Penguins/NHL category, Page 251
Penguins’ Matt Murray, Primanti Bros. to feed police
Penguins goaltender Matt Murray is teaming with Primanti Bros. to offer food to police in Pittsburgh beginning Thursday. According to a release from the team, Murray has “a $5,000 open tab” for officers at the downtown restaurant located at 2 Market Square. “I want to thank the people on the...
First Call: Pittsburgh as NHL return city?; Some underrated potential Steelers draft targets
For “First Call” today, we’re still talkin’ hockey in a bubble. Just different bubbles. Forget New Hampshire, North Dakota and Saskatchewan. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed through ESPN.com that the NHL is looking at four NHL host cities as designated locations to condense the league and to restart the 2019-20...
NHL’s Gary Bettman: ‘We’re going to have to make adjustments’ to settle on restart planVideo
When or if the NHL concludes its 2019-20 campaign is anyone’s guess. Including the league’s commissioner. But one thing is certain: Gary Bettman and company have explored multiple options for trying to stage games in order to finish this season and start the next one while the world at large...
John Marino stacks up well compared to top rookie defensemen in Penguins history
John Marino’s timing is impeccable. In one sense, he came along at just the right time for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Saddled with a defense corps that sprung leaks during a mediocre 2018-19 season, especially in a first-round playoff exit, the team needed him. Marino escaped the Edmonton prospect pool, built...
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins re-sign forward Chase Berger
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have re-signed forward Chase Berger to a one-year American Hockey League contract for the 2020-21 season. During his first professional season of 2019-20, Berger, 25, appeared in 53 AHL games and scored 10 points (one goal, nine assists). Before turning professional, Berger spent four seasons with Penn...
Penguins defenseman John Marino tan, rested, ready for NHL to returnVideo
John Marino’s face looked different Tuesday. It was tan. Typically, people in Western Pennsylvania (or Marino’s native Massachusetts, for that matter) don’t get to enjoy much in the way of Vitamin D in the early portion of spring. But with the NHL on pause because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic,...
Penguins’ Sidney Crosby offers condolences to victims of Nova Scotia shooting
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby offered condolences to the victims of a mass shooting that took place in his home province of Nova Scotia this past weekend. In the deadliest shooting in Canadian history, 19 people were murdered in various towns throughout the small province over a 12-hour span beginning Saturday...
How politics surrounding coronavirus may slow NHL’s return, 2016 flashbacks
Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network joins me for our weekly hockey chat. During this week’s Essey Tire podcast, we solve all the world’s problems. Who am I kidding? We complain about the state of affairs we are all dealing with in this coronavirus-shut-in-addled existence we are all muddling...
Jim Rutherford, Penguins continue to wait, make contingency plans
About 365 days ago, Jim Rutherford wasn’t terribly busy. He had just watched the Pittsburgh Penguins get swept from the first round of the playoff by the New York Islanders with a 3-1 home loss April 16, 2019. That humiliating defeat was the start of an uncertain time for the...
Tim Benz, Mark Madden discuss how the draft may impact Steelers trades; Matt Murray’s future
In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden and I focus on the NFL Draft. We both see the logic in the Steelers drafting a skill-position player in the second round. But what becomes of JuJu Smith-Schuster or James Conner if that happens? Could either of them be traded? If...
With momentum lost, Penguins, NHL teams would start from scratch if play resumes
In the moments after their victory against New Jersey Devils on March 10, an overriding theme expressed by the Pittsburgh Penguins was a desire to ride the goodwill from the road win to serve as a springboard for a stretch run into the postseason. “Hopefully, we use this as a...
Kris Letang delivers message of peace as another Penguins-Flyers series looms
In these trying times, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang delivered a message of hope this week. If he harbors no ill will toward Scott Hartnell, we all can show more charity toward our fellow man, right? In the waning seconds of an Oct. 8, 2009, game between intrastate rivals, Letang flew...
