Penguins/NHL category, Page 319
5 things to watch for Penguins after All-Star break
Whether they wanted to or not, the set-up of their schedule forced the Pittsburgh Penguins into a midseason moment of contemplation. After losing 7-3 to Vegas last Saturday night, the Penguins went on a seven-day break that will end when they return to practice Sunday afternoon in Cranberry. Before the...
NHL commissioner Bettman says puck, player tracking tech coming next season
Puck and player tracking technology is coming to the NHL next season. Commissioner Gary Bettman announced at his annual state of the league address at the NHL All-Star Game in San Jose on Friday that transmitters will be inserted into every player’s shoulder pads and every puck used for game...
Respect growing for Sidney Crosby’s all-around game
Jack Johnson cocked his head and squinted his eyes, pausing for a moment as if he had been asked a trick question. Should his Pittsburgh Penguins teammate and longtime friend Sidney Crosby be considered for MVP honors this season as sports writers around the league begin to contemplate their Hart...
Penguins’ Sidney Crosby to sit out all-star skills competition due to illness
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will miss Friday night’s skills competition at the NHL All-Star Game in San Jose due to illness, the league announced Friday afternoon. He is expected to play in the All-Star Game on Saturday night. The other Penguins all-star representative, defenseman Kris Letang, is expected to...
Penguins need second-half consistency to emerge as title contenders
Editor’s note: As the Pittsburgh Penguins hit their bye week, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie looks at four characteristics usually shared by Stanley Cup champions and where this year’s team stacks up in those areas. As Phil Kessel undoubtedly knows, there’s a motto sometimes repeated by players at the World Series...
Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov earns midseason MVP from hockey writers
Being the best player on the best team isn’t a bad way to win a Hart Trophy as the NHL’s regular-season MVP. That’s where Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov finds himself at the All-Star break. Kucherov, who leads the league with 78 points in 49 games, was the leading...
Heinz History Center exhibit celebrates Penguins, Pittsburgh hockey, local Olympians
When U.S. Paralympic gold medalist Dan McCoy stopped by the Heinz History Center on Thursday morning, it was like he was visiting an old friend. McCoy, a Cheswick native, was in attendance for a preview of the museum’s new exhibit, “A Great Day for Hockey,” which will open to the...
Success on penalty kill, not power play, could lead Penguins to postseason success
Editor’s note: As the Pittsburgh Penguins hit their bye week, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie looks at four characteristics usually shared by Stanley Cup champions and where this year’s team stacks up in those areas. What were the most memorable moments from the 2016 Stanley Cup Final? Plenty of fans probably...
Goaltending resurgence keeps Penguins in championship hunt
Editor’s note: As the Pittsburgh Penguins hit their bye week, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie looks at four characteristics usually shared by Stanley Cup champions and where this year’s Penguins stack up in those areas. There is quite a bit of hockey mythology surrounding the hot goaltender, the otherwise mortal netminder...
Penguins relying on familiar formula of strong offense, middling defense
Editor’s note: As the Penguins hit their bye week, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie looks at four characteristics usually shared by Stanley Cup champions and where this year’s Penguins stack up in those areas. Whether it’s in the form of a goaltender playing at the top of his game or the...
First Penguins coach, George ‘Red’ Sullivan, dies at age 89
George “Red” Sullivan, who coached the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first two seasons in franchise history from 1967-69, died Saturday in his hometown of Peterborough, Ontario. He was 89. Sullivan played 14 years in the NHL before becoming Penguins coach, scoring 107 goals in 557 games with Boston, Chicago and...
Penguins send newly acquired winger Joseph Blandisi to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
As they begin a weeklong midseason break, the Pittsburgh Penguins assigned newly acquired winger Joseph Blandisi to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL on Sunday. Blandisi, 24, was acquired from Anaheim for center Derek Grant early Thursday morning. He made his Penguins debut Friday in Arizona, going without a point in about...
