BOSTON — It took less than 90 seconds for Charlie Coyle to give the Boston Bruins a shot of energy Friday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Coyle netted his fifth goal of the season just 1:24 into the contest, setting up the Bruins perfectly to run away with things against the struggling Penguins. But instead of taking off after that, the Bruins got stuck in neutral while the opportunistic Penguins came away with a narrow 2-1 win at TD Garden.
“I thought our first period was pretty decent and you jump out to an early lead, it’s what you do after that,” Coyle said. “I don’t think anyone can say we liked how we played after that. We kind of changed up our game and we stopped doing the things that add up and give us opportunities in their end and we kind of strayed away from it. They had their little pushes and just shouldn’t happen that way.”
The Bruins tested Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry at times — he made 31 saves — but yet again struggled to find the back of the net. The Bruins, who have scored the fewest amount of goals per game in the NHL, have just three goals in their last four home games.
Coyle felt like the team got away from what works for them offensively while also inexplicably letting their foot off the gas.
“Felt like we eased up a bit,” Coyle said. “Sometimes it’s natural to be that way. But good teams bring that focus no matter what happens. … It’s how do you bring that next shift, that focus and it seemed like we kind of eased up that way. And you stop putting the puck in behind him. That’s when we were getting our chances when we were just playing behind them, make them break out against our forecheck and (in) tight, good support. Just the little details in our game that give us opportunities and we kind of eased up on that I think.”
The Bruins are now 3-2 under interim head coach Joe Sacco since he took for Jim Montgomery. Three out of those five contests have been games decided by a single goal — Philip Tomasino netted the game-winner for the Penguins 7:26 into the third period.
It’s a thin margin of error for the Bruins and Sacco felt the Bruins went right into the hands of the Penguins instead of dictating play themselves.
“We got caught up in a little bit of a game that we probably shouldn’t have played — it’s not to our strength,” Sacco said. “I think that we’re at our best when we’re checking, when we’re tight through the neutral zone, when we’re stiff in our own end. We got to get back to that. It slipped a little bit for us here that part of our game.”
Here are more notes from Friday’s Bruins-Penguins game:
— Jeremy Swayman continued trending in the right direction despite the loss as he turned in a strong performance with 34 saves — the second-most for him in a game this season. But Swayman did get caught in a poor position when he couldn’t get to the far post and Penguins forward Rickard Rakell scored with 0.8 seconds remaining in the second period to tie the game.
“I think I got overcommitted to the shot that deflected off the end wall,” Swayman said of the play. “Hips were facing the wrong direction, so I sprawled out. Wasn’t textbook goaltending, that’s for sure. But thought he made a pretty good shot it looked like. Something I can work on and I will and sticking to the process and next time it won’t go in.”
— The Bruins welcomed back Matt Grzelcyk as he played his first game against his former team since signing with the Penguins in the offseason. Like Linus Ullmark and Jake DeBrusk before him, Grzelcyk, who played eight seasons for the Bruins, received a tribute video midway through the first period and got a strong ovation from the hometown fans. The veteran defenseman played 21:54 with two blocked shots in Pittsburgh’s win.
“It was fun to see him,” Trent Frederic said. “I thought he actually played really well. He looked good out there.”
— Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov got into an altercation with Penguins star Evgeni Malkin in the final minute of the first period. Zadorov sat on the bench and poked Malkin in the back with his stick. Malkin retaliated by swinging his stick at the Bruins bench — he connected with one of Zadorov’s teammates. Zadorov was called for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play as he is tied for the league lead in penalties with 18.
— The Bruins have a momentous occasion up next as they play their centennial game Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens. Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
