During a team meal Thursday night at a Dallas steak house, Michel Therrien stood up and announced a strict curfew for the Penguins' trip that included games at Dallas Friday and Phoenix Saturday. "Coach made it clear -- 11 in bed, 11:30 TV off," goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. "I wanted to make sure the guys realized that we're here to pick up four points," Therrien said. He was greeted with laughter. Yeah, right coach, 11:30. Wink.
So he added this nugget: If the team lost to the Stars, there would be no carts for the golf outing planned Saturday in Phoenix. Everyone would walk. It's not that Therrien has lost control of the Penguins, or his faculties. It's just that his target audience that night was not so much the players as their fathers, who joined the team in Dallas and Phoenix for the Penguins' first dads' trip.
The Pens won 4-3 in a shoot out and then pounded the desert dogs 7-2 the following night.