Penguins/NHL category, Page 218
Penguins to start goaltender Tristan Jarry against Capitals
Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry is scheduled to do something Sunday he never has done. Play the Washington Capitals. Coach Mike Sullivan announced Jarry will be in net for Sunday’s home game at PPG Paints Arena against their long-time rivals. It will be Jarry’s first career game against the Capitals....
Minor league report: Penguins beat Crunch for 1st winVideo
Forwards Chase Berger, Kyle Olson and defenseman Will Reilly each had a goal and an assist for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 5-4 road win against the Syracuse Crunch at Upstate Medical University Arena in Syracuse, N.Y. on Saturday. It was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s first victory of the season. Forward Jonathan Gruden...
Penguins adapt to the NHL’s latest round of covid-19 protocols
Jason Zucker doesn’t mind social distancing. At least in one specific instance. “It’s helped me a lot personally just because I’m further away from ‘Rusty,’ ” the Penguins forward joked in reference to his occasional linemate, Bryan Rust. “So I don’t have to deal with him as much on a...
Penguins request opening PPG Paints Arena at 25% capacity
The Pittsburgh Penguins have made requests to Gov. Tom Wolf as well as the Pa. Department of Health seeking permission since the start of the NHL’s season in mid-January to open PPG Paints Arena to spectators at 25% capacity. The team presented a plan to the state for when it...
Minor league report: Nailers beat Komets in shootoutVideo
A shootout goal by forward Austin Fyten gave the Wheeling Nailers a 3-2 home win against the Fort Wayne Komets at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W.Va. on Friday. Goaltender Francois Brassard made 40 saves on 42 shots in the victory while Fyten and defenseman Patrick McNally scored regulation goals for...
Former Penguins power-play savant Todd Reirden looks to jumpstart struggling unit
The raw numbers, to be sure, are not pretty in regards to the Pittsburgh Penguins power play. But believe it or not, the deeper you dig, the worse it looks. The Penguins 13.5% conversion rate ranks 24th in the league and would have finished dead last compared to the 31...
Mark Madden: Penguins should stick with goalie Casey DeSmith
The Penguins don’t have a goaltending controversy. Well, not unless new GM Ron Hextall thinks he can still play. That might not be a bad idea. Casey DeSmith has to keep playing. That’s beyond debate, at least for now. Tristan Jarry played in last season’s NHL All-Star event. He finished...
Tim Benz: Fun subplot to trade rumor of Marc-Andre Fleury coming back to the Penguins
When I heard the report that the Pittsburgh Penguins tried to reacquire former goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (twice) from the Vegas Golden Knights in recent months, a lot ran through my head. Via Vegas Hockey Now, TSN’s Bob McKenzie said on NBCSN Wednesday that “the Penguins have tried ‘very hard’ since...
Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Islanders 3 (SO)Video
Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 shootout win against the Islanders. The 2019-20 season was pretty meaningful for the professional existence of Zach Aston-Reese. After a few years of scuttling along without much of a direction, Aston-Reese found his role last season on the team’s fourth (but really third) line along...
First Call: Penguins may extend Evgeni Malkin; potential destinations for Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown
Friday’s “First Call” will quell concerns of those who were worried that Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin might get traded. Or, on the other hand, it might anger those who wanted to see him moved. Also, Tom Brady is scheduled for surgery. One outlet predicts that Antonio Brown is staying...
Penguins come back to beat Islanders in shootout
As they take their first steps in running the Penguins, new general manager Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke will find plenty of deficiencies when they begin to evaluate the team they have inherited. They will find a struggling power play, an inconsistent top goaltender, a lack...
Minor league report: Penguins fall to BearsVideo
Goaltender Emil Larmi made 33 saves on 36 shots for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 3-2 home loss to the rival Hershey Bears at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. Forwards Josh Currie and Tim Schaller scored goals for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (0-1-1-0). Highlights: The Penguins’ next game is a road...
Penguins recall forward Frederick Gaudreau from taxi squadVideo
The Pittsburgh Penguins recalled forward Frederick Gaudreau from their taxi squad and placed forward Jared McCann on injured reserve. Gaudreau, 27, could make his Penguins debut Thursday in a road contest against the New York Islanders. A free agent signing this past offseason, Gaudreau has spent the past six seasons...
