Frustrated Mike Sullivan Left Speechless After Another Penguins Major Setback
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The Pittsburgh Penguins' head coach Mike Sullivan was not alone in his dissatisfaction with his team's underwhelming performance last night.
With six games played so far in the 2025-25 National Hockey League regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have had a busy schedule, and regrettably, half of those games have not gone their way.
The Penguins had a bit of an energy letdown on Friday against Carolina following an exciting overtime victory over Buffalo on Wednesday that marked two significant milestones for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The Penguins lost again on Friday, this time to the Carolina Hurricanes, divisional rivals. It was evident after the game that head coach Mike Sullivan was not pleased with the team's performance.
"We played in our end tonight," said an unhappy Sullivan.
Star players like defensemen Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang made defensive blunders that hurt the Penguins, and it was evident that Sullivan was not happy with the team's back-end performance when he was questioned about it.
"We probably played 3 games that don't live up to our expectations, let's just say it that way," said Sullivan. "We have to have higher expectations of ourselves."
But Sullivan wasn't the only one who was unhappy; veteran forward Lars Eller also expressed his shock at the Penguins team's poor performance on Friday.
«I don't have a good explanation. We should have plenty of energy and will to play in front of our fans this early in the season in a divisional game,» Lars Eller said.
"There's so many things that need to be better," said Eller. "The attitude, the energy, the execution... we put ourselves in bad spots all the time. I hope we won't see another game like this."
"I think we did it to ourselves," said Eller. "I think our lack of energy, will, winning pucks, execution was all missing today."
"There's so many things that need to be better," said Eller. "The attitude, the energy, the execution... we put ourselves in bad spots all the time. I hope we won't see another game like this."
"I think we did it to ourselves," said Eller. "I think our lack of energy, will, winning pucks, execution was all missing today."
In fact, Drew O'Connor scored his second goal in as many games in the first period, giving Pittsburgh the lead. However, the Hurricanes turned things around and reacted a little more than a minute later. Carolina finished second on the power play and third on the penalty kill last season, so the Penguins faced a team with potent special teams units.
Tristan Jarry has been the backup recently because Alex Nedeljkovic (lower body) was in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for conditioning. The other night, he gave up three goals on five shots and was pulled. They obviously don't have the two-time NHL All-Star's best game right now, but they also have a duty to assist the goalie in finding it, according to Sullivan.
«The season's young, it's early, and we're going to do our best as a coaching staff to try to help Jars get to his very best game,» he said. «When Jars is at his best, he's a very high-quality goaltender. He makes the timely saves that give us a chance to win. It hasn't been the greatest start from a performance standpoint yet, but we believe in Jars and his ability to be a quality goalie in this league.»
The Pittsburgh Penguins are now 3-3 to commence the season, with Sullivan saying:
«I think we are where we're at. I think we probably played three decent games. We probably played three games that don't live up to our expectations. Let's just say it that way. So, for me, we have to have higher expectations of ourselves.»
The Penguins will travel north of the border for four games next. It begins Sunday in Winnipeg and travels to Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver in western Canada.
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