PITTSBURGH — Darren McCarty hit rock bottom two years ago because of a wicked cocktail of drinking, divorce and bankruptcy.
McCarty was out of hockey in November 2007, relegated to watching the Red Wings from the stands with his son. Motivated to get his life and career back, he made sobriety, family and hockey his priorities.
He started a comeback that led to him playing 17 playoff games last season for the Red Wings and winning his fourth Stanley Cup.
McCarty hasn’t played once during these playoffs, but still has value to the organization because of the leadership he provides for Detroit’s young players, who were his teammates for much of the regular season in the AHL.
“Who would’ve thunk it?” he asked.
McCarty’s low point came in the summer of 2007 when it hit him that his four children didn’t really have a father. The mother of his children helped him start to put his life back in order, and he now has his kids with him in suburban Detroit two or three nights a week.
“It’s a great, feel-good story,” teammate Kris Draper said.
McCarty said he doesn’t have to lecture Detroit’s prospects about off-the-ice pratfalls because they’re more mature than he was at the same age.
“It’s more like Crash Davis’s role in ‘Bull Durham,’ passing the torch,” he said with a smile.
Keep hittin’, Kunitz.
Chris Kunitz had 12 points in Pittsburgh’s first 16 playoff games, including five in a two-game span against the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals.
But, entering Game 4, he was scoreless in four straight games.
The hard-hitting wing is still finding ways to make an impact against the Red Wings.
Kunitz was credited with 11 hits in Game 3 — more than twice the number of checks anyone else had Tuesday night — and the Penguins said they gave him credit for two more.
“That’s leaving your mark in a lot of different places,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. “That’s what you count on from the guy.”
Mess, on Mario.
It’s not easy to impress Mark Messier, but Mario Lemieux has done it.
“As a player, he positioned himself as a leader, came here and turned the franchise around,” Messier said. “And, now he’s done it again as an owner. Success seems to follow Mario wherever he goes.”
