Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source
Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Bruins 1 | TribLIVE.com
Penguins/NHL

Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Bruins 1

Seth Rorabaugh
3702860_web1_ptr-PensPostgame-100419

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-1 win against the Bruins:

During his first season with the Penguins (2019-20), Brandon Tanev quickly established what he was all about with his tenacious forechecking, quick skating and a generally abrasive style.

Perhaps above all else, he proved he was dependable. Appearing in 68 of 69 possible regular season games before the pandemic halted things, Tanev was one of the Penguins’ most reliable entities in the lineup.

It was almost like all that hustling and chippiness became something of a public utility. If you turned on a Penguins game last season, you expected to see Tanev hounding some poor defenseman retrieving a puck on the end boards the same way you expected your water to run when you flipped up the handle at the faucet.

So it was easy to take him for granted.

At least until he missed the previous six games due to an undisclosed injury.

Thrust back into the lineup on Thursday, Tanev was almost impossible to miss. He helped set up the game’s opening goal, hit just about anything with a spoked “B” on the front of it and got into a pretty fierce shouting match with a member of the Bruins at the end of the second period. The interaction was captured on television and appeared to have more salty language than a meeting of lobstermen.

“Obviously, I’m not going to repeat what was said,” Penguins forward Jason Zucker said. “We’ll keep this PG-13. (Tanev) is a great guy to have in our lineup. He’s huge. He’s a maniac out there in so many good ways. He brings a lot of energy to our team. He’s a fighter in every sense of the word. Good having that speed and that energy.”

During the 2019 offseason, the Penguins shipped out forward Phil Kessel and defenseman Olli Maatta, two key members from their Stanley Cup championships of 2016 and 2017 in order to reconfigure the alchemy of their team. Those two departures allowed them to sign Tanev who dramatically changed the pH balance of the Penguins’ room.

There was a pretty vivid reminder of what he offers on display in his return Thursday.

“(Tanev) brings that energy,” forward Zach Aston-Reese said. “He’s called ‘Turbo’ for a reason.”

What happened

After a scoreless first period, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead 2:01 into the second period. Tanev, who was activated from injured reserve prior to the game, pushed the puck into the offensive zone on the right wing with speed. From the right circle, he backhand chipped a bouncing pass to the left of the crease where Aston-Reese fended off backchecking Bruins forward Charlie Coyle and tapped the puck past the stick of scrambling rookie goaltender Dan Vladar for his eighth goal of the season. Tanev and forward Frederick Gaudreau had assists.

They made it a 2-0 game at 13:12 of the second period. Taking a small pass from rookie forward Anthony Angello in the defensive zone, defenseman Mike Matheson hustled up the right wing into the offensive zone. Surging past an insufficient poke check from sluggish Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon, Matheson cut across the front of the crease and tucked a forehand shot past the right skate of Vladar for his third goal. Assists went to Angello and defenseman Cody Ceci.

The Bruins’ lone goal was accounted for by forward Brad Marchand at 11:14 of the third period when he netted his 14th score of the season. Lugging a puck from behind his own goal line, Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron gained the offensive zone on the right wing. Facing minimal resistance from Matheson, Bergeron went deep in the right corner and centered a pass to the slot. Ceci got a piece of the puck but allowed it to deflect to the left of the crease where Marchand roofed a wrister past goaltender Casey DeSmith’s glove on the far side. Bergeron and defenseman Jakub Zboril collected assists.

Any notion of a comeback was snuffed out less than two minutes later at the 13:07 mark. Off a neutral zone turnover by Bruins forward David Pastrnak, Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues generated a two-on-one rush with forward Jason Zucker against Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. From the left wing, Rodrigues fed a backdoor pass for Zucker who tapped in a forehand shot for his fifth goal. Rodrigues and defenseman Marcus Pettersson netted assists.

Penguins forward Jake Guentzel collected his 15th goal on an empty net at 17:51 of the third. Defenseman Kris Letang and forward Sidney Crosby each had assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Bruins led in shots, 31-23.

• Guentzel led the game with five shots.

• Marchand led the Bruins with four shots.

• Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy led the game with 29:45 of ice time on 31 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 24:52 of ice time on 28 shifts.

• The Bruins controlled faceoffs, 35-26 (57%).

• Bergeron was 17 for 24 (71%).

• Crosby was 12 for 30 (40%).

• Lauzon led the game with three blocked shots.

• Zucker, forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman John Marino each led the Penguins with two blocked shots.

• DeSmith made 30 saves on 31 shots.

• Vladar made 19 saves on 22 shots.

Randomly speaking

• The overall shot totals didn’t really tell this story of this game, but the Penguins really limited the quality of the Bruins’ offensive chances. Very few of the Bruins shots were off of second chances near the cage. It wasn’t until the third period when the Bruins got a little desperate and just started blasting the puck from all over the ice in hopes of creating something that the shot totals started to slant in their favor.

In many ways, this was one of the Penguins’ best defensive performances of the season.

• What was perhaps the most encouraging part of this victory from the Penguins’ perspective was that their first three goals (or all their goals that came with a goaltender in net) were from secondary sources. It wasn’t the first line or the power play. It was the role players generating offense.

