Penguins/NHL category, Page 238
Mark Madden: Penguins determined to travel most difficult path possible
Desperate times call for unusual measures. In the 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs, the defending champion Penguins trailed Washington three games to one. The Penguins were a high-octane flying circus led by Mario Lemieux, scoring a league-high 343 goals. Problem was, the Capitals netted 330 times, second-most in the NHL. The...
Empty Thoughts: Step in right direction for Penguins’ power play
Observations from the Penguins’ 3-1 win against the Canadiens: After his team struggled with the power play in Game 1, going 1 for 7 and putting only 10 shots on net, coach Mike Sullivan had a pretty basic edict for his players. “We’ve got to try to get some shots,”...
Tim Benz: Some Penguins answered challenges in Game 2. More must do so in Game 3.
Challenges made. Challenges answered. Well, in some cases anyway. The Penguins lost Game 1 of their NHL Eastern Conference preliminary round series to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 Saturday. And it was very clear which players and which aspects of the Penguins game needed to improve for them to get a...
Matt Murray leads Penguins past Canadiens in Game 2 to even series
Game 2 of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ qualifying-round series with the Montreal Canadiens on Monday was delayed by about 10 minutes. The previous contest at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals went to a shootout and held up for the Penguins and Canadiens. That was about...
Penguins and other NHL teams adjust to very different normalVideo
Like the 11 other Eastern Conference teams participating in the NHL’s postseason, the Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t allowed to have a morning skate at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. The building is used throughout the course of the day for actual games, and it’s not practical to have another team skate at 10:30...
Tim Benz, Mark Madden break down Pittsburgh’s 3-1 win in Game 2 on ‘Hockey in the Hub’ postgame show
The Penguins evened their qualifying-round series against the Montreal Canadiens with a 3-1 victory Monday night. Trib columnists Tim Benz and Mark Madden break down the highlights of Game 2 on the Big Shot Bob’s “Hockey in the Hub” postgame show. Watch and listen here....
Penguins to start goaltender Matt Murray in Game 2
The Penguins are scheduled to start goaltender Matt Murray for Game 2 of their qualifying round series against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Monday according to coach Mike Sullivan. During Game 1 on Saturday, Murray made 32 saves on 35 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss....
Madden Monday: You know what Penguins did wrong. What did Canadiens do right?
Since the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 overtime loss in Game 1 to the Montreal Canadiens, Mark Madden and I have spent a lot of time grousing about the result and what the Penguins did wrong. We could use another day or two to get through it all. But what did the...
Tim Benz: Mike Sullivan is ignoring the obvious when it comes to net-front issues
After the overtime loss Saturday to the Montreal Canadiens in the 2020 playoff opener, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan blamed a lack of offensive net-front presence as a major factor. “We generated a fair amount of scoring chances,” Sullivan said after the defeat. “It’s not that there wasn’t opportunity....
Marcus Pettersson and John Marino remain resolute on Penguins blue line
John Marino picked a rotten year to be a rookie defenseman. Not so much because of everything else that made 2020 a rotten year. But because he has so much company. One of the defining traits of the NHL’s 2019-20 campaign was there were so many freshman blue liners who...
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan endorses duo of Jack Johnson, Justin Schultz
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan is typically hesitant to blame any individual player or select groups of players for any on-ice performance. He normally will defend them all. Such was the case when he was asked about the third defensive pairing of Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz on Sunday. During Saturday’s...
Penguins’ Conor Sheary on missed penalty shot in Game 1: ‘A bad move, I guess’
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Conor Sheary joined a somewhat select but certainly futile group of company during Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of their qualifying-round series at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. He became the seventh player in franchise history to attempt a postseason penalty shot but...
John Steigerwald: Not time for Penguins fans to panic; this series could go the distance
Now what? The Penguins are down 1-0 in a best-of-five series. Is it time to panic? Not really. A good time to panic might be if/when the Canadiens score first in Game 2. All the solutions are out there: Get Patric Hornqvist in front of the net, and sit Patrick...
