PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Mike Sullivan said he and the coaching staff were together last night in a room with two televisions, simultaneously watching Caps-Flyers and Red Wings-Canadiens games. Neither went as the Pens needed and a second straight season with no playoffs.
“It’s tough when you leave it up to other teams,” said Pens captain Sidney Crosby on Wednesday. “When you are talking about one or two points there are a lot of games you look at. Multiple games where we had leads and we ended up not getting points.”
“Too many games early and midseason that we really threw away or games where we had our grasp on and we didn’t close them out,” said forward Lars Eller. “There are going to be stretches where you are going to be bad. There are going to be close games where it will be 50-50, as it is for every team. The nights you are playing good and you have multiple goal leads. I think those are the key ones to win.”
“The nights that you are better than the other team, you got to find a way to win those games. For me, there were a lot of those games where we didn’t close out.”
The questions Wednesday at morning skate, before the season finale at the Islanders, turned to trying to find positives. Sullivan was asked if they can build on the last three weeks when they get together again in five months to start a new season.
“I think so,” Sullivan said via the team website. “When you looked at where we were at a month ago, the outlook didn’t look great. It was stacked against us. I thought it said a lot about our players with their compete level and how invested they were in the last month trying to climb back into it and give ourselves a chance to make the players.”
“I think that says a lot about them as people, but also as hockey players. I couldn’t be more proud of the group with what we accomplished in the last month or so.”
“We were trending the right way,” Crosby said. “We were one of the hottest teams in the league late. We don’t have a lot to show for it now. Hopefully that’s something you can build on. I believe we are capable.”
Crosby said if you look at the season as a whole, the reality is they didn’t make it. But, he said they showed character, all stepped up and had a part in their late-season success. Even with those positives, it’s hard not to think about what could have been in 2023-24.
“We will look at a lot of different games and plays and want them back,” Crosby said. “If you look at the season as a whole, we feel like we were capable of being a playoff team and there were some games there we let slip.”
Sullivan said he still believes, and fully believes, in his core three players, calling Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang ‘one of the most accomplished groups in the history of the game’. He said they were a huge part in ‘dragging them back in the fight’. The Pens head coach said Crosby was elite this year, Letang was ‘pretty strong’ and Malkin ‘played well down the stretch’.
He also believes some younger players, forward Drew O’Connor, who ended the season on the top line. The 25-year-old is signed for next season coming off a career-high 16 goals. Restricted free agent forward Valtteri Puustinen (19 points in 51 games) and defensemen Ryan Shea (unrestricted free agent) and Jack St. Ivany (restricted free agent) improved. Sullivan said there are a number of guys they are excited about.
There is obvious disappointment, but also belief that the 2024-25 Penguins are more of what we saw in late March and April than the group we saw the rest of the season.