Exclusive: Sullivan opens up on relationship with Kessel

Gee, it would have explained so much.

If only Mike Sullivan and Phil Kessel had spent most the past winter hurling insults -- and perhaps an occasional puck -- at each other, the Penguins' relatively lackluster regular season might have been a bit easier to understand.

Certainly, their four-game cameo appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs would have been.

But the reality, Sullivan said this evening, is that while he and Kessel experienced some turbulence during their four seasons together, it wasn't particularly different than what a lot of coaches and players go through.

And it was no more pronounced in 2018-19 than it had been during the seasons that preceded it.

"My relationship with Phil…