Jonathan Bombulie stories, Page 21
Penguins’ Patric Hornqvist to play for Sweden in World Championships
Pittsburgh Penguins winger Patric Hornqvist will play for his native Sweden in the World Championships next month in Slovakia, the Swedish ice hockey federation announced Wednesday. Hornqvist will be joined on a star-studded Swedish roster by New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, Arizona Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Calder Trophy...
During disappointing season, Penguins forwards were less than sum of their parts
At the time, it looked like the start of something for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the third period of a Dec. 4 home game with the Colorado Avalanche, everything winger Patric Hornqvist touched found twine. His natural hat trick in a span of 2 minutes, 47 seconds not only set...
69 years ago, Lower Burrell native scored among most dramatic goals in NHL history
Sixty-nine years ago Tuesday, Lower Burrell native Pete Babando scored perhaps the most dramatic goal in NHL history. Babando scored 8 minutes, 31 seconds into the second overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the 1950 Stanley Cup...
Alex Ovechkin melts down during Capitals’ Game 6 loss to Hurricanes
After having an apparent third-period goal waved off by officials, Alex Ovechkin was sent to the locker room early as the Washington Capitals suffered a 5-2 loss in Game 6 of a first-round playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night. With the Hurricanes leading 3-2 with less than...
Penguins sign high-scoring Finnish free agent Oula Palve
The Pittsburgh Penguins added a highly regarded European free agent to their depth chart Monday, signing 27-year-old Finnish center Oula Palve to a one-year deal. The 6-foot, 176-pound Palve was among the top 10 scorers in Finland’s top league in each of the last two seasons. This year, he recorded...
In-season pickups could provide blueprint for Penguins’ roster retooling
As general manager Jim Rutherford prepares to perform offseason roster surgery designed to bring the Pittsburgh Penguins back to championship-caliber prominence, he has at least one thing going for him. He’s in the middle of a pretty decent run at the trade table. Defensemen Marcus Pettersson and Erik Gudbranson and...
In Penguins’ quest to be harder to play against, does Phil Kessel help or hurt?
General manager Jim Rutherford and coach Mike Sullivan stood side-by-side at a season-ending news conference and announced, in one voice, that the Pittsburgh Penguins must be harder to play against moving forward. So, what does this mean for Phil Kessel? By the conventional definition of the term, Kessel’s game is...
Penguins’ Kris Letang is story of offensive flair vs. defensive responsibility
As the Pittsburgh Penguins tried to grapple with a quick playoff exit this season, Kris Letang and Mike Sullivan became entrenched on opposite sides of a divide that seemed new, dramatic and important. Sullivan stood at a podium after his team was swept by the New York Islanders and declared...
Penguins goalie Matt Murray grateful for lessons learned in tumultuous season
Emotions ran the gamut as Pittsburgh Penguins players tried to wrap their heads around a stunning first-round sweep by the New York Islanders this week, but most fell somewhere in between disbelief and disappointment. As he packed up his gear before heading home to Thunder Bay, Ontario, for the summer,...
Sidney Crosby takes pass on World Championships to rest, heal
At the end of summer, Sidney Crosby will celebrate his 32nd birthday. That is part of the reason the beginning of his summer won’t include a trip to Slovakia for the World Championships next month. It’s a tournament he helped Canada win in 2015, the last time the Penguins were...
GM Jim Rutherford to seek chemistry, hunger, not speed, as he reshapes Penguins roster
After the Pittsburgh Penguins ended a six-year championship drought by winning the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons in 2016-17, the generally accepted theory was that they did so with speed. General manager Jim Rutherford acquired players like Carl Hagelin and Trevor Daley and the Penguins responded with an up-tempo attack...
Somber Olli Maatta looks ahead to uncertain future with Penguins
Two years ago, Olli Maatta’s season ended with a sun-soaked nap on an apartment balcony after the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrated a second straight Stanley Cup with a parade down Grant Street. On Thursday morning, as the Penguins cleaned out their lockers in Cranberry, his season-ending mood was decidedly more somber....
Salary cap situation makes Penguins roster moves inevitable
Given their performance in a first-round sweep by the New York Islanders and his track record as an active general manager, there is zero chance Jim Rutherford wants to go into next season with the same roster the Pittsburgh Penguins used at the end of this year. Factoring in the...
5 areas Penguins need to improve to be contenders again
Sitting in his locker stall moments after his team was swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin said it was difficult for him to talk about how the team needed to improve to regain its championship form. He...
For Penguins, offseason roster changes all but guaranteed after first-round sweepVideo
A sullen group of Pittsburgh Penguins players sat in their stalls in a losing locker room Tuesday night knowing full well they just finished the last game this team would play together a group. Being swept in the first round of the playoffs inevitably leads to personnel changes. Even if...
Penguins can’t find answers as Islanders complete sweepVideo
For four full games plus an overtime, the Pittsburgh Penguins tried to find answers to the tough questions the New York Islanders were asking them in the first round of the playoffs. They tried to figure out how to deal with a ferocious forecheck that rarely took a shift off....
NHL’s top scorers, including Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, going nowhere fast in playoffs
For decades, it generally has been an accepted part of hockey lore: The playoffs are where high-flying offenses go to die. Over the past three seasons, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals have done their part to change that attitude, winning the Stanley Cup on the backs of their generational...
Jared McCann promoted as Penguins shake up top line again
When the Pittsburgh Penguins open the fourth game of their first-round series against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night, they will apparently be using their third different top-line combination. Jared McCann was bumped up to the first line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel as the team took morning...
Islanders not the first team to smother Penguins in playoffs
The extent to which the New York Islanders have suffocated the Pittsburgh Penguins in their first-round playoff series is surprising. The Penguins had the sixth-best offense in the league in the regular season, boasting a roster that included four 70-point scorers. They’ve managed a total of two goals in the...
Penguins in hole they’ve never climbed out of in Crosby-Malkin era
For the third time since Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin joined the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team has lost the first three games of a playoff series. The first time, they made it a series. The second time, they were swept. Which path they take this time will be determined in...
Islanders again stymie Penguins to take 3-0 series leadVideo
Enticed into making mistake after costly mistake by a disciplined opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins are one loss from leaving the playoffs in a stunning first-round sweep. Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson scored 62 seconds apart in the first period, leading the New York Islanders to a 4-1 victory Sunday afternoon...
These aren’t ‘desperate’ times for Penguins, coach Mike Sullivan says
A large percentage of NHL players, including Sidney Crosby, often talk about the need to play the game with desperation. It may just be a matter of semantics, but Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan isn’t a fan of that approach. Trailing 2-0, the Penguins will face the New York Islanders...
3 overrated, underrated developments in Penguins-Islanders series
When the postseason begins, the playoff spotlight shines bright on multiple aspects of every series. As the Pittsburgh Penguins return home for Game 3 down 2-0 to the New York Islanders, here’s a look at three developments that have been overrated in their impact on the series and three that...
Evgeni Malkin takes responsibility, vows improvement after Penguins loss
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Whenever the Pittsburgh Penguins have found themselves in a tough spot in the playoffs in recent years, Evgeni Malkin has been a voice of motivation in the locker room. It was no different after they lost 3-1 Friday night to drop the first two games of a...
Penguins falter late as Islanders take 2-0 series leadVideo
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — In the rafters hang the numbers of some of the game’s all-time greats: Bossy, Potvin, Trottier, Smith. On the other side of the ice stand some of the most decorated players in today’s game: Crosby, Malkin, Kessel and Letang. Through two games of a first-round playoff series...
