Mike Matheson evolves into one of the Penguins' most reliable players

Mike Matheson was in an unusual situation last week.

A fight.

During the Penguins’ 3-2 overtime home win against the Nashville Predators on April 10, the veteran defenseman dropped the gloves for only the second time in his seven-year career.

His choice of combatants?

Predators power forward Tanner Jeannot, a rookie who leads the NHL with 13 fighting majors in his first season.

By no stretch did Matheson fare well in the tussle. He absorbed several rights before losing his balance and falling onto his backside.

It was a mismatch before it even began.

Why would Matheson even bother to engage with the rough-and-tumble Jeannot?

He was just being a good teammate.

Moments earlier, Jeannot had dropped Penguins franchise defenseman Kris Letang with a heavy check. Almost instinctively, Matheson pursued Jeannot, and the two began their one-sided confrontation.

Five minutes of game time later, Matheson emerged from the penalty box and teammates “clapped” their sticks along the boards at the bench in appreciation for his actions.

Including Letang.

“He’s the type of guy who is going to do everything that he can for his teammates,” Letang said. “We saw it against Nashville when he came in and decided to fight a tough kid.”

It’s been something of a tough challenge for Matheson throughout his career to establish himself as a reliable defenseman. A first-round pick (No. 23 overall) in 2012 by the Florida Panthers, Matheson never reached even the lowest of expectations with an organization that was often disorganized on and off the ice.

“The way I was playing in Florida was really not good,” Matheson admits. “That weighed on my confidence a lot. I’d go into games in a pretty bad place mentally before the puck even dropped. That caused a lot more mistakes to happen.”

Matheson’s tenure with the Panthers came to an end in September 2020 when he was dealt to the Penguins in exchange for popular power forward Patric Hornqvist.

Any hopes for an immediate turnaround for Matheson did not materialize. Without the benefit of a true training camp as a result of the pandemic, he opened the 2020-21 season in January (of 2021) on the Penguins’ third pairing. An injury forced him to sit eight games after the second game of the season.

Fifteen months later, he is on the Penguins’ top pairing skating alongside Letang.

While that marriage was created in part because of the struggles among the team’s other defensemen, Matheson has done more than enough to earn a promotion.

In 69 games this season, he has 29 points, including 11 goals, most among the team’s defensemen.

“He’s come a long way,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s got a real solid two-way game right now. He works extremely hard at it. He’s built a real good relationship with (assistant coach) Todd Reirden. They work together to try to help Mike be at his best. Mike deserves so much credit for how hard he’s worked at the different aspects of his game in trying to play a calculated game, a conscientious game.”

The pure physical skills were always present in Matheson. There might not be a better skater on the Penguins’ roster. And his wrist shot could probably dent silicon carbide.

But the mental side of the game required plenty of refinement.

“Now, (mistakes are) happening less,” Matheson said. “It’s helping me manage those mistakes better, too, when they do come, because they are going to come. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player play a perfect game. Things happen really fast. Your intentions are always right, but sometimes the puck bounces a certain way and you don’t make the play. In the past, that used to really weigh on me and affect the rest of my game whereas I think I’ve gotten better in the last little while.”

“He’s an incredible athlete,” Sullivan said. “He skates so well. He shoots the puck so hard. He’s big and strong. When he just takes what the game gives him and doesn’t force the issue or force things and put himself in some difficult circumstances, that’s when we feel Mike is at his best. That’s been a lot of the message that Todd and myself have been talking to Mike about since he’s joined our team.

“Mike has done a great job, I think, of just recognizing when he’s got to make simple plays and when he can be active in the offense and when he can be active in the rush and when he needs to simply stay behind the attack. Those decisions, I think, he’s gotten a lot better at. That has allowed him to play the game that he’s playing for us right now.”

In a little more than two weeks, Matheson and the Penguins will open the playoffs. While qualifying for the postseason has become a base expectation for this franchise, the novelty of it isn’t lost on Matheson, especially against the context of the struggles he faced earlier in his career.

“My first (three) years, we didn’t make the playoffs,” Matheson said. “Those were long years knowing that you were out of the playoffs a lot earlier than even now. It makes you appreciate it that much more. When you’re younger, you’re definitely focused in on that and want to make the playoffs.

“… The more you’re in the league, the longer you’re in the league, you realize how hard it is and how difficult it is to be in the playoffs and go far in the playoffs. I still haven’t won a playoff series, and I’ve been in the league for six years now. That’s pretty frustrating. That just adds to the excitement and the motivation to make it happen.”

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