Bruins' Struggles Continue in Loss to Penguins

PITTSBURGH - Matt Grzelcyk scored on the power play and the Bruins landed 43 shots on goal, but it was not enough to end their woes, as the Black & Gold fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1, on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena in the opener of a four-game road trip.
The Bruins, who have lost nine of 12, have scored just two even strength goals in their last five games.

"They generated enough to win the hockey game," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of his club. "You've got to finish…stating the obvious here. But I'm more concerned when you don't generate. That means you're not doing the right things to get the opportunities.
"You continue to generate, I believe there's enough talent in there to get enough goals. We're not gonna sit here and tell you we're gonna be one of the highest scoring teams until we get more finish and more confidence.
"But we generated enough tonight, I thought, certainly, to score more than Pittsburgh."

Boston got off to a decent start behind Grzelcyk's power-play marker just 6:47 into the contest and opened up a 9-1 advantage in shots during the opening minutes. But things turned quickly for the Bruins late in the frame as Pittsburgh struck for two goals in 1:43 - with both tallies likely ones that Jaroslav Halak (23 saves) would like back.
The first came with 3:09 remaining in the first when an Evan Rodrigues shot trickled through Halak to tie the game. Sidney Crosby followed shortly thereafter with a sharp angle shot from the left corner that sneaked in between Halak and the post.
"He wasn't good in the first period," Cassidy said of Halak. "He's played a lot of hockey for us lately, a lot of good hockey. You have to push back. He's bailed us out lots of times…2-1 game, you've played just as good as they have, if not better, so you keep pushing.
"Where I'm disappointed is we got away from our game in the second period, in terms of playing forward against a team that can really skate."
Pittsburgh added another goal midway through the second when Evgeni Malkin struck on the power play to make it 3-1 Penguins, a dagger of sorts for a Bruins team that has struggled mightily to generate offense in recent games.
"It does feel like every mistake is going in our net," said Brad Marchand. "That just means we've got to clean up our game a little bit. When things aren't going well and you're not scoring the way you want to, you've got to play almost mistake-free hockey.
"We had a much better effort tonight. If we play like that again [on Tuesday], we'lll have a much better result."

Goalie Swap

With Halak having started four straight games, Cassidy confirmed after the game that either Daniel Vladar or Jeremy Swayman will make their first NHL start on Tuesday night. Tuukka Rask (undisclosed injury) returned to the ice on Monday morning for a skate with the Bruins' taxi squad but will not be ready for the second end of the back-to-back.
"We'll discuss that tonight and give Jaro a break," Cassidy said of which goalie would start.
Cassidy was not yet sure if he would make any other changes. Boston's bench boss inserted Karson Kuhlman and Steven Kampfer into the lineup on Monday in search of a spark, while also getting Jake DeBrusk back from a one-game absence due to COVID-19 protocols.
"I thought [DeBrusk] had more jump, second effort. That's what we want," said Cassidy. "Had a chance [down, 3-1 with a shorthanded breakaway]…would have been nice, given us a lift. Goalie made a save.
"Kuhlman I thought had some energy going to the net, something we've been asking him to do. He usually brings that part of it, foot speed and some pace.
"Kampfer I thought had some good moments...the puck found him a lot, that means he's in the right spots."

Grzelcyk Breaks Through

Grzelcyk's tally was his first of the season as the blue liner broke through in his seventh game back from an injury - which kept him out for nearly a month. The blue liner, who has played mostly alongside Charlie McAvoy on Boston's first pair, landed a game-high eight shots on goal in 21:20 of ice time.
"I feel pretty confident, I think my legs are there," said Grzelcyk. "I'm a much better player when I'm able to skate and make quick plays up to our forwards, let them go to work down low…the game before, I was turning down shots. Want to have more of that mentality. You're not gonna score every time, but I think it creates a lot of havoc down low."