In the beginning, Mike Sullivan couldn’t win a game.
It was Dec. 12 and Sullivan had just been hired as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and though he came armed with a new voice and new ideas, the team was getting the same old results. The Penguins lost their first four games under their new coach, getting outscored 15-4.
Part of it could be attributed to the learning curve. But the bigger reason was the team was missing its No. 1 defenceman.
Three days before Sullivan was hired, Kris Letang suffered an upper-body injury that kept out him out of the line-up for six games.