BOSTON -- The Penguins defeated Boston, 3-0, at the TD Garden tonight.

The game, which had been heavily hyped by the Boston media, was relatively tame, although the Bruins rarely passed on an opportunity to hit Penguins left winger Matt Cooke.

He was a target for Boston because of his hit to the head of Bruins center Marc Savard during a game at Mellon Arena March 7. Savard got a Grade 2 concussion and might not play again this season.

The victory raised the Penguins' record to 42-24-5 and assured them of at least a share of first place in the Atlantic Division, pending the outcome of New Jersey's game at Toronto.

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury record his first shutout in 63 games, a streak dating to March 25, 2009. The Penguins were the last team to record a shutout this season.

Want an even longer stretch of futility? It was the Penguins' first shutout here since Les Binkley did it Jan. 28, 1968. Yes, more than four decades ago,

The Penguins played without center Evgeni Malkin, who has a bruised right foot, for the second consecutive game, but enforcer Eric Godard returned after missing 16 because of a groin injury.

Forward Max Talbot was scratched to make room for Godard.

Cooke went over the boards for his first shift of the game at 1:52 of the opening period and six seconds later, was in a fight with Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton.

Cooke landed some early punches but Thornton, who had three inches and a dozen pounds on him, eventually earned a clear decision, along with a 10-minute misconduct.

The Cooke-Thornton fight seemed to vent some of the emotion that had built up in the arena, and Tyler Kennedy staked the Penguins to a 1-0 lead at 8:34.

Kennedy had a two-on-one with Ruslan Fedotenko and stuck a high shot under the crossbar behind Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask for his tenth of the season and first in 19 games. Fedotenko and Brooks Orpik got assists.

Fleury preserved the lead at 1618, when he got his glove on a hard wrist shot from inside the right circle by former teammate Miroslav Satan.

The Penguins got their first power play at 2:22 of the second period and kept the puck in the Boston end for the first 111 seconds of that two-minute advantage, but were unable to score.

They didn't capitalize on a chance with the extra man as the period was winding down, either, but got a goal one second after it expired.

Alexei Ponikarovsky deflected a Kris Letang shot past Rusk with 14.1 seconds to go in the period to make it 2-0. Sergei Gonchar got the second assist on that goal, Ponikarovsky's 21st of the season and second in seven games with the Penguins.

Mike Rupp delivered the knockout blow at 5:14 of the third, blocking a shot in the defensive zone then carrying it up the ice before beating Rask from near the right dot for his 13th of the season,

The Penguins will return home for a game against Carolina at 1:08 Saturday before returning to the road to play Detroit Monday and Washington Wednesday.

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