Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Bruins 3

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 win against the Bruins.

First things first, there were no updates on Penguins forwards Dominik Kahun or Dominik Simon. Both players failed to finish the game due to undisclosed injuries.

Kahun’s final shift came at 1:32 into the second period while Simon’s last shift was recorded at 15:57 of the third period.

As for the game itself, it was a strange affair. Jack Johnson scored twice, including once on the opposition’s net. The Bruins scored only 11 seconds in. There was an impromptu MMA fight due to poor officiating.

Oh, and Matt Murray got cheers.

Bronx cheers.

(Or Blawnox cheers if you’re into the whole provincialism thing.)

After allowing two goals on three shots within the first 2:02 of regulation, Murray stopped a puck which slid in from center ice off the ensuing faceoff.

Cheers rained down. They weren’t overwhelming but they were prodigious.

Roughly 13 minutes later, that happened again after Johnson tapped in a goal behind Murray by accident. Murray stopped another puck which rolled in on net and there were more of those cheers.

The Penguins and Murray shook off the rough start and the rough reception to claim a pretty impressive, albeit considerably flawed victory.

But he heard those cheers.

He took the high road and declined comment.

His teammates defended him with far more vigor after the game than they did in the opening minutes of the game.

“He was really solid,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “Unfortunately, he heard it a bit from the crowd early on in the game. But he stuck with it. He’s been great. That’s not easy for a goalie when you’re at home and you hear it from your own fans. I’m happy for him and I’m glad we were able to get back into it and give them something to cheer about it.”

“We heard the cheers in the first,” defenseman Kris Letang said. “That’s not the time to do that. Matt is a professional. He knows what he has to do. He made big saves in the second and the third to keep the score the way it was. He played a great game.”

Murray did play great down the stretch, especially in the third period when he made 14 saves, many of them high-danger opportunities.

But man, what an ugly scene that was after he gave up those early goals.

The author of this corner of the Internet isn’t going to lecture anyone on how to behave at a sporting event, especially when he gets into games for free.

That said, it’s nothing short of striking to see a goaltender with two Stanley Cup ring get treated like that.

Despite two Stanley Cup titles, Tom Barrasso all but engineered his low standing in Pittsburgh by largely being a loathsome entity. And the ebullient Marc-Andre Fleury is seemingly loved more as a visitor than he ever was as a local.

Matt Murray? He’s a quiet person who is neither bubbly nor boorish. He’s very inert as a human being, at least publicly.

So maybe there’s a “purity” to the lack of patience some fans have for him in that they’re only critiquing him on his results and not his personality. And hey, the results, at least the good ones, have been too infrequent over the past two seasons and change for Murray.

Regardless, everyone in the Penguins’ dressing room is a big boy and should be able to deal with being booed or, in this case, “cheered.” It’s professional sports. It comes with the territory.

That said, Sunday’s display was not well received by Murray or his teammates.

What happened

Boston scored first 11 seconds into the game. Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron won the opening faceoff and backhanded the puck back to defenseman Torey Krug, who fed a pass to fellow defenseman Brandon Carlo. From behind Boston’s blue line, Carlo zipped the puck up the left wing to forward David Patrnak, who gained the offensive zone. Off the half wall, Pastrnak centered the puck for forward Brad Marchand inside the left circle but missed the mark as the puck slid to the right circle, where Bergeron pushed a wrister through Murray’s five hole for his 21st goal of the season. Assists went to Pastrnak and Carlo.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Bruins nearly scored at the 1:31 mark when Murray turned the puck over behind the net to Bruins forward Joakim Nordstrom. That sequence presumably amplified the uncertain feelings fans on hand had over Murray.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Boston made it 2-0 only 1:51 after the opening goal. Gaining the offensive zone at the center point, Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk fed a pass to forward Charlie Coyle on the right wing. From the half wall, Coyle centered a pass to the high slot for forward Anders Bjork. As Penguins defenseman Juuso Riikola leaned down for a block attempt, Bjork lifted a wrister that beat Murray over his left shoulder for his eighth goal. Coyle and DeBrusk collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson then scored into his own net at the 15:07 mark to make it 3-0. Pastrnak took a puck behind the net and drifted to the right circle on his backhand. Turning to his forehand, Pastrnak attempted to deal a pass to Marchand to the left of the crease, but Johnson inadvertently directed the puck through Murray’s legs. Pastrnak was credited with his league-leading 37th goal. There was no assist initially but the NHL eventually ade a scoring change and awarded helpers to Marchand and Krug.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins finally got on the scoreboard at 16:34 of the first. Chipping a puck behind the Boston net, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby spun off a check from Bruins defenseman John Moore and turned to his left, feeding a pass to forward Dominik Simon along the goal line. From an acute angle, Simon leaned down and lifted a wrister past Halak’s glove hand on the near side. It was Simon’s sixth goal of the season. Assists went to Crosby and Patric Hornqvist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Only 33 seconds into the second period, the Penguins cut it to 3-2. After the completion of a penalty, Penguins forward Teddy Blueger was sprung loose from the penalty box and stole a puck off Marchand at the center red line. Reversing course, Blueger gained the offensive zone on the left wing and centered the puck to the high slot for Letang, who chipped a shot wide to the left of the net. Crosby claimed the rebound and snapped a backhanded pass through his legs to Blueger low in the left circle. Blueger settled the puck with his left skate and lifted a wrister past Halak’s blocker on the near side. Crosby and Letang collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Johnson made amends by tying the score with his first career short-handed goal 1:41 into the third period. Lugging the puck from his own zone through the neutral zone, Penguins forward Brandon Tanev gained the offensive zone on the right wing on a two-on-two rush with Blueger against Bergeron and Krug. As Blueger drove the crease and tied up Bergeron, Tanev fed a pass to Johnson trailing on the left wing. From above the left circle, Johnson blasted a shot past Halak’s blocker on the near side for his third goal of the season. The lone assist went to Tanev.

(Video courtesy NHL)

At 12:35 of the third, the Penguins took their first lead. Controlling a puck on the end boards, McAvoy was hounded by a forecheck from Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin. Stealing the puck, Malkin slid a pass to the bottom of the left circle where forward Bryan Rust ripped a wrister past Halak’s blocker on the near side for his 21st goal. Malkin netted the only assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Bruins dominated shots, 37-22.

• Krug led the game with five shots.

• Blueger and Hornqvist each led the Penguins with four shots.

• McAvoy led the game with 26:52 of ice time on 33 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 24:12 of ice time on 32 shifts.

• The Bruins controlled faceoffs, 37-27 (58 percent).

• Bergeron was 20 for 25 (80 percent).

• Malkin was 7 for 13 (54 percent).

• Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson led the game with seven blocked shots.

• Carlo led the Bruins with three blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• The Penguins had their third comeback victory in which they rebounded from a three-goal deficit. The NHL’s single-season record for such comebacks is four. The 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers, the 1983-84 Minnesota North Stars and the 1989-90 Detroit Red Wings share that mark.

• Crosby (1,241 points) surpassed Hockey Hall of Fame forward Peter Stastny (1,239) for 39th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

Randomly speaking

• Since returning from his core muscle injury, Crosby has played in four games and has eight points (three goals, five assists).

• Rust’s 21st goal move him past injured forward Jake Guentzel (20) for the team lead.

• Murray won his fifth consecutive game. Here’s his basic numbers of his past seven games compared to his seven previous games:

Matt Murray's basic numbers over this past seven games compared to his previous seven games: pic.twitter.com/ruEM6GkdO4

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) January 20, 2020

• Simon, who has been on Crosby’s line since his return, has four points in those four games.

-Andrew Agozzino was limited to 4:09 of ice time on six shifts. He remained on the bench. Obviously, whatever positives coach Mike Sullivan may have seen in Agozzino last week have worn off.

• The officiating was poor throughout. There were several instances where a player took a hit then was pinned to the ice for extended periods of time by who hit them as play moved to another portion of the ice. Oftentimes, it happened with referees Kelly Sutherland or Francois St-Laurent watching it from less than 15 feet away.

Once instance involved Letang and Marchand rolling around on the ice like a high school wrestling match.

Sutherland and St-Laurent weren’t missing these potential penalties. They were regularly opting to not enforce the rules. It was abhorrent to watch.

Publicly speaking

• Letang on the comeback:

“We all know we came out pretty flat. Just things didn’t go our way in the first period. As a team, we were confident in the way we can play, that we can come back on any team. We just tried to climb. We didn’t cheat to get goals. We just tried to climb slowly and guys were able to find the back of the net.”

• Rust on Malkin’s play setting up his game-winning goal

“It’s just one of those plays where he was in hard on the forecheck. He got the puck loose and he can make some pretty special plays. So I was just trying to come in the slot and be ready for it. He put the puck right on my tape.”

• Johnson explained what happened on the play where he tapped in Pastrnak’s goal:

“You try to stop it and maybe lay it in the pads there. You don’t want to let it go through and you can’t deflect it out in the slot. That’s a tough bounce.”

• Murray on the Pastrnak goal:

“You just move past that one. (Johnson is) trying to make the right play and gets a bad bounce and it ends up going in. So you just move past it.”

• Rust on his team staging yet another three-goal comeback:

“We obviously weren’t too thrilled with it. But it’s a place we’ve been before, unfortunately. But we’ve climbed out of holes before. Everybody in the room knew what it took. We just had to kind of elevate our game a little bit, play a little bit harder, play a little bit smarter.”

• Johnson would like to avoid another comeback from a three-goal deficit:

“Getting down 3-0 isn’t what we had in mind. We’ve been able to come back before but that’s not a recipe for success. Games are going to tighten up more and more. As we get closer to playoff hockey, it starts to get closer to that style of hockey. We’d like to not be down 3-0.”

• Blueger enjoyed a rare moment on the ice with Crosby:

Obviously, it was fun to be out there with him. I don’t get to do that a lot. It was fun to be on the receiving end of one of those.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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