Pens’ Sullivan must have something up his sleeve

Coach seems to have a magic touch, always shaking things up and always succeeding

The coaching magician named Mike Sullivan is running out of rabbits and running out of hats to pull them out of.

He has had a masterful two-year run as coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Almost everything he does, almost every decision he makes, seems to work out best for his hockey club. He is, like the cagey Peter Laviolette, two wins away from his second Stanley Cup, and right now those two wins almost seem like a mountain climb away without hiking boots for the struggling Penguins.

Through two years, Sullivan has had a near-magic touch. He makes a controversial goaltending change and it alters the fortunes of his club. His players openly argue on the bench and he turns the argument into passion. He has taken this team with a top defence pairing of Ron Hainsey and Brian Dumoulin and found a way to be playing their 24th playoff game Thursday at the PPG Paints Arena — appropriate, since his defending Stanley Cup champions are looking a little dull and in need of a glossy paint job.

The question is: Do they have it in them to come back and win this series and win back-to-back Stanley Cups, a near-impossible feat in today’s National Hockey League?

Sullivan needs help more than he has needed it before — and I don’t mean from assistant coaches like Rick Tocchet, who does terrific work for him and the Penguins. He needs help from the people he guided to a Stanley Cup a year ago in one of the most one-sided finals in recent history.

This final hasn’t been onesided unless you believe, as I do, that the Nashville Predators have been the better skating team for all but about 11 of the 240 minutes played in the first four games. In Pittsburgh, with Pekka Rinne playing terrible in goal for Nashville, the cumulative score of the first two home games was 9-4 for the Penguins. The two games in Nashville, with Rinne finding his regular playoff form, was in the Predators’ favour by a 9-2 score.

This is a homer series from the outside. From the inside, though, goaltending aside, Nashville’s speed has challenged Pittsburgh’s very average defence. Nashville’s very strong defence has hamstrung the Penguins’ superstars. Nashville’s depth players and middle-of-the-road players have badly outplayed their counterparts with the Penguins.

So what does Sullivan do now? How does the coach who has an answer for everything answer this?

Evgeni Malkin, the leading scorer in the playoffs, has been a diminishing asset in the postseason. He had 11 points in the first round, seven in the second, six in the third, and two in four games in the final. He is a centreman who has no assists in eight of the Penguins’ last nine playoff games. The Predators have basically removed him from the series.

At home, can Sullivan find a way to get Malkin some space and maybe some lost confidence back?

Phil Kessel was a giant on the way to the Penguins’ last Stanley Cup. This series, he has been invisible off the ice and almost invisible on it. He has one assist in the series. He has one goal in his last nine playoff games. He has nine shots on goal in this series, while last year against the San Jose Sharks, he had 25.

Conor Sheary, a 53-point man in the regular season, has one goal in his 20 post-season games.

Last spring, Nick Bonino and Carl Hagelin, two-thirds of that amazing third line with Kessel, combined for 34 playoff points. Right now, with Bonino doubtful to play in Game 5 and Hagelin an also-ran in the lineup, the two have combined for eight points, one by Hagelin.

Only Sidney Crosby has been a straight line for the Penguins, the way he has played consistently since Sullivan took over coaching partway through last season. Crosby scored seven points in Round 1, seven in Round 2, six in Round 3 and he has four in four games in the Cup final.

You need surprises to win the Stanley Cup. The only real surprise — and it’s been a great one — has been the scoring prowess of rookie Jake Guentzel, one goal away from tying Dino Ciccarelli’s playoff record for most goals by a freshman. In Game 4, with two or three of the best chances he’s had in the playoffs, Guentzel looked a little tight, a little pressured.

So you’re Mike Sullivan, and almost everything you have touched has turned to goals for the Penguins. What do you do now?

He’s changed goalies in the previous round. He’s moved Kessel away from Malkin. He’s flipped his third- and fourth-liners. He’s played the heck out of Crosby. He’s survived with that wonky defence.

What now for the coach who seemingly does no wrong?