Penguins/NHL category, Page 304
Tim Benz: Penguins defensemen embrace cliches as playoffs loom
It’s playoff time. So that means all aspects of a hockey player’s game should rise. Their skating. Hitting. Defensive intensity. And cliché usage. That’s right. As the stakes rise, so do the amount of regurgitated, empty quotes. Hockey locker rooms usually win the cliché battle among the four major sports...
How do these Penguins stack up to recent franchise Cup champions?
In 16 practice rinks across North America, players gathered Tuesday morning to make final preparations for the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs. As they pulled on their shoulder pads and laced up their skates, they peered around the locker room and wondered if they and the teammates looking back...
Penguins’ Matt Murray as cool, calm as ever as 4th playoff run begins
Just one starting goalie in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs is younger than 24-year-old Matt Murray. But only four have more postseason wins. Have three playoff runs added a layer of wisdom that could make the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie even better than the two-time Stanley Cup winner already is? Not...
Penguins matchup: Bryan Rust vs. Tom Kuhnhackl
A look at a key matchup in the first-round playoff series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders. Before almost every game of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2016 Stanley Cup run, home or road, a ruckus would break out in the vicinity of the team’s locker room. It was Bryan...
Few holdovers remain from last time Penguins, Islanders met in the playoffs
Kris Letang’s recollection on the most recent time the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins met in the playoffs is less than extensive. “I remember that we won,” the Penguins defenseman said with a chuckle. Indeed, the Penguins prevailed in six games in the 2013 first-round series that ended by...
Mike Lange to miss start of Penguins playoffs after reaction to pneumonia medication
Longtime Pittsburgh Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange will miss the start of the playoffs because of “an adverse reaction to medication for pneumonia,” the team announced Tuesday. The 71-year-old Lange is in his 44th season as a team broadcaster. He’s been their radio voice in recent years, and over the past...
Kevin Gorman: Penguins have a dozen reasons to win another Stanley Cup
The Pittsburgh Penguins start these Stanley Cup playoffs with a dozen players who have hoisted the Cup in celebration of a championship at least once. Whether they can win another could depend largely upon the postseason play of the dozen Penguins who have never experienced that elation. “You have the...
Penguins work on power play during final practice before playoff opener
The Pittsburgh Penguins spent a good portion of their final practice before the start of the playoffs working on the power play. The team does power-play drills at the end of most practices, but usually, they are limited to offensive-zone play. On this occasion, the Penguins also worked on bringing...
Penguins’ Brian Dumoulin, Zach Aston-Reese practice fully, leaving lineup questions
Brian Dumoulin and Zach Aston-Reese again practiced fully and without restriction for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, but coach Mike Sullivan stopped short of declaring each will play in the team’s playoff opener Wednesday. “Their status hasn’t changed,” Sullivan said after practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. “They’re making progress.”...
Penguins recall No. 3 goalie Tristan Jarry on eve of playoff opener
The Pittsburgh Penguins added a third goalie to their roster on the eve of their playoff opener, recalling Tristan Jarry from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday. Jarry, 23, was passed by Casey DeSmith over the past year as the top NHL backup to Matt Murray. He appeared in n 47 AHL...
Podcast: Can Penguins crack Islanders’ top-ranked defense, goaltending?
In Tuesday’s Sided.co podcast, we get a preview of the Islanders from News 12 Long Island Sports Director Kevin Maher. The Penguins open in New York for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday. Among the questions we try to answer: • Can the Penguins crack New York’s...
Tim Benz: Penguins’ Jake Guentzel goes from question to constant in exactly 1 year
At this time last year, Jake Guentzel wasn’t a constant. He was a question. A big one. A year ago to this day, I wrote about how crucial it was for Guentzel to snap out of a massive slump and start scoring again to give the Penguins any hope in...
Respect between Penguins’ Mike Sullivan, Islanders’ Barry Trotz to be tested
A look at a key matchup in the first-round playoff series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders. Even as they’ve squared off in each of the past four postseasons, coaches Mike Sullivan and Barry Trotz have routinely professed respect for each other. We’ll see how well that holds...
