Mike Sullivan is very good, maybe the best coach in the NHL. He has done terrific work with the Penguins this season despite losing 249 man-games to injury or illness. The proof is in the East Division standings where the team sits in first place. It’s in the overall standings where its 67 points are more than any team but Vegas (70) and Carolina (68).
But the challenges never end for Sullivan. His task now is to get the Penguins to duplicate their performance Sunday afternoon against the Boston Bruins — again and again. If he can do that, he and the team will have an excellent chance to win their third Stanley Cup in six years.
The Penguins played a strong postseason-style game in their 1-0 win. They kept their composure and didn’t take a single penalty. They didn’t get frustrated with the Bruins’ stifling defense, didn’t take foolish chances and didn’t allow many odd-man breaks. They remained patient and waited for their stars to capitalize on an inevitable opportunity to win the game.
It really was a perfect playoff-type performance.
“I think it’s good for our team to get into these types of games,” Sullivan said. “I said to our guys before the game that we’ve got to find a comfort level in playing in a one-goal, low-scoring game because that’s the nature of high-stakes games.
“I think our guys recognize the importance of playing away from the puck and being a hard team to play against. It’s going to be critical to our success moving forward. As I say to the guys all the time, it’s hard to score your way to success in this league. You have to score goals, for sure. But you have to have the ability to keep it out of your net, as well. You’ve got to be hard to play against. You have to have some structure to your game. And then you have to have some competitive spirit. I thought today was one of our more complete games on the defensive side of the puck.”
That defensive effort starts in the offensive zone, Sullivan said. He talked of playing a “suffocating pursuit game” of the puck all over the ice. He made it clear it takes all five guys.
“It boils down to details and commitment,” Sullivan said. “I thought both of those attributes were there today. There was a collective effort as a group. I thought everybody was locked into the details. The details are so critically important. It’s not good enough to play hard in this league. You’ve got to play smart, too. For every bit as hard as we played, I thought we played smart. That’s the type of game we have to put on the ice consistently.”
Brian Dumoulin said the Penguins are buying what Sullivan is selling. It doesn’t hurt that he and Kris Letang (for the most part) are leading the way. Each is a team-best plus-18. The Penguins are 20-5-2 since Dumoulin returned to the lineup March 6 after missing 15 games because of injury.
Dumoulin credited Sullivan with “how much we’ve gotten on the same page, how much we’ve come together, how we’re working for each other …
“I think he’s done a really good job of giving us our game plan and giving us the ideas of what we need to do as a team to win. If we do get away from that, he’s brutally honest with us. He’ll show us why we’re not winning and why we’re giving up chances. Sometimes, you need that honesty. That’s why we haven’t slipped too much.”
Tristan Jarry made 30 saves to get the shutout but was hardly tested because of the defensive effort in front of him. It was a much different defensive effort for the Penguins than the one they put out the previous time the two teams played when the Bruins scored five second-period goals in a 7-5 win April 3. The Bruins’ top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak combined for six goals in that game and had 11 goals in the first six games between the teams. That line was not a factor this time. Craig Smith had Boston’s best scoring chance late in the second period.
The Bruins’ commitment to defense made things almost as difficult for the Penguins. The game’s only goal was the result of a nice give-and-go between Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby early in the third period. Guentzel took Crosby’s return pass and blistered a wrist shot by goaltender Jeremy Swayman. His quick release of the shot was fabulous. It was his first goal in seven games.
“A goal-scorer’s goal,” Sullivan called it.
“The chemistry they have right now, how patient they are together … ,” Dumoulin marveled of Guentzel and Crosby.
The Penguins and Bruins will meet again Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena for the final time in this abbreviated regular season. The Penguins are 3-3-1 against Boston and have the chance to win the series. That would be helpful considering it is quite possible, if not likely, that the teams will meet in the playoffs.
Sullivan knows it’s getting to be that time of year.
“We’re trying to bring this team together and challenge one another to grow as a group,” he said. “We’re trying to push one another every single day.”
Sullivan will continue preaching the same message. That’s what great coaches do. The Penguins would be wise to keep listening. That’s what great teams do.
