Stanley Cup Final 2016: TV Schedule, Live Stream for Sharks vs. Penguins

May 28th, 2016 by Steve Silverman Leave a reply »

The Pittsburgh Penguins made the change that altered their season in mid-December. That's when general manager Jim Rutherford decided that his floundering team would benefit from a coaching change. Out went Mike Johnston and in came Mike Sullivan.

Under Johnston, the Penguins had been a somewhat listless team that had a hard time sustaining any success. Rutherford knew that the Penguins had more ability than that, and so the GM charged Sullivan with getting it out of them.

It didn't happen overnight, and the Penguins teetered on the playoff-eligibility line for quite a while. Sullivan's influence eventually took hold, and the Penguins started to play to their ability. Instead of the hesitant, tentative play that had become the Penguins' signature under Johnston, they became a much quicker team that played with an aggressive style.

Pittsburgh went 33-16-5 throughout the regular season under Sullivan, and it finished with a scintillating 14-2-0 record down the home stretch. The Pens were ready for the playoffs at the start of April, and they demonstrated it by disposing of the New York Rangers in five games.

That ...

Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by

Advertisement

Comments are closed.