When the players gathered in a socially-distanced fashion in the hotel conference room to watch the footage the coaches had compiled from their 6-3 loss to the Flyers in their season opener on Wednesday ahead of their rematch on Friday, Sullivan started the session by reminding his players that they had to be emotionally resilient.
"We can't let a past experience that maybe didn't go the way we wanted it to go to affect our performance moving forward," Sullivan said. "We have to be able to put it behind us. But we certainly need to learn the lessons and learn from them. And that's what we're trying to do."
When it came down to the X's and O's, Sullivan said there were some aspects of Philadelphia's game they made the players aware of, but the majority of it focused on their own team game and the execution and attention to detail that is necessary for success.
The Penguins actually carried play, particularly at 5-on-5, for most of the game last night. But with the score tied 3-3 in the third period, the Flyers capitalized on some defensive breakdowns to net three unanswered goals - including two in a 20-second span - to take a lead they would not relinquish.
"We didn't give up a ton of chances, but the ones that we did give up are pretty big ones," captain Sidney Crosby said. "So, I think just eliminating those. You're going to make mistakes, but you don't want to make big ones that are Grade-A chances like that."
And as Sullivan put it, in his experience from coaching teams over the years, usually if one mistake is made, teams can recover.
"But it's when a mistake is chased with a second or third mistake that it ends up in the back in the net," he said. "And so I thought there were a few instances last night where that happened. That was something we tried to point out to our players today."
The Penguins plan to have a morning skate on Friday ahead of their second game against the Flyers to close out their first two-game series of the season. Crosby said so far, he's liking how that setup is working out.
"Just being in the same city, not having to travel - it's nice in that way so we can get set up here and get ready for the next one," he said. "You turn the page quick. And with a short schedule, you've got to make sure that you're adjusting and you're getting better with each and every game. They're all so important. I think it's fun in that sense.
"It's like a playoff series and it's still fresh in your mind. There's things that you can change and figure out fairly quick and get ready for the next one. It's fun to be a part of that."