Mark Madden: Sidney Crosby won’t let Penguins lose to Islanders
When Jake Guentzel scored late against the New York Rangers in the Penguins’ regular-season finale Saturday, it scrounged a loser point and matched the Penguins against the New York Islanders instead of Washington in the playoffs’ first round. That seemed like a good thing. Washington is the defending Stanley Cup...
When playoffs begin, Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson ups his game
When the Pittsburgh Penguins began preparations for a first-round playoff series against the New York Islanders with a practice Monday morning in Cranberry, Jack Johnson was alongside Kris Letang on the team’s top defense pair. Why did coach Mike Sullivan put Johnson in such a prominent spot? A conservative explanation...
As usual, don’t expect Penguins’ Sidney Crosby to say anything inflammatory about Islanders
He has been the unofficial face — and spokesman — of the NHL for more than a decade. As such, Sidney Crosby feels as comfortable facing a gaggle of reporters as he does encountering an opponent’s trap at the blue line. So about the last thing the Pittsburgh Penguins have...
Forward Zach Aston-Reese back at Penguins practice, hopeful to play in playoff opener
Zach Aston-Reese returned to Pittsburgh Penguins practice in a full-contact capacity Monday, but the team stopped short of saying he will play in the playoff opener Wednesday. “Right now, I am just day-to-day,” Aston-Reese said. “So we will see how I feel (Tuesday) morning.” The Penguins open their first-round playoff...
Penguins’ Brian Dumoulin practices, status unclear for playoff opener
Brian Dumoulin was back on the ice for practice Monday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. But will he be on the ice for the playoff opener Wednesday at the Nassau Coliseum? “We will see,” said the Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman, who is recovering from a lower-body injury. “It’s day by day,...
Seeking balance, Penguins split Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel in practice
The greatest playoff success the Pittsburgh Penguins have enjoyed during their recent championship era came with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel anchoring their own lines. Coach Mike Sullivan hasn’t forgotten. As the Penguins began preparations for a first-round playoff series against the New York Islanders with a Monday...
Penguins lift Pittsburgh to No. 1 NHL market on NBC, NBCSN
Skate aside, Buffalo. Pittsburgh jumped over the perennial ratings powerhouse to become NBC’s top market for NHL games during the 2018-19 regular season, the network announced, averaging a 1.3 rating. The network accounted for games on both NBC and NBC Sports Network. The Penguins’ prime-time March 10 matchup vs. the...
Buckle up, baby! Big screen returns for Penguins playoff run
Fans will be able to watch Pittsburgh Penguins playoff home games from outside PPG Paints Arena again this season, albeit at a new location. A large video screen will be set up in a parking lot at the corner of Centre Avenue and Logan Street. The big screen is back...
Tim Benz, Mark Madden talk Penguins-Islanders, Antonio Brown vs. JuJu, Pirates bats
In this week’s “Madden Monday,” Mark Madden and I hit on the big three: The Penguins, Steelers and Pirates. We start with the Penguins and their upcoming series with the Islanders. Mark likes the Penguins in six games. I’m thinking five. Yet somehow, I’m still expecting every game to be...
Tim Benz: For Penguins, it’s minimum expectations vs. maximum anticipation
Kris Letang summed it up perfectly. The Penguins defenseman was answering questions just a few minutes after the club secured a playoff berth. His team had just beaten the Red Wings, 4-1, Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena to clinch a spot. This is the 13th year in a row...
John Steigerwald: Experience says Penguins or Capitals will win Eastern Conference
The Pittsburgh Penguins finished fifth. Actually, and officially, they finished in third place in the Metropolitan Division behind the Washington Capitals and the New York Islanders and ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets. But Carolina and Columbus won more games. As you’ve probably noticed, the NHL has...
With playoffs looming, have Penguins met expectations so far?
Ultimately, the success of the 2018-19 Pittsburgh Penguins will be determined by how they fare in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That’s life for a team with championship aspirations. But as the Penguins prepare for a first-round series with the New York Islanders that starts Wednesday, one interesting question regarding the...
