Kovacevic: It's all in the precision for Penguins

One of the many mythologies about hockey's advanced analytics is that they're all available to the public.

The truth: Most aren't. And most of those that aren't are among the most awesome around.

There's a bit of a backstory I uncovered to the Penguins' 4-2 beating of the previously unbeatable Bruins -- they hadn't lost in regulation since Jan. 19 -- on this Sunday night at PPG Paints Arena, and it had to feel almost as rewarding to all concerned as the outcome itself, almost as comforting as separating by four points from the Canadiens, the East's resident bubble boys.

But first, the front-story:

Yep. Goals were scored. Arms were raised. Mass merriment ensued.

Also, more Matt Murray occurred:

Got all that?

Good, because now here's what came before ...

In the aftermath of splitting two terribly taxing games against the Blue Jackets, the last of which came Saturday night in Columbus, Mike Sullivan canceled the next day's morning skate, as he always does. Most of the players with whom I spoke slept in a little, though, "Not too much for me," as Marcus Pettersson worded it. "You get a little wired on any game day."

An athlete can also get a little numb. Not just physically, but mentally. No matter how much they might want to get all wound up again, to switch focus from Blue Jackets to Bruins -- very different opponents with very different styles -- it's not easy, as they'll all attest.

That leaves the greatest challenge, arguably, for the coaches. Because in their world, all 82 games are equal, regardless of the schedule. Their preparation doesn't alter much. They'll study the same amount of video, read the same number of advance reports, discuss the strategies, line combinations and special teams all the same.

So their delivery, by necessity, must be different if it's to be heard, much less acted upon.

On this Sunday afternoon, after the players reported to the arena and went about their standard pregame work, as a couple of the team's veterans told me, Sullivan and his staff had one brief, highly specific point to make about the Bruins, and they did so by citing a single statistic supported by a small video sample.

The point?

"Be smart with the puck," Brian Dumoulin told me.

The statistic?

"Boston's faster at one-ups than anyone in the league," Erik Gudbranson told me. "I'd never even heard of that stat."

He couldn't have. The Penguins' analytics team, headed by Jason Karmanos, one of Jim Rutherford's assistant GMs, concocted it out of thin air. I wasn't made privy to the particulars, but the gist of it is that the Bruins will capitalize on opponents' mistakes with greater speed and efficiency than anyone anywhere.

The video?

"All the mistakes not to make," Pettersson told me.

And so, they took the ice and made ... well, they made, um, one mistake?

No seriously, check out the heat map:

That up there is from NaturalStatTrick.com. It's for five-on-five play, over which the Penguins generated 12 high-danger scoring chances to the Bruins' one, the latter representing an absolutely astonishing figure against any opponent, never mind one that had just gone 16-0-3 since Jan. 19.

Small wonder they all sounded so satisfied afterward.

"I thought that was one of our best, most complete efforts we've had in a long time," Dumoulin said. "I thought everyone did a great job of making sure we were dialed in and focused from the drop of the puck."

Yep. The Penguins took 12 of the game's first 14 shots. Only one of the two Zambonis could have been utilized at the first intermission.

"We were really sharp with the details," Jared McCann essentially echoed. "That's what I liked best."

Sullivan did, too, when I brought that up.

"It starts with the decisions we make with the puck," he said. "But when we don't have the puck, that's when we've got to work collectively as a group to defend. And I thought, tonight, against a really good team that's won a lot of games and beaten a lot of good teams lately, we did a really good job in that regard."

Details, details, details. And they won't show up on anyone's highlights ... except here, of course, because I'm just really into this sort of stuff.

Some of it was one touch:

That's McCann in the first, curling his wrists and -- almost blindly -- breaking out up the middle to spring Pettersson and Nick Bjugstad for an unlikely two-on-one.

"Sick play," Pettersson recalled.

"I wanted to be patient every time I had the puck," McCann told me. "If you think about it, you've almost always got that one extra split-second out there. And against a team like this, with how they counter, you don't want to just throw it away."

That usually takes more than one. Sullivan relentlessly preaches puck support. It's not as much about the pass to him as the pass options. Keep it short, keep it tight, then become available for the next.

Like this:

That's superb work deep in the Boston zone by the Evgeni Malkin line, begun by a Phil Kessel curl, a drop behind the net that momentarily gets picked off by the Bruins' Brandon Carlo ... until he's flattened by Teddy Blueger for the turnover. Kessel gets it right back and rockets a pass, as only he does, hard onto Malkin's blade behind the net. Malkin tries to reach Blueger in front, can't, but Kessel's right there to strip poor Carlo yet again for another push to Malkin.

The Penguins didn't score there, but that's dream defending with a two-goal lead.

So is this:

That up there is Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, two of the NHL's premier talents, trying to skate through center ice with numbers. Which they do. Only the Penguins' numbers are greater. Jack Johnson keeps a tight initial gap on Bergeron, and his one-handed poke slightly disrupts the rush. That's enough for McCann to overtake Marchand, spin him around, hack the puck away and allow Sidney Crosby to swoop back and do his usual diligence.

Find that to be dull?

I could introduce you to a handful of dudes in the head coach's office who don't.

Maybe you'll find this dull, too ...

... but I sure don't and never will.

That's Crosby casually carrying the puck back into the Pittsburgh zone, completely in control despite close pursuit from two Boston forecheckers. He then spots Johnson on the opposite side and ... honest to God, watch it again. And again. That's a solitary carom, and it's placed with such billiards-level precision that it not only springs out to the other side but also winds up on Johnson's forehand for the cleaner outlet.

Never, never take him for granted. And not just the goals.

I've got one last detail, and it's special because it's the only relatively new entrée on the menu:

That's short-handed, and that's one of Murray's slicker saves, on a Marchand redirect right in front. There's no rational reason it shouldn't have been a goal except for Murray.

At the same time, watch what becomes of Marchand once he gets consumed whole by Gudbranson. His stick goes way up in the air, his body's twisted, and he's way out of the sequence for the ensuing clear by McCann.

"The guy plays like he's got a force field around him," Murray told me of Gudbranson. "It's nice to have him on our side."

Total rebound chances for the Bruins in this game: Three

The defenseman Sullivan and Jacques Martin sent over the boards for the final minute:

With 1:01 to go and a one-goal lead, Mike Sullivan and staff entrust Erik Gudbranson -- paired with Brian Dumoulin -- to protect it. He's not in Vancouver anymore, is he? #DKPS #Penguins

— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) March 11, 2019

OK, now I'll return you back to your regularly scheduled Sid and Jake Show.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY