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Redeemer’s Kijek makes it look simple

Leighton scores an ace

<p>The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were back on the ice Monday morning at the Toyota Sportsplex, going through another fast paced workout as they embark on a week-long worth of practices leading up to three straight games this weekend, highlighted by a key home matchup against the rival Hershey Bears.</p><p>The Penguins are riding high after sweeping both home contests against the St. John&#8217;s Ice Caps last week, where they dominated their opponent to a 9-3 scoring advantage and took over both games during the crunch time late period action.</p><p>Now the team sits in first place in the early Eastern division standings through 10 games with a 9-1-0-0 record, tying the 2010-2011 squad for the second best ten-game start to a season. Ironically, that was the first season of their former head coach John Hynes, now in the NHL as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils.</p><p>This record-matching start is guided by the newest guy in the team&#8217;s head coaching office.</p><p>It&#8217;s a credit to Mike Sullivan.</p><p>The NHL veteran, Massachusetts native and first-year head coach hasn&#8217;t missed a beat while continuing the success Hynes, and those before him, enjoyed.</p><p>Sullivan, who played 11 seasons in the NHL for the San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, and the Phoenix Coyotes, amassed over 700 games played at the highest level of hockey.</p><p>He then spent 13 years coaching at the NHL, AHL, and international levels before he was named the ninth head coach in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s successful history after Hynes left for New Jersey back in June.</p><p>The Penguins didn&#8217;t seem to miss a beat, as they currently are on an eight game winning streak and are a perfect 6-0-0-0 on home ice to start the young season.</p><p>With a solid combination of both new and key returning contributors, the team is peaking heading into three weekend showdowns against Hershey, Rochester, and Hartford.</p><p>The Penguins have seen continued development and solid play from forwards Carter Rowney (currently on a three-game goal streak), Tom Kuhnhackl, Jean-Sebastien Dea (who had a career game high four points in last Wednesday&#8217;s win). And it&#8217;s been bolstered by veteran team captain Tom Kostopoulos, who sparked Friday night&#8217;s win with an integral hockey fight, and star young goaltender Matt Murray, who at 7-1-0-0 this season is following his rookie AHL goalie of the year campaign from a season ago with another stalwart effort,</p><p>&#8220;I think we have a group of young players who are enthusiastic,&#8221; Sullivan said. &#8220;We have a veteran leadership group here that has really created a standard every day of excellence. There is a healthy competition for jobs, ice time, roles, and I think that is a nice environment for us to go to work every day.</p><p>&#8221;&#8220;I think we have a real good chemistry in the room,&#8221; Sullivan continued, &#8220;where the players enjoy one another, with good personalities, and leadership, so the players play hard for one another. The credit goes to the players, they have really bought into what we are trying to do here and the process. And we are happy with the results we have had so far.&#8221;</p><p>As for being able to successfully relate to his new players so quickly after his recent success playing and coaching in the NHL, Sullivan said familiarity plays a key role.</p><p>&#8220;Both my assistant coach and myself have had the privilege of playing at the higher levels,&#8221; Sullivan said, &#8220;including Jay Leach - who just had the opportunity playing against many of these guys two years ago. So I think that brings a great element to our coaching staff in their ability to relate to many of these guys. All of us as a staff, as players and coaches, are trying to bring our experience to the forefront to help these players get better.&#8221;</p><p>In order for his team to continue the long time winning culture built by tough penalty killing and a stingy defense in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, to go along with a more lethal scoring attack on the much improved power play, Sullivan believes there is always a delicate balance of keeping the puck out of the net and scoring the necessary amount of goals to win games.</p><p>&#8220;One of the struggles as coaches we all go through is how much structure do you provide for your players so that they can be on the same page defensively?&#8221; Sullivan wondered. &#8220;And how much opportunity do you give them to act on their instincts and be creative? I&#8217;m trying to walk that line in allowing our offensive guys and our players to make plays and use their instincts to be creative offensively. And on the same side of the coin I&#8217;m trying to offer them sufficient structure so we are on the same page without the puck so we become a difficult team to play against as far as our defensive play and keeping the puck out of the net. That&#8217;s our philosophy and we hope to continue that throughout the season.&#8221;</p><p>Other elements, he insisted, probably had at least as much to do with this season&#8217;s sizzling start. Key veterans such as Murray and the club&#8217;s seasoned captain Kostopoulos have enjoyed the winning environment Sullivan is continuing - both on the ice and in the locker room during the young season.</p><p>&#8220;He is a great guy to relate to,&#8221; Murray said of his new coach, &#8220;he is easy to talk to if you have a problem, he obviously knows a ton about the game and has walked in our path before as a player and can answer any questions we have. Honestly everything about him has impressed me so far.&#8221;</p><p>Kostopoulos, believes it has been beneficial for the Penguins who have now played for both Hynes and Sullivan to blend the best of both worlds and styles of play.</p><p>&#8220;Everybody has been contributing to our team&#8217;s hot start and we have learned a lot from both coach Hynes and coach Sullivan,&#8221; Kostopoulos said. &#8220;I think we still want to play solid defensively but I think there is a little more freedom offensively and he has been able to get everyone contributing on the team. He understands that all the guys here are trying to get to the next level and he is helping them do that while still having us be the best team we can be along the way.</p><p>&#8220;I think his experience is helping us do that.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">New Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has the team off to a 9-1-0 start, matching the franchise&#8217;s best 10 games to start a season first accomplished by the man he took over for. New Jersey Devils coach John Hynes also went 9-1-0 during his first AHL season guiding the Penguins. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_Sullivan.jpg</photo0><caption0>New Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has the team off to a 9-1-0 start, matching the franchise&#8217;s best 10 games to start a season first accomplished by the man he took over for. New Jersey Devils coach John Hynes also went 9-1-0 during his first AHL season guiding the Penguins. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ross Turetsky</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Sullivan makes coaching change a smooth transition for red-hot Penguins