Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson eager to prove himself

As the primary return in a September trade that jettisoned a fan favorite — and a two-time Stanley Cup champion — in Patric Hornqvist, Mike Matheson always was going to face an uphill battle to appetize the locals.

And considering he played only two underwhelming games out of a possible 10, he has provided little evidence to this point in his Penguins career that he is up to that task.

If you have a rooting interest in the Penguins, you probably should be disappointed in what Matheson has offered thus far.

And you’re not alone in that assessment.

Matheson shares that sentiment as well.

Sidelined for the past eight games by an injury, Matheson realizes he has to make up quite a bit of ground by the time he returns to the lineup, possibly as soon as Saturday for a road game against the New York Islanders.

“Obviously, when (the injury) first happened, I was super disappointed,” Matheson said via video conference after practice Thursday in Cranberry. “Didn’t want to be out. Wanted to show my teammates that I could come in and work hard and be a good teammate. It was hard to show that and prove that sitting on the sidelines. That was a difficult aspect.”

Currently, on injured reserve, Matheson participated in Wednesday’s practice with no restrictions.

Without the benefit of a true training camp or even much face-to-face time away from the rink with his teammates given the pandemic, Matheson was playing catch-up in terms of adjusting to his team by the time the regular season started Jan. 13. That process was hindered by Jan. 15 when he was hobbled by injury in the Penguins’ second game of the season at Philadelphia.

While simply playing is the baseline goal for any player, Matheson was able to take some benefit in being off the ice.

“I think I’m a pretty motivated person, so I just sat back and tried to take advantage of the fact that I wasn’t playing,” Matheson said. “Got to watch all the games from a different perspective, obviously. When you’re watching the games from the press box, everything is so much slower. The game looks so easy up there. It’s interesting to see from that perspective. As far as things I tried to pick up, I think it was also just an opportunity to watch our faceoff plays, our (defensive) zone coverage, just the systems and try to pick up on those things so that when I got back, I kind of fit in a little more seamlessly instead of going to faceoffs and asking guys, ‘Geez, what does that call mean?’ and that sort of stuff.

“So I was hoping to pick up on those things a lot better.”

Penguins management hopes that is the case, especially because he is a left-hander, and a sinkhole has opened up on the port side of the Penguins blue line given so many southpaw defenders are injured.

In addition to Matheson, Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola are convalescing at the moment.

“We’ve, obviously, had a challenge with a lot of the left-handed shots going down,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’ve got right-handed shots playing on the left side, which isn’t the ideal scenario for them. But out of necessity, we’ve been forced to make those types of decisions. The players have done a terrific job of just embracing that challenge.”

The challenge now for Matheson is to find a way to contribute to a team that needs major help on the blue line. While right-hander Kris Letang appears poised to return to the lineup after missing two games with an undisclosed injury, fellow starboarder John Marino’s status remains uncertain after he was placed on the NHL’s list of absences related to covid-19 protocol.

Having practiced a handful of times over the past week, Matheson appears poised to rejoin his still-new teammates and prove he can make a positive impact.

“That’s going to be up to the training staff and team doctor to ultimately make that call (about playing), Matheson said. “But I feel really good. I think I’m getting close to 100 percent. That gives me a lot of confidence.”

Note: Letang and forward Zach Aston-Reese, sidelined since undergoing surgery on his left shoulder in August, each participated in practice with no restrictions as well.

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