Sullivan’s moves backfire at time more are needed

Once upon a time, Mike Sullivan was as close to irreproachable as any coach I’ve seen, especially in the playoffs. If Sully made a move, no matter how questionable, it always seemed to work.

But that was before he lost seven playoff games in a row and eight of nine, before he presided over one of the more listless defeats in franchise history (first-round sweep at the hands of the New York Islanders) and before his current team put itself a loss away from perhaps the most humiliating playoff defeat in 52 years of Penguins hockey.

Maybe that’s overstating it. Maybe put it this way: The Penguins have never lost to a lesser team than

these Montreal Canadiens.

The Canadiens were 31-319, riding a three-game losing streak and 10 points out of playoff position when the season suddenly crashed. They were a seller. They were done.

Yet, here they are, not merely on the verge of eliminating the Penguins but coming off a game in which they looked faster, smarter and generally superior in every way as the contest wore on.

Sullivan’s big move for Game 3 — after a win — was to insert Sam Lafferty into the lineup as his third-line center, then nail him to the bench after a rough first period (Lafferty easily could have had two interference penalties and didn’t help on Montreal’s first goal). Strangely, he went back to Lafferty in the third, even sending him over the boards late with the game on the line.

The third line has become a major issue. One of several. The Penguins need some fast fixin’, and even if Sullivan won’t be coming here for advice, he should know there’s a way to the next round.

Change is needed. Change must come.

Here’s how …

• Switch goalies. What’s the saying? Show me a great goalie, and I’ll show you a great coach? Matt Murray is 712 over the past three postseasons. The magic is gone.

Murray recaptured it in Game 2, but a horrendous goal in Game 3 (Jeff Petry from the corner), plus all those messy rebounds — plus his disappointing regular season and less-than-stellar camp — make it almost impossible to believe he could beat Carey

Price on back-to-back nights.

Think of it like this: If you could have imagined a scenario in which Tristan Jarry would ride in on a white horse, isn’t this it? Reeling team desperately needs a lift?

Jarry wasn’t going to enter a series that was going well, you know.

• Inject more speed up front. The bottom six needs an identity. So put them on the Todd Graham plan — speed, speed, speed. How about a third line of Brandon Tanev, Teddy Blueger and Conor Sheary and a fourth line of Evan Rodrigues, Jared McCann and Lafferty?

That would put Patric Hornqvist on Sidney Crosby’s line and push Patrick Marleau and Zach Aston-Reese out of the lineup. The 40-yearold Marleau can still skate, but he doesn’t have the puck -pressure quickness that’s needed. He has 0 points, 2 shots and a minus-4 rating in the series.

The Penguins stars needed major help from their third lines when they were in their primes. They need more now but are getting way less.

HBK became “NOTOK.” Or maybe “WECAN’TPLAY.”

The third line did some of the heavy lifting in those Cup runs, whether it was Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-Tyler Kennedy in 2009, HBK in 2016 or various combinations in 2017, including Chris Kunitz with Matt Cullen and Bryan Rust.

• Replace Jack Johnson. To this day, the Johnson signing remains one of the more mysterious and confounding moves in Penguins history.

Did they owe somebody a favor?

A team that was supposed to be getting younger signed a struggling, 30-something defenseman to a five-year deal worth $3.25 million annually? Then saw their coach scratch him for the playoff opener after he played all 82 games?

Not long after the Islanders debacle, Jim Rutherford decided he had to choose between Johnson and Olli Maatta for cap purposes. Their hits were less than $1 million apart, Maatta’s the higher.

The general manager chose Johnson, dealing Maatta to Chicago, where you’ll be happy to know he is flourishing in these playoffs, with 4 points, 2 goals and a plus-3 rating in three games. He was named third star Wednesday in Chicago’s victory.

Essentially, then, the

Penguins chose the guy who was eight years older, not much cheaper and on the books for one year longer.

They do not, however, have to choose Johnson for Game 4. Sullivan could go with Juuso Riikola or Chad Ruhwedel in place of him.

Ruhwedel would create two right-handers if he teams with Justin Schultz, and that can be awkward. Just not as awkward as watching Johnson lug the puck directly into the Montreal trap, as he did twice on a tragic shift Wednesday night late in the third period.

If that seems like a lot of changes, I must ask: Did you watch Game 3?