Empty Thoughts: Bruins 3, Penguins 1

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-1 loss to the Bruins:

With the current pandemic-related restrictions in place that limit media from directly interacting with NHL players or coaches, it’s difficult to get a feel — on a human level — for subjects you interview. We’re just people talking to one another through the squawky audio of a laptop with upwards of 20 other people listening in.

It’s imperfect and impersonal. But obviously necessary given the circumstances.

But one trait that has stood out among members of the Penguins is the blunt self-assessment defenseman Mike Matheson will offer.

Even going back to the first days of training camp, he was very frank about his play.

When asked what went wrong for him as a member of the Florida Panthers, he didn’t sugarcoat things.

“In Florida, it just seemed like things kind of snowballed,” Matheson said Jan. 5. “It got to a point where I was starting to lose confidence. Obviously, that’s on myself. So going into this offseason, I didn’t really try to hide from the fact that I needed to get better in certain areas.

“The worst thing you can do is pretend everything is great. Because obviously, I wasn’t happy with where my game was last year.”

And given how much Matheson struggled to live up to the expectations that came with a monster eight-year contract worth a total of $39 million that he signed with the Panthers in 2017, his self-audit was spot on.

Four months into this season, Matheson has largely turned his game around as he has become a pretty vital part of the Penguins’ blue line, forming a reliable second pairing with Cody Ceci. With 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in 42 games, his ability to move the puck, either through his bold skating or his clean passing has blossomed as a member of the Penguins.

But there are still a few hiccups.

Heck, he had an outright belch on Tuesday.

On the opening goal of Tuesday’s home loss to the Bruins, he was simply beaten on a fantastic move in his own slot by Bruins forward David Krejci.

After the game, Matheson didn’t hold back.

“You look at that first goal, that’s my fault,” Matheson said. “I came off the bench and didn’t get my gap. Put myself in a bad spot. I had no gap. Was flatfooted. They have good players that are deceptive and hard to play against if you give them time. That’s not a recipe for success if you’re sitting back and not playing aggressive through the neutral zone with good gaps.”

As long as he has that huge contract, Matheson is always going to be justly scrutinized. There are flaws to his game, particularly defensively.

But no one can ever accuse him of being anything less than completely honest about himself.

What happened

The Bruins broke the stalemate late in the second period at 18:10. Lugging a puck up ice from his own zone to the neutral zone, Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy dished a pass to Krejci who gained the offensive blue line at center point. Dragging the puck past passive pressure from Matheson, Krejci veered to the left circle and lifted a slick backhander past the glove of goaltender Tristan Jarry on the far side for his seventh goal of the season. Assists went to McAvoy and goaltender Tuukka Rask.

Boston forward Brad Marchand secured victory at 9:11 of the third period. Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Marchand lifted a wrister from the circle that struck Jarry in the mask. Jarry appeared stunned for a moment but gathered himself to reject a forehand shot off the rebound by Bruins forward David Pastrnak. The puck trickled loose to the right of the cage where Marchand was able to slam home an easy forehand shot for his 26th goal. Pastrnak and forward Curtis Lazar recorded assists.

The Bruins added an insurance goal at 12:18 of the third. After Krejci gained the offensive zone at center point, he backhanded a pass to forward Taylor Hall at the left point. Dragging the puck past backchecking Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, Hall ripped a wrister from the high slot past Jarry’s blocker for his sixth goal. Assists were tallied by Krejci and defenseman Mike Reilly.

A late goal by the Penguins broke up the shutout bid at 17:39 mark of the third. Off a stretch pass from the defensive zone by Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, forward Jeff Carter entered the offensive zone with some pace and chopped a slapper from the right circle beating Rask’s blocker on the far side for his 11th goal. Letang and forward Kasperi Kapanen netted assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Bruins led in shots, 31-26.

• Pastrnak led the game with six shots.

• Carter and forward Bryan Rust each led the Penguins with five shots.