Penguins activate forward Zach Aston-Reese from long-term injured reserve
The Pittsburgh Penguins activated forward Zach Aston-Reese from long-term injured reserve. Sidelined since undergoing surgery on his left shoulder in mid-August, Aston-Reese could make his season debut in Thursday’s road game against the New York Islanders. In recent days, he has been skating on the left wing of the team’s...
Tim Benz: If Pens fans are skeptical of Hextall-Burke duo, praise from Philadelphia may help
Some Penguins fans may be a bit slow to fully embrace Ron Hextall as the team’s new general manager because of his history with the Philadelphia Flyers. Or, perhaps better phrased, quicker to turn on him if he’s not an instant success. That said, some of the loudest approvals of...
Minor league report: Nailers fall to Fuel in overtime
Goaltender Francois Brassard made 21 saves on 23 shots for the Wheeling Nailers in a 2-1 road overtime loss to the Indy Fuel at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Forward Austin Fyten scored the only goal for Wheeling (3-8-4), which has lost three consecutive games. Highlights: The Nailers’...
Penguins eager to work with Ron Hextall, Brian Burke
Having been captivated by the game for most of his life, Sidney Crosby was well aware of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ rivalry with the Philadelphia Flyers well before he was directly involved in it. So the remarkable notion of a Flyers villain like Ron Hextall now being the Penguins’ general manager...
Penguins forward Jared McCann sidelined on a week-to-week basis
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jared McCann will be sidelined on a week-to-week basis, coach Mike Sullivan said. He has not been on the ice with his team since suffering an undisclosed injury during Saturday’s 4-3 road loss to the New York Islanders. Primarily used as a left winger on the third...
Mark Madden: Brian Burke will bring no-nonsense approach to Penguins
Van Halen (David Lee Roth version) had a motto: “W.D.F.A.” We don’t mess around, or words to that effect. Brian Burke, the Penguins’ new president of hockey operations, operates under the same principle. Read his autobiography, “Burke’s Law.” Burke has been involved in hockey management for 34 years. If you...
Why did the Penguins hire Brian Burke?
The final 10 months of Jim Rutherford’s tenure as Penguins general manager were exhausting. With covid-19 crippling seemingly every walk of life on the globe, the NHL adjusted much of its business not only to stage an unprecedented postseason tournament in August and September to complete the 2019-20 season but...
Tim Benz: I get what the Penguins are thinking. But how is this going to work?
Like many Penguins fans in their early to mid-40s, I cut my teeth as a hockey fan in the early Mario Lemieux years of the mid-80s and became hooked on the game as they were winning Stanley Cups in the early 90s. That also means — like all Penguins fans...
A look at new Penguins brain trust Ron Hextall, Brian Burke
Ron Hextall, general manager Age 56… Spent four years (2014-18) as GM of the Philadelphia Flyers, assembling a roster that has blossomed into a Stanley Cup contender. …. Hextall was assistant GM of the Los Angeles Kings (2006-13), winning a Stanley Cup ring in ‘12 and being part of the...
Penguins hire Ron Hextall as general manager, Brian Burke as president of hockey operations
The last time the Penguins hired a former goaltender with ties to the organization to be their general manager, it was a resounding success as it led to two Stanley Cup titles. They’re hoping for similar results with their most recent hire. On Tuesday, the Penguins tabbed Ron Hextall to...
Penguins use old-school wooden sticks at practice
Tuesday’s Pittsburgh Penguins practice was staged at their state-of-the-art modern Cranberry Township facility, and it was run under the specter of some very 2021 coronavirus-related protocols. But there was one aspect of the session at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex that turned back the clock about three decades. The players took...
Mike Matheson, Zach Aston-Reese full participants at practice for Penguins; Jared McCann sits again
A day after leaving practice following a collision with a teammate, Mike Matheson was back on the ice for a full practice with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. Jared McCann, however, was not. But the initial word on McCann’s injury is that it is not a serious one. Skating on...