Mark Madden: Penguins should make several lineup changes before Game 2 against Canadiens
It’s only one game. That was, no doubt, the phrase that pays in the Penguins locker room after Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to Montreal. It’s only one game. The Penguins lost their first playoff game to the New York Islanders last season, also in OT. That was only one game....
‘Burgh’s Best to Wear It, No. 29: Fan-favorite Marc-Andre Fleury a Penguins’ Cup-winning iconVideo
The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number. No. 29: Marc-Andre Fleury To perhaps best illustrate Marc-Andre Fleury’s popularity in Pittsburgh, consider that during the 2017-18 season that followed the Penguins’ most recent...
Empty Thoughts: Simpler could be better for the Penguins
Observations from the Penguins’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Canadiens. The Penguins often speak of “keeping things simple” or “simplifying our game” when they deal with an impediment out of their control. They could be facing a stagnant defensive team or sloppy ice or a world-wide pandemic and they’ll cite...
Tim Benz: Penguins better finish or they’ll be finished a lot quicker than we thought
For a team that is supposed to have a lot of finishers, the Penguins haven’t finished much of anything during the playoffs lately. And if that trend doesn’t change fast, they’ll be finished in the reformatted 2020 NHL postseason a lot quicker than the hockey world anticipated. The Penguins lost...
Penguins’ power play struggles in Game 1 overtime loss to Canadiens
These aren’t the Montreal Canadiens who have plaques hanging on walls a few blocks away in the Hockey Hall of Fame. There’s not a Maurice Richard or Jean Beliveau on this roster. There isn’t even a Vincent Damphousse or Mike Cammalleri, members of Canadiens teams who sparked upsets of superior...
‘Burgh’s Best to Wear It, No. 30: No one debuted quite like Matt MurrayVideo
No. 30: Matt Murray A few weeks after his 22nd birthday, Matt Murray reached a milestone. He made his first trek to the Golden State in the spring of 2016. “First time ever in California,” said Murray, a native of Thunder Bay, Ont. “I’m from pretty far up north in...
Tim Benz, Mark Madden break down Penguins’ 3-2 OT loss to Canadiens
The Penguins lost Game 1 of their qualifying-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2, in overtime on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Tribune-Review columnists Tim Benz and Mark Madden break down the stunning loss during the Big Shot Bob’s “Hockey in the Hub” show. And Madden is not...
Penguins to start Matt Murray in Game 1 against Canadiens
The Penguins will start goaltender Matt Murray in Game 1 of their qualifying round game against the Montreal Canadiens tonight at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, according to coach Mike Sullivan. A vital member of the Penguins’ last two Stanley Cup championship teams in 2016 and 2017, Murray has considerably more...
Sidney Crosby, Penguins finally to begin playoffs after 4½ monthsVideo
Let’s assume there are no unforeseen and unpleasant surprises between now and then — this is 2020 we are talking about, after all — and the Pittsburgh Penguins take the ice Saturday evening at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena to open up their postseason. By the time Game 1 of their qualifying-round...
Penguins notes: Mike Sullivan won’t commit to goalie, not taking Canadiens lightly
Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan on Wednesday declined to even reveal if he had made the decision about what goalie he intended to start in Game 1 of the qualifying-round playoff series. So two days later, when he was asked directly about his choice between Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry...
Best-of-5 game series poses unique challenge for PenguinsVideo
Bryan Trottier has no shortage of memories from his outstanding NHL existence. Between six Stanley Cup titles — four with the New York Islanders and two with the Pittsburgh Penguins — as well as a handful of individual accolades such as the Hart Memorial Trophy and induction into the Hockey...
Mark Madden: Penguins need to simplify power play, keep stars where they fit bestVideo
Mike Sullivan is the most accomplished coach in Pittsburgh Penguins history and very arguably the franchise’s best. But even ABBA had their Waterloo, and Sullivan’s may be the Penguins’ power play. The Penguins rarely got rhythm with the man-advantage during the regular season because of injury. The unit’s components were...
