A lot of you are gonna think I’m crazy for what I’m about to write.
I can hear the naysayers now. “Ol’ Buker’s finally flipped his lid. He’s lost his mind.” And I get it.
It’s just that this Penguins team is starting to remind me very much of the 2015-16 team that came out of nowhere to win a Stanley Cup.
How, you ask?
Let me count the ways.
Fresh off a season where they barely scraped into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, only to be embarrassed in five games by the Rangers, the ’15-16 squad started slowly. A lifeless showing that cost coach Mike Johnston his job.
Enter Mike Sullivan, who hadn’t run an NHL bench full-time in a decade. The Pens lost their first four games while adjusting to Sully’s play-on-your-toes style. Our record after 38 games was 19-15-4. Which happens to be identical to the current team’s record prior to Tuesday night’s triumph over the Flyers.
As late as February the ’15-16 team was alternating wins and losses while precariously perched on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
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