Penguins beat Bruins, lose 10-game skid in Boston

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

When in a rush, he lacks answers about their futility at TD Garden.

Again, he doesn’t even bother to offer any. As with most of his concerns, the Penguins coach is focused on the immediate.

“I don’t think it’s any different from any other building,” Sullivan said via video conference. “We always play the same game. The rules are the same. The dimensions of the ice rink are the same. It’s not like… that we try to build a game plan to go home versus away (or) a unique game plan for each building we enter. We try to play the game that gives us the opportunity to play with our strengths (and) it gives us the best chance of winning, whoever our opponent is, wherever the game is being played. ”

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

Taking a tight, disciplined approach, the Penguins cracked down on the Bruins, limiting the quality of their scoring chances and breaking a bad 10-game (0-9-1) slip at TD Garden.

While Sullivan, a native of Marshfield, Mass., Who played for and coached the Bruins, downplayed the location of the win, his players said they deployed tactics that were downright superstitious, if not silly. , to end this sequence.

“It’s been a long time,” said forward Zach Aston-Reese, who was in his second season at nearby Northeastern, the last time a Penguins team won in Boston. “It’s definitely something we talked about. I know (defender Kris Letang) went with a mustache. I guess he was wearing a pretty flashy costume. I know a lot of guys changed things up and bought cafes in different places, things like that.

“Certainly we were trying to do whatever we could to break that streak.”

Getting the first lead seemed like a much more effective method than anything that involved facial hair or caffeine.

After a scoreless first period, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead 2 minutes, 1 second after the second period. Penguins forward Brandon Tanev, who was activated from the injured reserve before the game, pushed the puck into the offensive zone on the right wing with speed and made a backhand pass to the left of the enclosure that Aston-Reese pulled 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 wild run down the right wing, cut through the front of the area and landed a forehand for his third goal. .

Goalie Casey DeSmith, at the net for injured All-Star Tristan Jarry, made 30 saves on 31 shots, improving his record to 9-3-0.

“It’s one of those streaks that everyone is aware of in our bedroom and something that we’ve been emphasizing for quite some time,” Zucker said. “It was a huge victory for us. Huge to get this monkey off our back.

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