Jonathan Bombulie stories, Page 32

Trading Jamie Oleksiak back to the Dallas Stars on Monday cleared some things up for the Pittsburgh Penguins. First and foremost, it cleared a roster spot for Justin Schultz to return from injury. It also cleared some salary cap space for general manager Jim Rutherford to play with as the...

After the Pittsburgh Penguins dropped a 7-3 decision to the Vegas Golden Knights last Saturday to kick off a weeklong midseason break on an inglorious note, coach Mike Sullivan had some interesting things to say. “We have to find a way to become a team,” Sullivan said, “that has a...

Wherever he’s gone, whether he was coaching the Montreal Canadiens from 2012-17 or working in media and living in South Florida like he does now, Michel Therrien never went more than a few days without running into someone from Pittsburgh. And there was one common thread running through all those...

Wherever he has gone, whether he was coaching the Montreal Canadiens from 2012-17 or working in media and living in South Florida like he does now, Michel Therrien never went more than a few days without running into someone from Pittsburgh. And there was one common thread running through all...

After spending most of the weekend holed up in his hotel room with an illness, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby emerged at the NHL All-Star Game on Saturday night and claimed MVP honors with a four-goal, four-assist performance. Neither of those two developments surprised goalie Matt Murray, who spent part...

If Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has a specific target area of his roster that he’d like to improve before the Feb. 25 trade deadline, it’s probably the second and third lines. Before that happens, though, it looks like the Penguins are going to try some internal options to...

The Pittsburgh Penguins returned from a weeklong midseason break missing four players from practice Sunday afternoon in Cranberry. Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang had the day off because they represented the team at the NHL All-Star Game in San Jose the night before. Justin Schultz and Zach Aston-Reese skated with...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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 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...

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...

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...