Penguins beat Bruins, snap 10-game losing skid in Boston

Mike Sullivan isn’t quite certain why the Pittsburgh Penguins went more than half a decade between wins in Boston.

When pressed, he is short on answers on their futility at TD Garden.

Then again, he doesn’t even bother to offer any. As with most of his concerns, the Penguins coach focuses on the immediate.

“I don’t think it’s any different than any other building,” Sullivan said via video conference. “We’re still playing the same game. The rules are the same. The dimensions of the rink are the same. It’s not like … that we’re trying to build a gameplan for home versus away (or) a unique gameplan for every building that we go in. We’re trying to play the game that gives us the ability to play to our strengths (and) that gives us the best chance to win regardless of who our opponent is, regardless of where the game is being played.”

On Thursday, the Penguins offered a game that would have been successful anywhere between Charlestown and Hyde Park as they defeated the Bruins, 4-1.

Adopting a tight, disciplined approach, the Penguins clamped down on the Bruins, limiting the quality of their scoring chances and snapping a wicked 10-game skid (0-9-1) at TD Garden.

Their most recent win at the venue was a 3-2 overtime triumph on Nov. 24, 2014, under Sullivan’s predecessor, Mike Johnston.

While Sullivan, a native of Marshfield, Mass. who played for and coached the Bruins, downplayed the significance of win’s locale, his players said they deployed tactics that were outright superstitious, if not silly, to end this streak.

“It’s been a long time,” said forward Zach Aston-Reese, who was in his sophomore season at nearby Northeastern the last time a Penguins team won in Boston. “It was definitely something that we talked about. I know (defenseman Kris 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.”

Getting the first lead seemed to be a far more effective method than anything involving facial hair or caffeine.

After a scoreless first period, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead 2 minutes, 1 second into the second period. Penguins forward Brandon Tanev, who was activated from injured reserve before the game, pushed the puck into the offensive zone on the right wing with speed and chipped a backhanded pass to the left of the crease that Aston-Reese fired into the net for his eighth goal of the season.

They made it 2-0 at 13:12 of the second period when defenseman Mike Matheson made a mad dash up the right wing, cut across the front of the crease and tucked in a forehand shot for his third goal.

The Bruins’ lone goal was accounted for by forward Brad Marchand at 11:14 third when he netted his 14th score of the season.

Any notion of a comeback was snuffed out less than two minutes later. 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.

Penguins forward Jake Guentzel collected his 15th goal on an empty net at 17:51 of the third.

Goaltender Casey DeSmith, in net in place of injured All-Star Tristan Jarry, made 30 saves on 31 shots, improving his record to 9-3-0.

“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,” Zucker said. “It was a huge win for us. Huge to get that monkey off our back.”

Notes: Goaltender Maxime Lagace was recalled from the taxi squad to the NHL roster under emergency conditions and served as DeSmith’s backup. … Rookie forward Radim Zohorna was assigned from the NHL roster to the taxi squad. … Forward Justin Almeida was assigned from the taxi squad to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.