Sullivan Coaching for His Job; Pressure is Building

From the stable, static, stay the course because it will eventually work methodology to the chaos of trying everything and seeing what works, Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan began sending a panic signal to his team before it hit the 10-game mark.

And yet, nothing worked.

The team is already in the midst of a six-game winless streak and reached rock bottom in the Eastern Conference with their 5-3 loss to the Minnesota North Stars Wild Tuesday night.

For the first time, it surely seems that Sullivan is coaching for his job. Few, if any, coaches could survive missing the playoffs in two consecutive seasons and their team submitting a boorish gag reel of fundamental mistakes, flat performances, and befuddled players.

According to Penguins ownership, the Fenway Sports Group, via chairman Tom Werner, the owners consider Sullivan one of the two or three best coaches in the game. It’s a consensus belief, but everything has a beginning, middle, and end.

A few weeks ago, Werner addressed the beat organizations which cover the Penguins daily. Werner’s pithy phrase was, “We’re in the mode of being impatient.”

He meant the owners wanted this team turned around sooner than later, but one must begin to wonder when that turnaround no longer involves Sullivan. The coach must be wondering, too.

Sullivan has already made more changes and attempted more changes, and he sounded the alarm louder than he had for months of the malaise last season. Instead of stewing and fuming in the postgame, he’s now changing what didn’t work.

Fans who bemoaned the status quo last season had a genuine point. Long past the time to send messages, the Penguins were still the same team, with the same lineup and structure, resulting in the same sleepwalking losses. Sullivan seems to have learned his lesson this season, but can any coach save this team, which is short on middle-six talent, defensive awareness, and sometimes energy?

Doth thine eyes deceive me?

The Penguins into a 1-2-2 counter-attack at center ice.

— Dan Kingerski (@TheDanKingerski) October 29, 2024

Necessitating the changes and more changes, the inexplicable has become a reality on a nightly basis as even the most dependable players have become irresponsible in the very wrong moments.

Sidney Crosby? Yep, he’s made a few gaffes at crucial moments. Bryan Rust, Lars Eller, and Marcus Pettersson? Yep, them too.

Read More: Sidney Crosby on His Game: I’m Trying to Find it (+)

Tuesday night, the lesser lights of the Penguins lineup were the shameful culprits. Matt Grzelcyk and Kevin Hayes had breakdowns leading to a goal, but so too did Eller, and Erik Karlsson had a whopping five turnovers but limited his defensive mistakes.

It’s fair to assume Sullivan will not give Hayes another crack at second-line center. Hayes allowed Frederick Gaudreau the time and space to collect a loose puck and spin to his forehand (shown in the postgame analysis) was about the end of his night. In the fog of war and shadow of Marc-Andre Fleury’s emotional goodbye, most missed that Hayes had also been benched.

Hayes was the Penguins’ second-line center Tuesday. Still, Sulluvan essentially benched him after his “gone fishing” defense, playing just 6:32. Jesse Puljujarvi earned just 4:59. Sullivan delivered a few more stern messages and shortened his bench to play catchup as the Penguins trailed 3-2 in the second and 4-2 in the third.

Hayes and Puljujarvi got a few shifts in the third period when the Penguins were chasing the tying goal, but the message was clear.

But who will hear it?

“We can’t always take the offensive position. We have to think about the defensive side position,” Sullivan said Tuesday night. “As I said to the guys before the game, we’re going to defend our way out of this. We’re not going to score our way out of this.”

Chasing that elusive victory, Sullivan is trying everything. So many things he refused last season are now fair game, including the move to unite Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the same line. Throughout his nine previous years behind the Penguins bench, he’s only rarely made that move.

Tuesday, he went all-in on Crosby and Malkin.

“I thought they posed a threat on most shifts when they were on the ice. They had the puck more than either Sid’s or (Malkin’s) line has had in the first 10-plus games. I think they had more offensive zone time and more scoring chances, and they obviously got on the scoresheet,” Sullivan said. “But I thought they were a consistent threat throughout the night. I guess the consequence of that is you take (Malkin) out of the middle, and now you’ve got to fill that. You got to fill the center positions with other guys. And maybe we don’t have the balance that we’d like to have.”

The Crosby-Malkin line itself was a plus-1, while the rest of the team was a minus. Though neither Crosby nor Malkin had a goal, their right-wing Rickard Rakell had a pair. Now, Sullivan must decide if the line imbalances the rest of the team beyond salvage. Can the players surrounding the championship core hold up their end of the bargain?

They failed miserably on the first try.

The Penguins rallied in the third period when Crosby stole the puck before Minnesota could break out of the defensive zone. A quick pass to Marcus Pettersson and Rakell unexpectedly tipped Pettersson’s shot, closing the Penguins to within 4-3.

It’s fair to ask and wonder what changes will come next. Sullivan is running out of options.

No less than Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman has praised Sullivan for being able to feel the game and see which players have an extra step on any given night.

Now, it’s about urgency. If a few more players reflected Sullivan’s urgency, the mess may not exist. Of course, if the losing continues, general manager Kyle Dubas may not have an option, either.

Before any coaching change, there begins a soft, almost impercetible drumbeat that eventually grows louder and louder until the move becomes inevitable. For the first time, those drums can be heard around Sullivan and the Penguins.

It seems Sullivan can hear it, too.