Jonathan Bombulie stories, Page 25

The recent postseason history of the Pittsburgh Penguins is littered with third lines that made a championship difference. In 2009, Matt Cooke, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy were known as the best third line in hockey. In 2016, the HBK Line featuring Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel set...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In the first period of Thursday night’s game against the Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Bryan Rust had a handful of scoring chances, including one shot that rang off the post behind goalie Pekka Riine. Was he starting to grow frustrated? “I was about to break my...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Playing the position runs in Sidney Crosby’s family, and he’s been known to goof around between the pipes in pick-up games and other informal settings from time to time, but make no mistake: He’s not a goaltender. As such, the idea of sitting back and letting opposing...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Coming into a matchup with the Nashville Predators on Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins have lost two in a row. Both losses, however, came past regulation, in overtime against Philadelphia last Sunday and in a shootout Tuesday in Carolina. All told, the Penguins have picked up a...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When most call-ups are set to make their NHL debuts, they have to prove they can keep up with the speed of the NHL game. That shouldn’t be a problem for Pittsburgh Penguins winger Adam Johnson. As he prepares to face the Nashville Predators on Thursday night,...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Olli Maatta took a few minutes to fill out an NCAA tournament bracket Thursday morning, taking Duke to win it all and, perhaps because he was influenced by the talk from the locals at Bridgestone Arena, Tennessee to make the Final Four. What Maatta’s really excited about,...

The Pittsburgh Penguins added some youth and speed to their lineup Wednesday, calling up winger Adam Johnson from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. Winger Joseph Blandisi and defenseman Juuso Riikola were sent down. Johnson, 24, is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top-scoring forward this season, recording 18 goals and 40 points in 63 games. He’s...

The Pittsburgh Penguins defense corps has taken a lot of hits lately. Figuratively, there’s probably no greater body blow a defense can absorb than surrendering a lead late in regulation and losing in overtime or a shootout, and the Penguins have done that four times in their past 13 games....

RALEIGH, N.C. — Kris Letang nearly finished off his first game back after an 11-game absence due to an upper-body injury as a returning hero Tuesday night. Instead, he ended it sitting in the locker room while his team lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes. The heroics...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Matt Cullen recently played his 1,500th NHL game, and Sidney Crosby recently recorded his 1,200th point in the league. They know a thing or two about longevity. As such, they’re impressed with the record teammate Phil Kessel set when he stepped on the ice Tuesday night against...

RALEIGH, N.C. – When Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta went down with a shoulder injury Feb. 11 in Philadelphia, the team said he would be out indefinitely. Maatta took a significant step toward putting a timetable on his return Tuesday morning in Raleigh. Maatta took part in a practice with...

RALEIGH, N.C. – Due to the ability of in-season acquisitions Jared McCann and Nick Bjugstad to play multiple positions up and down the lineup, Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan had a plethora of options to choose from when figuring out how to replace injured center Evgeni Malkin. He decided to...

RALEIGH, N.C. – Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang made his return from an upper-body injury Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, starting the game in his customary spot on the right side of the team’s top defense pair with Brian Dumoulin. “I’ve been feeling pretty good,” Letang said. “It’s just...

On March 11, 2016, Evgeni Malkin suffered an upper-body injury after a collision with Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout. The Pittsburgh Penguins had gone 5-5-0 in their previous 10 games and were seventh in the Eastern Conference, only three points ahead of the ninth-place Philadelphia Flyers. Missing the playoffs...

Statistically speaking, the Pittsburgh Penguins are one of the best teams in the league at protecting third-period leads. They’re 32-0-3 when leading after two periods this season, one of only four teams in the NHL that haven’t lost in regulation under those circumstances. Recent results, though, tell a vastly different...

Just when the Pittsburgh Penguins were nearly healthy up front, they were dealt a massive blow on the injury front Sunday. Evgeni Malkin will be out on a week-to-week basis with an upper-body injury, coach Mike Sullivan said after his team lost 2-1 in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers. Sullivan...

Despite the bad blood that has been building between the long-time rivals this season, shenanigans aren’t in the forecast when the Pittsburgh Penguins play host to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night. The standings are probably too tight to expend energy on extracurricular activities. When the teams met Feb. 11,...

The Pittsburgh Penguins came into March with three forwards lugging around lengthy goal droughts. The third zero has finally been erased. Dominik Simon scored his first goal in 21 games during the second period of a 5-1 Penguins loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon. “It’s obviously always...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are expecting Bryan Rust and Kris Letang to return from injury in short order, but they won’t be in the lineup Saturday afternoon. Coach Mike Sullivan said Rust and Letang will remain out as the Penguins play host to the St. Louis Blues. Letang has been out...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – In the waning moments of Tuesday’s win over the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Patric Hornqvist came to the conclusion that this just might not be his year when it comes to scoring goals. Forty-eight hours later, after scoring a second-period power-play goal that helped his team...