And by where they are now, I mean eight points up on the Eastern Conference’s perimeter teams and all but assured of returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs.<\/p>\n
It sure didn’t start here. Or at any stage, for that matter, of the actual season.<\/p>\n
I asked Ryan Shea:<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Yeah, I think a lot of teams have it, but I think our coaching staff did a good job bringing that kind of first day of training camp and first game of the year,” he’d reply. “Great job with Spoons. Obviously, Cliffy’s been doing it the whole time.”<\/p>\n
Connor Clifton, of course.<\/p>\n
“But you see it out of our forwards day in and day out. It was a great little battle from Spoons, and he almost got in another one, but he’s been doing that all year and he’s been playing great for us.”<\/p>\n
Yeah, Wotherspoon wound up being penalized for another jab at Tkachuk in the third period, then fending off Sam Bennett, who’d rush to defend Tkachuk very much in the spirit of how the Panthers had built their own richly successful brand:<\/p>\n
Parker Wotherspoon sucker punches Matthew Tkachuk, so Sam Bennett steps in and clocks him with a right \ud83d\ude33\ud83d\udc4a pic.twitter.com\/R3zG1RJC30<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Those two, it should be stressed, are among the game’s grittiest wingers.\u00a0<\/p>\n But, as Shea mentioned, it isn’t just about Wotherspoon. Nor just about the players. Because his assessment that Dan Muse and staff deserve credit for instilling this as far back as last summer in Cranberry, that’s probably the most prominent variable.<\/p>\n Let’s call it like it is: Mike Sullivan hated this stuff. He was so opposed to any form of revenge or retaliation that he’d be more responsible than anyone for banishing Evan Rodrigues, a terrific hockey player, out of the organization over a pushback penalty that cost the Penguins a playoff game against the Rangers in 2022. Sullivan saw strength as being able to turn away, as being above the fracas or fight.<\/p>\n Hey, it did work for him, not once but twice, in 2016 and 2017. Can’t argue that. But times change and teams change. And this time and this team, Kyle Dubas had realized, from what I was told from the inside very early this past offseason, needed to be different.<\/p>\n So, in addition to coaxing the coaching change, he and Dubas and the new coaches entered Cranberry with a mindset of making sure everyone had each other’s back. It was brought up in meetings, in drills and doubly so in scrimmages.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, it’s not as if the Penguins have suddenly become the Fifth Avenue Bullies or whatever, but the Wotherspoon-Tkachuk fight was their 14th of the season, already doubling their total from 2024-25. And their 8.21 penalty minutes per game, though ranking 20th of 32 teams, is way up from 6.5 last season.<\/p>\n “It makes a difference for all of us,” Rickard Rakell, author of two goals in this one, would tell me. You know that your teammate’s covering you, and it doesn’t matter who it is.”<\/p>\n Right. It’s even been Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Erik Karlsson’s done it. Kris Letang.<\/p>\n But it’s been at another level for guys like Wotherspoon, Clifton, Dewer, Noel Acciari, Blake Lizotte and a couple others. It’s been basic policy.<\/p>\n Of Wotherspoon specifically, Rakell added, “I feel like he’s always like in the mix of everything, but he’s really stepping up for for his teammates. It gives us a lot of energy on the bench to see that and then just back each other up in whatever happens. It feels great to have a guy like that on the team.”<\/p>\n I’d hoped to speak afterward with Wotherspoon, who hadn’t been in the locker room when it was opened to the media, and immediately regretted it upon seeing him return at my request. Dude was … let’s just say I appreciated the extra effort.<\/p>\n But then, that’s life for a 6-foot-1, 190-pound defenseman with an outsized heartbeat.<\/p>\n “Yeah, obviously the guys stick together in here, and it’s another example,” Wotherspoon, barely audible, would tell me of his defense of Dewar. “But they’d do the same to me. You want to take care of it or stand up for guys like that.”<\/p>\n Of the general effect on the group, he’d add, “It\u2019s huge. It obviously creates more of a team and, as a team, you want to stick together. We got a good group here. I just wanna stick together through it all.”<\/p>\n With that and my thanks, I shooed him away. Live to fight another day ‘n’ at.<\/p>\n \u2022 And speaking of fisticuffs … it’s gonna be the Flyers, isn’t it?<\/p>\n NHL<\/p>\n Yeah, I think it is. Rick Tocchet’s got them rolling — 8-3 in their past 11, including beating the Bruins, 2-1 in overtime<\/a>, on this same day at the wrong end of our commonwealth — while the Islanders just panic-fired Patrick Roy and the Blue Jackets have lost six in a row.<\/p>\n I’m not complaining. Could be fun.<\/p>\n JOE SARGENT \/ GETTY<\/p>\n Sidney Crosby blurs by the Panthers’ Seth Jones to score in the first period.<\/p>\n \u2022 All hail every single one of Sid’s endless milestones<\/a>. Never take them — or him — for granted. To be a point-a-game producer for 21 NHL seasons is beyond comprehension.<\/p>\n \u2022 Same goes for Geno and his own 16<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/screenshot-2026-04-05-at-8.15.42\u00e2\u0080\u00afpm.jpeg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Sidney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-2269392868-3.jpg\" "\\"Sidney")
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