Penguins sign former 7th-round pick William Reilly to entry-level contractVideo
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced the signing of their seventh-round pick from three years ago, agreeing to a two-year, entry-level deal with defenseman William Reilly. The 6-foot-2, 197-pound Reilly, a right-handed shot, recently completed his senior season at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The 22-year-old Toronto native led the Engineers in plus/minus...
Penguins’ Kris Letang practiced social distancing long before most were
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf did not start issuing orders related to coronavirus-abating measures until mid-March. Kris Letang was practicing social distancing and other covid-19 prevention tactics two weeks before that, when the Pittsburgh Penguins were on their annual California swing through Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose. “We’d been following...
Kris Letang approaching the NHL covid-19 break as if it’s the Penguins offseasonVideo
It will be one year ago to the day on Thursday that the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2019 offseason began. This year at the same time, the Penguins are likewise won’t be playing. This time, it’s the coronavirus pandemic and not a dud of a first-round series that has resulted in their...
With NHL on hiatus, Stanley Cup gets locked awayVideo
Phil Pritchard spent a recent afternoon carrying groceries back to his home outside Toronto — a far cry from taking the Stanley Cup around North America in the heat of the NHL playoffs. Hockey is on hold, the Stanley Cup is locked away in its case at the Hockey Hall...
Remembering the 2017 Penguins-Predators Stanley Cup Final
We go down memory lane in this week’s “Essey Tire” hockey podcast with Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network. In lieu of actual hockey, the NHL Network is running an all-day marathon on Tuesday of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators. So...
NHL Network to air entire 2017 Penguins-Predators Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday
To fill the void of no live sports in recent weeks, networks have provided Pittsburgh Penguins fans the opportunity to re-live the 2009 and 2016 Stanley Cup runs. Tuesday, they’ll get a chance to turn the clock to 2017. The NHL Network is devoting almost 12 hours of broadcast time...
Tim Benz, Mark Madden: Steelers draft could have ripple effect; idea of remote MLB, NHL locations
Coming off of Easter Sunday, this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast looks at a different kind of resurrection. That of the entire sports world. When will we see it? And when we do, will we recognize it? Mark and I aren’t just talking about the mechanics of the leagues getting off...
5 Penguins among best centers of past 53 years in NHL.com listVideo
To fill space and provide content during the suspension of its season, the NHL is releasing top-16 lists on its official website. It should come as no surprise for an organization so synonymous with scoring that the Pittsburgh Penguins are well represented on the list of the game’s best centers...
Bryan Rust content if suspension of season costs him milestone for PenguinsVideo
Despite missing the first 11 games of the season because of a hand injury, Bryan Rust blew past his career high for points Jan. 14. During the Pittsburgh Penguins’ next game three days later, he established a personal best for goals. Each occurred before the All-Star break, and Rust kept...
Ranking the Penguins’ most memorable playoff openers
If the coronavirus pandemic hadn’t shut down the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins probably would have played their playoff opener Wednesday night. Here’s a look at the 10 most memorable playoff openers in franchise history. 1. April 13, 2016: Penguins 5, Rangers 2 — With Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury out...
Playoff intensity could be lost if season resumes for Penguins, NHL
Conditioned by a fistful of championship runs over the past three decades, Penguins fans know the deal by now. Yeah, hockey season starts in October, but really, the games that matter start at the beginning of April. If it hadn’t been for the coronavirus pandemic suspending play, the Penguins would...
North Huntingdon’s Austen Swankler on NHL Central Scouting draft list
The NHL draft, like the rest of the sports world, remains in limbo. But the league’s official internal scouting service has released its final rankings in advance of it. And local product Austen Swankler is on the list. Swankler, a North Huntingdon native, came in at No. 200 in the...
Penguins Foundation distributes 500 backpacks of supplies for schooling at home
Families who lack educational resources in their homes during this school-from-home period are the target of a donation from the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation, the team announced Wednesday. The organization’s charitable arm is donating school supplies filling 500 backpacks — 200 each to State Police barracks in Allegheny and Somerset counties...