• McAvoy led the game with 27:52 of ice time on 32 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 26:19 of ice time on 25 shifts.

• The Bruins controlled faceoffs, 34-26 (57%).

• As usual, Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron was dominant at the dot going 19 for 30 (63%).

• Crosby was 16 for 29 (55%).

• Bruins defensemen Jeremy Lauzon and Kevan Miller each led the game with four blocked shots.

• Defenseman Brian Dumoulin led the Penguins with two blocked shots.

• Jarry made 28 saves on 31 shots.

• Rask made 25 saves on 26 shots.

Randomly speaking

• This game was fairly similar to the Penguins’ 1-0 home win against the Bruins on Saturday. There was a lot of defense. The only difference was the Bruins took the first lead of the game and that prompted the Penguins to take a few more chances offensively, exposing them a bit and allowing the Bruins to pour on some offense. That’s a pretty effective formula to lose a game.

• The Penguins failed to challenge Rask all that much. Sure, they had 26 shots which is an OK total, but not many of them were really that daunting. On the occasions they were able to get a shot on net past the phalanx of Bruins defenders who blocked an astounding 21 shots, Rask was easily capable of kicking out a rebound to somewhere in the vicinity of Fifth Avenue. And on the relatively few instances he allowed a rebound near the crease, a Bruins teammate was able to play the puck out of danger.

The Penguins really didn’t do much in the way of second-chance opportunities or even screens leading to tips or redirections. It was a relatively easy night at the office for Rask.

• It was a rare off night for the Penguins’ top line of Jake Guentzel, Crosby and Rust. According to Natural Stat Trick, they were on the ice for 21 shot attempts against while only generating 10 of their own.

Coach Mike Sullivan isn’t afraid to sic that top line against the opposition’s top line. And why not? That’s a pretty good trio of forwards. But the Bruins have a pretty good top line in Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak. They showed that by being fairly dominant against the Penguins’ top line.

• As the game wore on a bit, the Penguins moved Kasperi Kapanen up to right wing on the second line in place of Jason Zucker. That promotion led to a few shots. It’ll be interesting to see if that’s something the coaches experiment with moving forward.

• The fourth line of Evan Rodrigues, Mark Jankowski and Colton Sceviour hasn’t been bad. They find ways to get the puck deep and keep it there. It doesn’t always lead to a shot but they don’t spend much time in their own zone which is always a plus. As it was, they generated five shot attempts while allowing only three.

Whenever injured forward Evgeni Malkin (or even Frederick Gaudreau) returns, the “RodJankSce” line probably gets broken up with the “Jank” portion of it most likely getting scratched, but the Penguins’ coaches seem to have discovered a viable option should they need to turn to it.

• Jarry was adequate. It would have been nice to see him steal a goal or two, especially Hall’s goal, but he was fine in this game.

• The Penguins going 0 for 3 on the power play, with all three chances coming early, didn’t help matters.

Historically speaking

• Penguins forward Teddy Blueger recorded his third career fighting major with Lauzon fairly late at 6:38 of the third period.

During his postgame media availability, Blueger had a bag of ice on his left hand but indicated he was fine.

Publicly speaking

• Matheson on the Penguins not challenging Rask enough:

“Tuukka Rask is a great goaltender. That’s part of how they play is they collapse in the middle around their net. If we do get a chance, they’re good at making sure the rebounds are cleared away and our forwards are boxed out. That goes into being good defensively. That’s definitely one of the areas that makes them hard to play against. It’s not from a lack of effort from our forwards. They were trying their hardest to get to the net and be there for the rebounds. As defensemen, we could probably do a better job of getting our shots through that second layer. They were able to front a lot of our shots and (turn) the transition the other way.”

• Blueger on the Penguins’ lack of net-front traffic:

“The whole night, it seemed like we were a step behind in terms of winning puck battles. Didn’t get enough pucks on net, didn’t have enough traffic in front of Rask. The rebound that he did kick out, we didn’t get to too many of them. That’s not really a recipe for success.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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