The Pittsburgh Penguins turned around a once-disappointing season and fired a coach before winning a fourth Stanley Cup, adversity that seemed to make Wednesday’s city-wide celebration that much sweeter.

Fans lined the victory parade route more than 10 deep as the players, coaches, their families and support staff rolled by in pickup trucks, convertibles and amphibious duck boats.

“We were slow at one time but, man, were we fast when we finished,” general manager Jim Rutherford told the crowd at the end of the parade route.

The parade was held seven years to the day that the 2009 team celebrated its Stanley Cup championship with a downtown victory lap. That parade drew about 375,000 spectators, and city and county public safety officials said this one topped out at 400,000.

“Well the one thing I’ve learned is this is one crazy sports town,” said coach Mike Sullivan, hired to replace Mike Johnston when the team was out of playoff contention in December.

Some fans arrived 12 hours ahead of time for the 11:30 a.m. parade, despite overnight drizzle.

The skies largely cleared, though, as fans threw ribbons and confetti, peered out of office windows and from parking garage platforms, and thronged the city’s main downtown streets.