Sabres clinch a playoff spot to end the longest drought in NHL history
Bring on postseason hockey in Buffalo. The Sabres’ playoff drought is finally over. Following an NHL-record 14 seasons of futility, during which the team finished no better than 19th in the league, the Sabres clinched a berth Saturday when the New York Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings in regulation....
A playoff salary cap is coming to the NHL. GMs get a calculator to help them navigate it
NEW YORK — Gone are the days of NHL teams stashing players on long-term injured reserve through the end of the regular season and dressing them at the start of the playoffs. Starting this spring, the lineup for each game must fit under the salary cap, which until now did...
First Call: If Steelers pass on Kirk Cousins, at least 1 team wants him; latest on George Pickens; Penguins’ next huge gameVideo
Tuesday’s “First Call” has a possible destination for Kirk Cousins — if it isn’t Pittsburgh. The Dallas Cowboys are dealing with George Pickens’ contract uncertainty. The Penguins are looking to build off of Monday’s exhilarating win over the New York Islanders. Some big-name Pittsburgh figures are involved in the NFL’s...
Golden Knights fire Bruce Cassidy, replace him with John Tortorella
LAS VEGAS — Bruce Cassidy is out as coach of the Vegas Golden Knights, who fired him Sunday in an abrupt late-season change and replaced him with John Tortorella. General manager Kelly McCrimmon announced the move a day after the team lost for the third time in a row and...
First Call: Ex-NFL QB recalls odd draft interview with former Steelers staff; Pens get mixed results in playoff chaseVideo
Friday’s “First Call” has an odd story about an old pre-draft interview involving the Pittsburgh Steelers. A former Steeler has landed a new gig in an NFC secondary. The Penguins got some good — and some bad — results from Metropolitan Division outcomes Thursday night. And there were lots of...
Down to 4 defensemen, Senators hold the Rangers to the fewest shots by an NHL team since 2003
NEW YORK — James Reimer kept expecting the New York Rangers to put shots on net. They rarely did. And by the end of the game Monday night, the Ottawa Senators had allowed just nine shots on goal in a 2-1 victory at Madison Square Garden. It was the fewest...
U mad, bro?: Steelers’ offseason moves, Radko Gudas’ suspension make readers mad before March MadnessVideo
By the time many of you read this, you’ll already be mad at your own brackets in March Madness. Specifically, you’ll be angry at the advice Mike DeCourcy and I gave you for your Final Four picks. I take responsibility in advance of our inevitable failures. Between now and then,...
Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews out for season with torn MCL after kneeing by Radko Gudas
TORONTO — Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss the rest of the NHL season. The team provided an injury update Friday night, a little less than 24 hours after Matthews was knocked out of a game against...
Ducks get John Carlson, Sabres and Blue Jackets open NHL trade deadline day with moves
John Carlson is going to the Anaheim Ducks as part of a surprising deal from the Washington Capitals agreed to just after midnight on NHL trade deadline day. Anaheim sent a conditional first-round pick in either this or next year’s draft plus a 2027 third-rounder to Washington for Carlson, a...
First Call: Browns speaking with Ty Simpson; Alex Highsmith pledges more pass rush looks from SteelersVideo
Friday’s “First Call” features some defensive dreams for Pittsburgh Steelers fans to ponder courtesy of Alex Highsmith. The Browns apparently have eyes on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson. The Penguins have a loaded weekend schedule after the trade deadline, and Pitt is in must-win territory for its basketball team. Promises, promises...
Avalanche get Nicolas Roy, Golden Knights acquire Nic Dowd ahead of NHL trade deadline
With less than 24 hours left before the NHL trade deadline, a few Stanley Cup contenders in the Western Conference are not waiting until the last minute to get deals done. The league-best Colorado Avalanche acquired center Nicolas Roy from Toronto, and the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights got center...
Just 3 years after program reboot, RMU hockey is top 3 in the AHA, hosting playoff gamesVideo
It’s not like there is a bronze medal for finishing in third place in Atlantic Hockey’s regular season. Robert Morris’ players and coaches are aware of that. Especially with the conference playoffs coming up this weekend at Clearview Arena. What the Colonials’ program achieved so far isn’t something they’ll hang...
