensive end sidelined by a back injury.Im impressed with Brock, probably most of all in his ability to learn our system, our operation, coach Bill OBrien said. Its not easy to come in here and learn how we operate as an offense, how we meet, how we call plays at the line of scrimmage, how we teach defense ... were really happy with his progress.On Thursday night, a person familiar with Watts condition said the star defender has had back surgery and will begin training camp on the physically unable to perform list. The person spoke to The Associated Press on on condition of anonymity because the team hasnt confirmed the surgery or Watts roster status.Watt, the NFL sacks leader last season with 17 1/2, will miss the start of training camp, but is expected to be ready for the season opener. Watt spent most of the offseason recovering after having surgery to repair a groin injury in January.Watts still looking to do more in 2016 and said he never watches his highlights, instead viewing his bad plays to figure out how to get better.Theres so many great players in this league, and you want to learn and grow as much as you can and gain as much information as you can so that you can improve your own game, Watt said.Osweiler has started just seven games in his four-year NFL career and they were all last season. He was presumed to be Denvers starter this season after Peyton Mannings retirement, but he signed with Houston for megabucks instead.He joins an offense highlighted by star receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who finished third in the NFL with 1,521 yards receiving last season, and that added running back Lamar Miller in free agency, then got receivers Will Fuller and Braxton Miller in the draft.The Texans overcame quarterback woes last season to finish 9-7 and reach the playoffs for the first time since 2012. They were ousted in the wild-card round by Kansas City after Brian Hoyer committed five turnovers in the 30-0 loss.Now Osweiler takes over and he feeels good about his grasp of Houstons offense after the work he got in practices and minicamp this spring and early this summer.dddddddddddd Hes looking to take his understanding to another level in camp.Its just focusing on the details of our offense, he said. Theres a lot of things that go into it -- formations, motions, shifts, different cadences, different route concepts, run checks, pass checks -- and so its just focusing on the details and focusing on the line-of-scrimmage operation.Some things to know about the Texans, who open the season Sept. 11 against the Chicago Bears:EXPECTATIONS FOR CLOWNEY: Outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney is entering his third NFL season and so far the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft has failed to live up to expectations during two injury-plagued seasons. Clowney played just four games as a rookie before having season-ending microfracture surgery. He recovered from that for the start of last season, but missed three games and Houstons playoff match with various ailments. He did show flashes of the potential he displayed in college, though, and finished with 4 1/2 sacks and forced a fumble.Its frustrating. It feels like youre letting the team down when youre not out there, Clowney said. Injuries happen, youve just got to be mentally tough to come back and show the guys you are ready to play.MILLERS POTENTIAL: The Texans snagged an intriguing player when they drafted Braxton Miller in the third round. Miller was the two-time Big Ten offensive player of the year in 2012 and 2013 after throwing from more than 2,000 yards and rushing for more than 1,000 in both of those seasons. He sat out for a season with a shoulder injury before moving to receiver last year, when he finished with 26 receptions for 341 yards.Miller is happy with his progress since making the move.NEW CENTER: The Texans will likely have rookie second-round pick Nick Martin at center after Ben Jones, who started every game the last two seasons, signed with Titans. He is the younger brother of Zack Martin, a first-round pick by the Cowboys in 2014 and a two-time Pro-Bowler at guard.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '