Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan calls out his own players!

Right before the Christmas break, the Pittsburgh Penguins expressed how they needed to hit another level in the second half of the 2022-23. Well, they failed miserably on Tuesday night against the New York Islanders, their first game after the pause for the holidays. The Penguins were outshot 43-20 and loss 5-1, prompting head coach Mike Sullivan to slam his own players in his postgame interview.

“Yep. It might have been our worst game of the year,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan attempted to save the game in the second period, shuffling lines to find combinations that worked. He bluntly admitted after the loss that he did not see any line combinations that he liked and added:

“After having a few days off like that, we wanted to simplify the game and play straight ahead. We did none of the above.”

While the Penguins could use the excuse that the lack of preparation before the game could explain the brutal, no one used it to forget about Tuesday’s loss. The NHL holiday break prohibited any practices on Dec. 26, causing players get in with little preparation since their last game on Dec. 22 against Carolina. However, any team across the NHL could use a similar excuse and the break certainly didn’t affect Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee, who each scored twice.

Crosby was visibly frustrated during the game, landing in the penalty box for cross-checking Scott Mayfield.

The Penguins were looking to come out of the break much better than how they went into it, and unfortunately it started off on the wrong foot against the Isles last night.

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