WASHINGTON -- Matt Cullen's sweaty black socks were marking his every step outside the visitors' exercise room late Saturday night at Verizon Center, and they might have betrayed the vibe of a very nervous man.
Except that this is Dad we're discussing here.
"Waiting for my turn," he'd tell me with that 16-year-old smile that still engulfs the 40-year-old face. And he'd motion across to the stationary bikes, currently being pedaled by kids young enough to be ... well, his kids. "Still got some work to do."
Trace his steps from earlier in the evening, and they picked up those kids and all his fellow Penguins by almost singularly transforming what was shaping up to be a touchdown-sized defeat into a 6-2 slam dunk of the Capitals in Game 2 of this potentially pivotal Stanley Cup playoff series.
Wait, did I say almost singularly?
That's not just picking up the kids. That's picking up the kids in a 1991 wood-paneled Buick Roadmaster, then blowing right by everyone on the Beltway with big old boomboxes blasting Loverboy from every open window.
"I just wanted to get to the net," he'd explain of his drive.
And he wasn't worried about the team's play to that point, having been badly outperformed through the first period and change?
"Worried? No, I wouldn't say that. We just needed to be ourselves."
That's as deep as he got. His turn on the bike came, and he still had some miles in him.
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