Written by Jason Mackey at Pittsburgh Post Gazette.com
When the Penguins blew their chance at a sweep Tuesday in Columbus, coach Mike Sullivan emphasized the need for everyone to reset their mindset.
Sullivan’s team had to do that a few times Thursday, but the Penguins ultimately got the result they desired, a 5-2 win over the Blue Jackets in Game 5 of their opening-round series at PPG Paints Arena that pushed the Penguins through to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
It’s that sort of ability, to assess and readjust on the fly, that separates the Penguins from most teams.
“Guys in the locker room have been there before,” said Bryan Rust, the offensive hero on this night with a pair of goals, including the game-winner. “We’ve had elimination games that we haven’t won. We just try to take each day as it comes. Each day is a new day. You can learn from the past game and move forward. I think we embraced the challenge and had fun with it.”
A few of those veterans Rust alluded to stood tall in this one, too.
Literally.
After a lousy second period that saw them nearly fritter away a 3-0 lead, several Penguins leaders stood up in the dressing room and addressed the poor performance.
One that nearly brought with it another trip to Columbus.
“We needed to reset a little bit,” Matt Cullen said. “You can carry that with you into the third period, then who knows where we end up?
“We didn’t have a good second period. We were able to come in here. All of us knew we weren’t happy with what had happened. We were able to sort of reset, step back, take a look at the situation and say, ‘If we have our best period here, we’re moving on.’ I think as a group we did a good job of that.”
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