Preview: Penguins (14-11) at Bruins (15-9)
Date: December 16, 2015 8:00 PM EDT
(AP) - Mike Sullivan's voice is unmistakable. Loud. Authoritative. Animated.
And, the Pittsburgh Penguins hope, an alarm clock.
One of the NHL's marquee draws is in the midst of an identity crisis more than a third of the way into a season that began with typically high expectations, goals that at the moment appear impossibly out of reach.
The Penguins aren't scoring. They occasionally aren't defending and - perhaps most troubling - the magic they once summoned so easily seems to have disappeared.
'I think we're bottom of the league in goals scored this year and I'm pretty sure we shouldn't be, right?' forward Phil Kessel asked, only somewhat rhetorically.
A 4-1 loss to Washington on Monday in Sullivan's debut dropped the Penguins to 15-11-3. Their next game is on the road Wednesday night against the Boston Bruins, whom Sullivan coached to a 70-56 record with 15 ties from 2003-06.
Pittsburgh is near the bottom of the NHL in goals per game despite ranking near the top in shots. The power play littered with All-Stars is also among the worst in the league.
Enter Sullivan, who spent a decade grinding out a career as a defensive-minded forward before getting into coaching. He now finds himself trying to get Pittsburgh's highly capable, occasionally highly strung players working in unison.
Nowhere are Pittsburgh's struggles more evident than in Sidney Crosby's prolonged funk. The two-time Hart Trophy winner is on pace for career lows in goals and points, and his team appears destined for a four-month battle just to reach the postseason.
While Pittsburgh has played to a full house for nearly eight years and counting, it's one of the few constants for a franchise in flux.
Forward Pascal Dupuis, long the glue in a dressing room of diverse personalities, retired abruptly last week due to lingering health concerns surrounding the blood clotting issue that cut short his 2014-15 season.
Defenseman Rob Scuderi, brought in more than two years ago to provide the blue line with some needed grit, became a pariah as his game deteriorated and was shipped off to Chicago on Monday for Trevor Daley.
On Tuesday, the Penguins said goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is out for a spell with a concussion and star-crossed forward Beau Bennett will miss at least a month with a shoulder injury.
Though general manager Jim Rutherford stressed 'I certainly don't think we've got a huge issue to fix here' when he fired Mike Johnston on Saturday after 18 largely ineffective months, he admitted he's uncertain what kind of impact Sullivan will make.
'We never know what a coaching change is going to do,' Rutherford said.
Sullivan hit all the right notes during his first couple of days on the job, his heavy Boston accent echoing through the lower bowl of Consol Energy Center during his initial practice as he barked out drills, a stark departure from the thoughtful and decidedly more professorial Johnston.
'We create an environment here that we inspire people to play,' he said. 'That's an energy that starts well before a puck drops. I want to create an environment here ... where they want to come to the rink, where they want to work.'
And if they don't, Sullivan insists they will sit regardless of pedigree.
'Those that play well will be rewarded with more play,' Sullivan said.
While Sullivan doesn't believe Pittsburgh needs a massive overhaul, there are plenty of old habits he'd like to see kicked.
Several of them were evident against Washington.
While the Penguins threw 45 shots at Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby, few of them came from in close and rarely did Holtby have to deal with a black jersey in front of him as he searched for the puck. Evgeni Malkin, who has easily been Pittsburgh's best player outside of Fleury, ended one shift by lazily backhanding a centering pass instead of just sending the puck around the boards. The turnover led to a two-on-one the other way.
It was an avoidable mistake, the kind Sullivan knows it's his job to help eliminate. The last time Pittsburgh switched coaches during a season, three months later Dan Bylsma was helping hoist the Stanley Cup. At this point, the Penguins will settle for a win over surging Boston (16-9-4).
'We'll focus on the process,' Sullivan said. 'We'll pull ourselves out of this.'
The Bruins, coming off Monday's 3-2 overtime loss to visiting Edmonton, enter in an 8-1-3 stretch and are 8-1-1 in the last 10 against Pittsburgh, including playoffs.
Boston outshot the Oilers 49-24, but trailed 2-0 after the first period and needed Brad Marchand's goal with 4:38 left to force overtime.
'We had to fight back, but their goaltender stood tall and we just kept going after them and found a way to get ourselves back into the game and get ourselves at least a point,' coach Claude Julien said.
Tuukka Rask got the night off and is expected to face the Penguins. He's 6-0-1 with a 1.40 goals-against average in his last seven starts and 8-1-1 with a 1.41 GAA in his last 10 against Pittsburgh, including four playoff starts.
