Bruins Fall to Penguins in Opener of Two-Game Set

BOSTON - The Bruins pushed in the third period, but a blend of costly mistakes and more sluggish offense was too much to overcome during a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night at TD Garden.
"We've had trouble executing for a while now, it's one of the reasons our offensive numbers are down," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "We're not clean. We don't take care of the puck well enough."
Boston fell behind, 2-0, after two periods on goals from Zach Aston-Reese and Mike Matheson, both of which were the result of Penguins' rushes through the neutral zone. The Bruins got a bit of a life when Brad Marchand delivered, once again, with his 14th goal of the season off a feed from Patrice Bergeron with 8:46 remaining, pulling Boston within a goal.

But just under two minutes later, the Penguins responded off a turnover from David Pastrnak to regain a two-goal lead. Pittsburgh added an empty-netter with 2:09 to go.
"Sometimes we make it a little tougher on ourselves than we need to," said Marchand. "Against a team that has the ability to score on the rush, we have to be simpler and more direct with the puck, win some more battles."
Cassidy was particularly distressed by the sloppy play of some of Boston's veterans, who he believes should be setting the example for the club's younger players.
"I'm not frustrated with those guys. I'm disappointed that they don't recognize the value of the puck and where we are in the game," said Cassidy. "And they haven't stepped up a little more…there's no frustration with the older guys, they know what's at stake.
"They've been to Stanley Cup Final. They know the way the game's played. They just need to respect it and play that way. My job is to get that message through and get them to understand that they're leaders of this hockey club and they should know better."
Nevertheless, Cassidy expects that his team will rebound on Saturday afternoon for the conclusion of this two-game set against the Penguins.
"I trust this group to bounce back, they're very resilient," said Cassidy. "We've proven that over the years. We don't really go into these long stretches. We've had games, we had a back-to-back in New York this year - Rangers, Islanders - where we've let games get away from us.
"But we've had games like this where we don't respect the process, we don't respect taking care of the puck. Good offense teams, kind of shove it right up. And that's what happens."

Physical Presence

Playing the role of agitator was one that Marchand perfected earlier in his career. But as he's grown into one of the game's top wingers, that side of his game has diminished - for the most part.
With the B's looking for a spark for the second straight game, the alternate captain took it upon himself to stir the pot physically, leading to matching roughing penalties with Pittsburgh's Kris Letang early in the third period.
"I think we can all be a little more physical at times," said Marchand. "We seem to do it in spurts. It's something we need to do from the drop of the puck all game long. We seem to be a better team when we're more physical, create more turnovers, more opportunities to keep more pucks alive. It is something that we need to continue to improve on."

Vladar Gets Start

With Tuukka Rask still sidelined by an upper-body injury, Daniel Vladar got the call for his third career start. The young netminder was excellent from the jump, making 19 saves on 22 shots to keep the Bruins within striking distance. But the 23-year-old, who suffered his first career loss, was quite candid following the loss, saying that he felt he could have done more.
"I want to win every single game, I want to save every single shot," said Vladar. "It just wasn't enough today. Obviously, disappointment from my side. I think I could have done a better job on the third goal…I want to give our team a chance to win every single game. It just wasn't enough today.
"You can win a hockey game with one goal if the goalie saves everything. That's the point of view that I see. I'm just focusing on myself."

Carlo Exits Early

It was a rough night for Boston's back end. Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, Matt Grzelcyk, Jeremy Lauzon were all banged up at one point another, with the latter three all spending time back in the dressing room. Carlo, playing in his second game back from a concussion, left in the first period and did not return.
"Upper body, that's all I got," said Cassidy. "He left and never came back, so that's never a good sign. Lauzy got cut, got stitched up and came back. Grizz took [a puck] in the head, Charlie…they all came back, so that was positive. [Carlo] did not, so obviously I'll have [more] news for you [on Friday]."