On-Again, Off-Again Penguins Trampled by Red Wings, 6-3
A while back I promised myself I was going to go easy on Mike Sullivan. After all, I’ve been fairly critical of the Penguins’ head coach over the years.
Then our favorite hockey team comes out and basically flatlines for half a game last night en route to a well-deserved 6-3 drubbing at the hands of the Red Wings in the Motor City. Never mind the fact that we finally awoke from our slumber to stage a scorching third-period rally.
It’s like cramming for an exam. Twenty minutes of fury doesn’t make up for 40 minutes of nothing.
I blame this loss squarely on Sullivan.
No, not for his tactics or system, although they certainly can be questioned. Rather, his debilitating influence on roster construction.
I’ve never seen a team consistently display less oomph and fighting spirit than our Pens. For a good portion of the second period we barely displayed a pulse. At one point exasperated radio color man Phil Bourque sputtered, “We need someone with some fire.”
Sidney Crosby noticed, too. After watching Detroit pound four-straight goals past Tristan Jarry with barely a whimper of resistance, our captain initiated a scrum with Jake Walman in the closing minutes of a disastrous second period, leading to a fight (or what passes for one these days) between Marcus Pettersson and Red Wings star Dylan Larkin.