Cullen’s return morphs into lovefest
Matt Cullen’s three sons — Brooks, Wyatt and Joey — didn’t make the trip from Minnesota to Pittsburgh with their dad this week.
But it wasn’t for lack of effort.
“The boys fought hard,” Cullen said after the Wild’s morning skate Thursday. “I actually half-expected to see Joey when I opened my bag up. I thought he might be hiding out. They were fighting hard until the last minute. They were trying to get on the plane, but we couldn’t do it. It’s busy and we couldn’t make it work. The boys wanted to come, though. Holy cow, they fought hard.”
But even if those three aren’t back in Pittsburgh, roaming the familiar halls of PPG Paints Arena, Cullen is, for the first time since signing with the Wild instead of the Penguins this summer. Cullen’s new team faced his old one Thursday night.
“It’s really special coming back here,” Cullen said. “Obviously, the last two years were extraordinary years, and I’ve made some great friendships. Absolutely loved being here. It’s fun being back. Like I said, it was just an awesome experience for us, we loved our time here. It’s great being back. It’s fun to see the guys, of course, everybody at the rink you develop some pretty strong relationships with over the course of a couple special years.”
The sentiment was echoed from the other locker room. Winger Tom Kuhnhackl, who regularly played with Cullen on the Penguins’ fourth line the previous two seasons, called him one of the top three influences on his NHL career so far.
“The influence he had on me over the past two seasons was obviously huge,” Kuhnhackl said. “He helped me so much on and off ice. I just can’t thank him enough.”
And Mike Sullivan said Cullen was an “invaluable part” of the team’s back-toback Stanley Cup runs.
“We looked at Matt as an extension of our coaching staff, and he helped us in so many ways, just keeping our finger on the pulse of the team so we could make the best decisions to try and help this team be successful,” Sullivan said. “I have so much respect for Matt as a player, and a person. He’s certainly a guy that we miss here in Pittsburgh.”
Cullen received the video-tribute treatment on the PPG Paints Arena video board, but said he wasn’t sure what to expect when he took the ice in Pittsburgh as a visitor for the first time since 2015.
“It’ll be just fun being out there,” Cullen said. “Obviously, it means a lot to a player at this point in their career when you’re appreciated by a group of fans, and the fans have been unbelievable to me and my entire family.
“Going through the parades and all the experiences with the fans through those times, you can’t even put into words how much it means to you as a player. You put your whole life into your game, and you get to this point, late in your career, to get to go through those experiences with these fans, they’re just pretty special experiences.”
And which jerseys did his boys wear back home in Minnesota, Wild or Penguins?
“That’s a fair question, and I don’t know the answer, actually,” Cullen said, with a laugh. “We’ll find out.”
Goalie carousel
Casey DeSmith was the first goalie off the ice after the morning skate Thursday and got the start against the Wild. With Tristan Jarry sent down to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Matt Murray was the backup.
Murray has not played since Jan. 7 after the death of his father earlier this month.
Sullivan said Thursday that Murray is the Penguins’ unquestioned “No. 1 guy,” but the goalie situation could be in flux the rest of the season.
“Certainly Tristan and Casey are two guys that have shown an ability to be effective in this league,” Sullivan said. “Our challenge is we want to make sure that we keep them all playing so they can continue to develop and grow their games.
“The decision we made yesterday was to give Tristan an opportunity to get into some games. We’ll have the ability, if we need to, if we need to move Casey down or whatever it may be, we can do that as well.”
Cole back in
Defenseman Ian Cole returned to the lineup for the Penguins Thursday night after seven games as a healthy scratch, replacing Matt Hunwick.
Hunwick did not participate in the optional morning skate, but coach Mike Sullivan said none of the players who did not participate were at risk of not playing. When the Penguins took the ice for warmups before their game against the Wild, though, Hunwick was still absent.
That meant Cole was back in for the first time since Jan. 5 against the New York Islanders, skating on the third defense pairing with Jamie Oleksiak.
Cole has been in and out of the lineup since late November, seemingly occupying the seventh or eighth spot in the team’s defensive rotation when everyone is healthy. He also has been the subject of frequent trade rumors and, in many ways, might still be a Penguin only because most of the team’s defense hasn’t been healthy over the past two months.
With various defensemen sidelined, the team has had to call on Cole a decent amount and did so once again Thursday night.