Penguins head into break with nagging inconsistencies
As they watched goalie Casey DeSmith try to fend off breakaway after breakaway throughout a 7-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins were faced with a harsh reality. It’s not that they’re a bumbling bunch whose championship window is closing. That’s way too dramatic....
Penguins defense unravels in loss to Golden Knights
LAS VEGAS — Jonathan Marchessault scored three goals for his second career hat trick to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. Phil Kessel, Dominik Simon and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins, and Casey DeSmith finished with 28 saves. Marc-Andre...
Penguins, Phil Kessel learn from power-play mistakes
When the Pittsburgh Penguins gave up their league-leading 10th shorthanded goal of the season last Saturday in Los Angeles, coach Mike Sullivan seethed. He wasn’t angry that his world-class first power-play unit turned pucks over. That happens to the best of them. He was angry because his team wasn’t learning...
Marc-Andre Fleury savoring plentiful playing time as Penguins come to town
Marc-Andre Fleury didn’t know what he had until it was gone. Fleury came into Saturday night’s showdown between the Vegas Golden Knights and Pittsburgh Penguins as the NHL’s leader in minutes played with 2,494, almost 200 more than second-place John Gibson of Anaheim. Fleury has started 42 of his team’s...
Penguins beat Coyotes on Phil Kessel’s OT winner
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Phil Kessel scored on a power play with less than a minute left in overtime. Matt Murray stopped 30 shots, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Arizona Coyotes, 3-2, on Friday night. Outscored 10-4 in consecutive losses, the Penguins fell behind on Clayton Keller’s first-period goal following...
Decreased workload presents challenge for Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith
Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith has already cleared one significant hurdle this season. He overcame his lack of height and prospect pedigree to establish himself as a legitimate NHL goaltender, all but officially beating out second-round draft pick Tristan Jarry for the long-term backup role behind Matt Murray when he...
Penguins notebook: Patric Hornqvist could play this weekend
Even though winger Patric Hornqvist is recovering from his fourth documented concussion since the start of the 2016-17 season, he and the Pittsburgh Penguins see no need to give him an extra 10 days off. After facing the Arizona Coyotes on Friday and Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, the Penguins...
For Penguins, trading Derek Grant opens door for many others
The Pittsburgh Penguins traded away a center early Thursday morning, but it wasn’t the center who has found himself at the center of trade rumors lately. Derick Brassard continues to operate status quo in his third-line position. Rather, depth player Derek Grant was shipped to the Anaheim Ducks for Joseph...
Loss to Sharks shows how far Penguins have left to climb
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been playing some pretty good hockey since turning their season around at the beginning of December. They’re 14-5-1 in their past 20 games. They deserve no worse than a solid B-plus on their report card. Late Tuesday night, they got an up-close look at what an...
Matt Murray’s hot streak ends in Penguins’ loss to Sharks
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Tomas Hertl needed just three games to get his first NHL hat trick. It was more than a five-year wait for the second one, which came while he’s playing perhaps the best hockey of his career. Hertl knocked down Evgeni Malkin with his backside to score...
Olli Maatta evolving into penalty killing ace for Penguins
Hal Gill looks like a penalty killer. He was a 6-foot-7, 244-pound battleship who could stand at the faceoff dot and reach the boards with his stick. Ian Cole looks like a penalty killer. With a full beard and a few missing teeth, he’ll stick his face in front of...
Ex-Stanley Cup combatants Penguins, Sharks following similar paths
In the building where they battled for the Stanley Cup three years ago, two of the NHL’s hottest teams will meet when the Pittsburgh Penguins face the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night at SAP Center. The teams have traveled remarkably similar paths this season. On Dec. 1, the Sharks...
A closer look at the Penguins’ penchant for allowing short-handed goals
The next time the Pittsburgh Penguins’ top power-play unit steps on the ice, it will include five players with a total of 1,330 career goals and nine Stanley Cup rings between them. This is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel,...