Mammoth acquire Weegar from Flames; Stars get Myers from Canucks
Defense spending ramped up around the NHL on Wednesday, with the blue line the focus of trades as the deadline approaches. The Utah Mammoth made a splash by getting defenseman MacKenzie Weegar from Calgary for three second-round picks in the draft this year, former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta and...
Panthers and Maple Leafs are trade deadline sellers with the playoffs likely out of reach
NEWARK, N.J. — A decade has passed since the Toronto Maple Leafs missed the playoffs, their nine-year streak the longest going in the NHL. The Florida Panthers are back-to-back Stanley Cup champions who have made three consecutive trips to the final while qualifying in each of the past six seasons....
Scuffling Rangers place JT Miller on injured reserve
The New York Rangers placed captain J.T. Miller on injured reserve Tuesday with an upper-body injury. Sources told ESPN, it is a new injury that Miller, a Coraopolis native, suffered in Monday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Miller, in his first season as Rangers captain, has been...
Kings fire coach Jim Hiller, name D.J. Smith as the interim replacement
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Los Angeles Kings haven’t been the same team this season following their fourth straight first-round playoff exit, and general manager Ken Holland decided a coaching shakeup was the last chance to snap this team out of its funk. The Kings fired coach Jim Hiller on...
U.S. hockey player Brady Tkachuk slams White House TikTok as ‘clearly fake’ after anti-Canada slur
OTTAWA, Ontario — American hockey player Brady Tkachuk said Thursday that he did not appreciate a doctored TikTok video shared by the White House that made it look like he was disparaging Canadians after winning Olympic gold, calling it fake and something he would never say. The video includes fabricated...
Joel Quenneville wins his 1,000th game, joining Scotty Bowman in an elite club for NHL coaches
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Joel Quenneville became the second coach in NHL history to win 1,000 games when his Anaheim Ducks rallied to beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-5, on Wednesday night. Quenneville joined Scotty Bowman in this exclusive hockey club with a milestone win in the Ducks’ first game back from...
U mad, bro?: Aaron Rodgers, the unearthed Steelers-Ravens officiating debate, 3-on-3 Olympic hockey all take shots from fansVideo
This week’s “U mad, bro?” goes from Milan to the North Side Notch. Hockey in the Summer Olympics to the reconstruction of PNC Park. Three-month-old football games to WWE wrestling. In other words, just a typical week. Here’s the latest edition. I took a jab at Team Canada coach Jon...
Jack Hughes’ OT goal for Team USA vs Canada in Olympic final averages 26M live viewers on NBC, Peacock
Jack Hughes’ overtime goal, which gave the United States its first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980, drew an average audience of 26 million viewers on NBC and Peacock in the U.S., according to Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings and Adobe Analytics digital data. Team USA’s 2-1...
First Call: Ex-Steelers say its time to move on from Patrick Queen; Team Canada’s coach grousing about 3-on-3Video
Monday’s “First Call” has some sour grapes from Team Canada’s hockey coach regarding his team’s loss to the United States in the Olympic gold medal game Sunday. A pair of former Steelers think it’s time for Pittsburgh to say goodbye to a big-ticket starter on defense. The Tush Push may...
Jack Hughes scores in overtime as U.S. beats Canada for gold at the Olympics
MILAN — The United States is on top of the hockey world for the first time in nearly a half-century. No miracle needed. Jack Hughes scored less than 2 minutes into overtime, and the U.S. beat Canada, 2-1, in the gold-medal final at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday, earning...
U.S. beats Germany to stay unbeaten at the Olympics, but Canada is the top seed
MILAN — Matthew Tkachuk insists he and his U.S. teammates were only focused on beating Germany in their preliminary round finale and never worried about scoring enough goals to pass Canada for the top seed at the Olympics. “We never talked once about the top seed at all,” Tkachuk said....
Tom Wilson fights in Canada’s game vs. France at the Olympics
MILAN — Who says there’s no fighting in hockey at the Olympics? Tom Wilson clearly does not care that it’s shunned in international play. Wilson dropped the gloves late in Canada’s 10-2 rout of France on Sunday, going after the player who delivered a forearm to the head of teammate...
Russia’s Olympic team sports ban leaves some of the NHL’s best players out of Milan
MILAN — Before he became teammates in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup with Alex Ovechkin on the Washington Capitals, T.J. Oshie shined on the global stage with his shootout heroics that helped the U.S. beat Russia on home ice at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. A dozen years...