• Gaudreau has given the coaching staff every reason to keep him in the lineup if the Penguins ever get something close to a full complement of healthy forwards back in the lineup. He now has four points (one goal, three assists) in eight games. And on Thursday he led the Penguins’ forwards with short-handed ice time at 2:13.

He has made the most out of his opportunity.

• Matheson’s game continues to level off after a rocky start to the season. When he has the puck, he can do some pretty creative things with it, as evidenced by his effort to create the game-winning goal. No other member of the team has come further this season than Matheson.

• Just given the situation with Tristan Jarry being injured, the Penguins really needed DeSmith to offer a calming presence and he delivered. Everything seems to suggest Jarry should make a fairly quick recovery from his undisclosed ailment, but if DeSmith should need to carry the freight for a handful of games, he’s shown a lot in recent weeks to suggest he’s capable of such responsibility.

Over his past seven games, he has stopped 187 of 193 shots, equating to a save percentage of .969.

• With Tanev back, the Penguins scratched forward Colton Sceviour.

• The Penguins are now tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the league lead in empty-net goals with 11 each.

• That was far from the best game the Bruins will offer this season. They will have a much better effort in the rematch on Saturday.

• The Bruins played a lot of this game with only five defensemen after Brandon Carlo left the game following the first period due to an undisclosed injury.

Historically speaking

• The Penguins snapped a 10-game losing streak in Boston (0-9-1). Their last victory at TD Garden was a 3-2 overtime win on Nov. 24, 2014 under former head coach Mike Johnston. Forward Evgeni Malkin scored in overtime while goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves on 29 shots in the victory.

• Having slain this beast, the Penguins’ new active longest road losing streak is a seven-game skid in Chicago (0-5-2). Their last win against Blackhawks at the United Center was a 4-3 overtime triumph, Feb. 27, 2009.

Conversely, the Penguins’ longest road winning streak is a six-game heater in Edmonton. Their last road loss to the Oilers was a 4-3 overtime setback on Jan. 10, 2014.

• Sullivan, a native of Marshfield, Mass., earned his first win as a head coach in Boston since he was the Bruins’ head coach and directed his team to a 3-2 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 6, 2006.

• DeSmith (30 wins) surpassed Brent Johnson (29) for the 19th most goaltending wins in franchise history.

• Matheson’s goal was his first game-winner as a member of the Penguins.

• Aston-Reese matched a career-high with eight goals.

Publicly speaking

• The Penguins’ players were very aware of their losing streak in Boston. Aston-Reese was a sophomore at nearby Northeastern in November of 2014 and suggested he might have been at the Penguins’ last win in Boston as a fan:

“I think I was actually at that game when I was in college. My dad got me tickets. It’s been a long time. It was definitely something that we talked about. I know (Letang) went with a mustache. I guess he wore a pretty flashy suit. I know a lot of guys changed things up and got coffees at different spots, things like that. Definitely, we were trying to do everything we could to snap that streak.”

• Zucker on breaking the streak:

“That’s one of those streaks that everyone is aware of in our room and something that we’ve been harping on for a while, especially this season knowing that (all games are in-division). Having to play four games in this building, it’s tough. It was a huge win for us. Huge to get that monkey off our back.”

• Sullivan no-sold the significance of the win in Boston:

“It’s great from our standpoint. I can only speak for myself personally but it’s nice to get a win here. This is not an easy building to play in. This is a real good team, it has been for a number of years. So it’s always a big challenge when you come here. The guys played really hard tonight.”

• Aston-Reese was really high on his team’s defense:

“Our biggest strength tonight was just being strong in front of our net. There (were) a lot of times where they got pucks through and we were able to pick sticks up or get a stick on puck and fizzle out their chances. (Letang) did a really good job. I vividly remember him having a really good stick there, I think on (Bergeron or Marchand) in front. Just all around collective effort defensively and finding bodies in front and not giving them second or third chances.”

• Zucker was critical of himself for missing a breakaway in the first period:

“The breakaway, that’s just bad hands, to be honest. It was a perfect pass from (forward Jared) McCann. Just bad hands, I stick-handled it away. Tried to salvage it a little bit. That was just really a mistake on my part. It’s something that I definitely don’t take likely, that’s for sure.”

• Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy was blunt in assessing mistakes his veteran players made in the game:

“I’m not frustrated with those guys. I’m disappointed that they don’t recognize the value of the puck and where we are in the game and they haven’t stepped up a little more. I get frustrated with the younger guys that make the same mistakes. … That’s just the learning curve for some of them. Some of them will learn it and be better off for it. And some of them won’t and they won’t be here. … There’s no frustration with the older guys. They know what’s at stake. They’ve been to Stanley Cup Finals. So they know the way the game is played.

“They just need to respect it and play that way. My job is just to get that message through and get them to understand. Their job is to understand they are leaders of this hockey club and they should know better.”

Visually speaking

Game summary.

Event summary.

• Highlights:

Follow the Penguins all season long.

Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.

Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.

Get Ad-Free >

Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports
";