PITTSBURGH — Matt Cullen can’t quite find the right words to describe it. Maybe because the seemingly ageless Pittsburgh Penguins center has never experienced a season quite like this in a career that spans eight cities and nearly two decades.
Lifeless and listless in December, the Penguins enter the playoffs arguably the hottest team in the NHL, fueled by Sidney Crosby’s return to doing Sidney Crosby things. And by fresh legs from youngsters who seem to thrive off the pressure. And by a coach in Mike Sullivan whose arrival resonated in a dressing room adrift.
Maybe that’s where Cullen should start, with the man who took over for Mike Johnston on Dec. 12 and put his star-laden but underachieving group on notice.
“There was a renewed sense of competition for jobs, that can take your game up to another level,” Cullen said. “Guys were remotivated to re-establish themselves with the new coach.”
Practices became energy-sapping endurance tests. Video work became teachable moments where mistakes were broken down and bluntly pointed out regardless of status.
“It doesn’t matter who it is, he is critiquing our play and expecting us to be consistent every night,” defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. “It took a while. It’s not an overnight process. We had a lot of work to do.”
Yet the Penguins have done it, rocketing from the fringe of the playoff race on New Year’s Day to the runner-up spot in the Metropolitan Division behind a 14-2 surge to the finish. That sprint has improbably given them home-ice advantage in their first-round series against the New York Rangers when the best-of-seven matchup starts Wednesday.
