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Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan argues with linesman Scott Driscoll during a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this season at Consol Energy Center. Sullivan helped turn the Penguins into one of the hottest teams in the NHL after a sluggish start.
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'Straightforward' Sullivan turned around Penguins season

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

'Straightforward' Sullivan turned around Penguins season

Consol Energy Center was electric Wednesday night for the Penguins’ 5-2 win against the New York Rangers that opened the Stanley Cup playoffs with a serious bang.

When the puck dropped shortly after 8 p.m., there, amid the noise and energy and pulsating yellow strobe lights, stood the Penguins coach, arms crossed, poker-faced and so sure of himself that, for a moment, it was hard to believe that it had been such a long a time coming for Mike Sullivan.

Before Game 1, Sullivan last led a team into the Stanley Cup playoffs as head coach 12 years ago in Boston — an eternity in the hockey world, a vast swath of time that could smother the drive of a less determined man.

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“To have an opportunity to coach this team has been a privilege,” Sullivan said on the morning of Game 1. “To coach in this league is not an easy challenge. There are a lot of really good coaches out there. To have this opportunity for me is a thrill. I’m excited about it. I think our whole team is excited about it.”

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Sullivan’s role in orchestrating a remarkable turnaround has been well documented. He is the man who coaxed the magic back out of Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, found a way to tap into that relentless team speed and got through to a locker room populated with as many superstars as minor league call-ups. Since his midseason hiring in December, Sullivan has preached a clear message that there is a right way to play the game, and that right way can inspire a run through the postseason no matter who is in the lineup.

“He’s an honest guy,” winger Patric Hornqvist said. “He tells you if you have a good game or a bad game. Every day. That’s what I like.

“You can’t have 82 great games, but you can work as hard as you can for 82 games.”

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Back in Boston, where babies are practically born dropping their “R’s,” those in Sullivan’s inner circle never thought it would take this long for “Sully” to get back behind an NHL bench as the boss.

After a 104-point season in Boston, but a quick exit from the 2004 playoffs, Sullivan was shown the door in spring 2006, one year after the lockout.

“I thought he’d be back sooner, to tell you the truth,” said Jack Parker, the now-retired and storied coach from Boston University.

Parker coached Sullivan at BU before his NHL career, stole him right out from under crosstown rival Boston College, which appeared to have a lock on the latest prospect from nearby BC High.

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Parker saw a cerebral, mature kid who took everything seriously, from hockey to schoolwork.

“It was obvious to me from the get-go when he decided to get into coaching he’d be good at it. There are a lot of guys who can run a drill. He’s got the personality and the sincerity to hold people’s attention and hold people accountable,” Parker said. “The sincerity factor is real important, too. He’s not in it for the ego.”

That it finally happened for him was music to the ears of John Tortorella, his longtime coaching partner, who said this week he relied quite heavily on Sullivan during stops in Tampa, New York and Vancouver.

“Nothing against Mike Johnston. I’ve heard great things about him as a person and a coach, so I’m very careful when I say this, but when Sully took over — me being an outsider — I’m looking in, I thought it would be a tremendous fit,” Tortorella said. “He’s going to hold your feet to the fire. That’s so important in today’s game.”

Tortorella said coaching is no longer about X’s and O’s. That expertise is needed, but it is trumped by relationship-building, by sending a clear message every day and by holding players accountable.

“That word accountability? It’s a great word to use in the summertime. It sounds great,” Tortorella said. “It is hard to hold your players accountable unless it’s a daily operation. That takes a lot of time from the head coach, and sometimes coaches don’t want to tread there because it can turn into some conflict. It has to be done every day. He’s comfortable in his own skin.”

Tortorella said Sullivan was a calming influence on him and a voice of reason. He suspects the playoffs will be his time to shine.

“I know what Sully brings in situations where it may be getting away from you,” he said. “The playoffs, where the momentum swings are so important, and maybe things are getting out of hand and you’re just beginning to lose yourself as a team. That’s where I’ve learned so much from him.

“I live in that world. You get caught up, and you’re not helping your team by being involved. One of his biggest strengths is he brings you back down. You still have your emotion, but it’s controlled. You don’t go crazy or get undisciplined. That’s where he was so good for me. It was ‘Slow down here, and let’s just get back to what we do.’ I think that’s one of his biggest strengths.”

Tortorella said he knew it was time to let Sullivan go off on his own after Tortorella was fired in Vancouver.

“It was time for him and I to split,” he said. “Quite honestly, it wasn’t the best thing for me. I relied on him so much.”

Sullivan was getting pigeonholed as a Tortorella sidekick. Job opportunities were literally coming and going.

“He was looked by so many times in the interview process it drove me crazy,” Tortorella said. “He interviewed for a number of jobs and didn’t get them.”

Still, he said he couldn’t help himself and called Sullivan to ask if he would join him in Columbus when he was hired in October. Sullivan said no, and the rest is history.

“He has steadied it. Nothing against [Mike Johnston], but a new voice was needed, I guess,” Tortorella said.

It didn’t start out so pleasant when Sullivan was hired Dec. 12 after two months of coaching the Penguins farm team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Penguins were on the edge of sliding out of playoff contention, despite being loaded with star power. Their struggles were perplexing. They seemed fragile.

“We lost four right away, and it would’ve been pretty easy to start panicking. We were slipping down the standings in a hurry,” veteran Matt Cullen said. “But I think his consistency of message and calm throughout the entire thing was really impressive.

“It’s one of the things that everybody in here has responded to. He’s consistent, very straightforward. It’s cut and dry. There’s no wiggle room. It’s ‘This is what I think.’ As a player, you respond to that. You know where you stand. You know what’s expected of you. For this group, that’s been a good thing.”

The message has been clear from Day 1, say players, who strung together a late-season run so remarkable that the Penguins entered the playoffs as the hottest team in the league.

“I think he does hold guys accountable. He’s very aware of what shortcuts guys try to take,” defenseman Ian Cole said. “He played 700 games. He’s been through it. He understands. And he isn’t afraid to say, ‘Hey what you’re doing right now isn’t good enough. We need more out of you.’ And you know, he doesn’t say it in a demeaning, ‘I’m better than you’ way.

“He sits down, he talks to you, tells you ‘Hey, this isn’t good enough, this is what we need from you. This is how you can help this team win. And I’m going to need you to do it.’ It’s certainly something you appreciate as a player. You want to be told that. Tell me exactly what you need me to do, and I’ll do it to the best of my ability.”

Jenn Menendez: jmenendez@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JennMenendez.

First Published: April 15, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

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Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan argues with linesman Scott Driscoll during a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this season at Consol Energy Center. Sullivan helped turn the Penguins into one of the hottest teams in the NHL after a sluggish start.  (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)
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