Cody Ceci, Mike Matheson starting to contribute after a month with Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins opened their season Jan. 13, a little more than a month ago.

In some ways, it seems like it was a year ago.

If nothing else, it was one general manager ago.

For Cody Ceci and Mike Matheson, their debuts as members of the Penguins came during a different time.

The two defensemen stumbled through a haphazard display by their new team as it lost on the road to the rival Philadelphia Flyers, 6-3.

Ceci and Matheson were somewhat key to the outcome of that contest as each took penalties in the first period that led directly to power-play goals for the Flyers.

Additionally, both players lost one-on-one battles in their own crease that led to goals for the Flyers. On Philadelphia’s first goal, Matheson lost position to Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk on a redirection.

Then during a sequence leading to an insurance goal later in the game, Ceci was hit into his own cage during a goalmouth scramble resulting in a score by Flyers forward Oskar Lindblom.

It was an underwhelming start to the season for the team as well as two of former general manager Jim Rutherford’s most prominent offseason acquisitions.

One month (and one day) later, each player had a starring role in what was perhaps the Penguins’ most impressive victory of the season, a 6-3 home win against the rival Washington Capitals.

With new general manager Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke on hand to watch the team in person for the first time, Matheson and Ceci each recorded points and had direct roles in creating the Penguins’ first two goals during the first period.

First, Matheson connected with forward Sidney Crosby on a dazzling give-and-go sequence that led to forward Bryan Rust scoring a tap-in goal.

Matheson was modest in describing his contribution on the sequence that led to his first point with the Penguins.

“It was a great play by Sid,” Matheson said via video conference. “I just got him the puck and tried to get open for him. He made a great play getting it to me. There wasn’t much left for me to do at that point.”

The Penguins next goal saw Ceci chuck a wrister on net from the right point that led to a rebound goal for forward Brandon Tanev.

Ceci later recorded a secondary assist on forward Jake Guentzel’s winning goal in the second period.

Their increased contributions to the team’s success reflect a greater level of familiarity with their surroundings.

There’s always adjustments new players have to make to a new team. But that issue has been compounded this season because of the disjointed nature of the 2020-21 season being played during a pandemic. And Matheson wasn’t aided by an injury he suffered in the second game of the season that forced him to miss eight contests.

Regardless, a month into their tenures as Penguins, Ceci and Matheson are starting to contribute.

“Things are happening a lot more naturally than at the beginning of the year,” Matheson said. “Once you get to a point where the systems are a lot more natural and instinctual, it flows a lot better within the game.”

“After a little while, you get a little more comfortable,” Ceci said. “You trust your instincts a little more. You’re not guessing. You’re not trying to figure out the systems. You’re just back to playing hockey.”

At some point, injured defensemen Brian Dumoulin, Juuso Riikola and Marcus Pettersson will be back in the lineup. That will create a good problem for coaches in trying to figure out who dresses on the blue line.

That decision won’t be any easier if Ceci and Matheson maintain the trajectory they’ve established over the past month.

“Sometimes, when players come to a new team and a new environment, there’s a whole lot of thinking going on early on because they’re trying to familiarize themselves with their surroundings as well as some of the details of the concepts on a how a particular team is trying to play,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “These guys have been here for some time now. I think they’re getting more comfortable with their surroundings. I think they’re more familiar with the concepts and the tactics in how we’re trying to play as a group. That, in turn, should allow them to play a more instinctive game.”

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