Joe Starkey: Penguins’ old guys need help, not pink slips
I was in favor of a massive, tear-it-to-the-studs rebuild, and when we look back on all this in a year or two, I might still be proven right. Maybe that is what the Pittsburgh Penguins should have done. But president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas chose a different path, and...
Mark Madden: Penguins’ season was fun, surprising but, ultimately, wasted
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ first-round playoff loss to Philadelphia isn’t hard to analyze: They couldn’t score. A group that finished third in goals during the NHL regular season with 293 — the most by a Penguins team in the Sidney Crosby era — scored just 11 times in six playoff games....
What did the Penguins accomplish this season? And what’s the direction for 2026-27?
PHILADELPHIA — Sidney Crosby regurgitated the notion almost immediately. During a season-ticket holder event in Sewickley this past September, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain was asked about the idea of his team not being competitive — intentionally — for the 2025-26 season for the greater good of the franchise. In other...
Tim Benz: Dreams of a Penguins comeback become a nightmare with 1 shot
Thursday night’s Penguins-Flyers Game 6 had a hypnotic effect after a while. It was nearly 80 minutes of 0-0 hockey, but with innumerable huge saves, gorgeous scoring chances, turnovers, odd-man rushes, clean looks, deflected shots, near misses, gasps, shrieks and groans. The constant flow of failed high-danger attempts lulled me...
Minor league report: Nailers, Taylor Gauthier shut out Royals in Game 3Video
Goaltender Taylor Gauthier made 27 saves for the Wheeling Nailers in a 2-0 win against the Reading Royals in Game 3 of a North Division semifinal series at Santander Arena in Reading on Wednesday. The result gave the Nailers a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Gauthier recorded his second...
‘A better taste’: After spring training scare, Chris Devenski relieved for return with Pirates
Chris Devenski has a locker in the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse and a deeper appreciation for pitching in the major leagues after his baseball career flashed before his eyes during a spring training game. With a pressing need for bullpen help, the Pirates on Wednesday selected the 35-year-old right-hander’s contract from...
U mad, bro?: Penguins’ playoff loss to Flyers, Steelers’ draft choices have fans on tilt
Losing to the Philadelphia Flyers always makes Pittsburgh fans mad. Losing in the playoffs makes Pittsburgh fans irate. Losing in the playoffs to the Flyers makes all of Pittsburgh enraged. That’s what happened Wednesday night, and it doesn’t appear that we are handling it well. At least everyone in the...
First Call: Mike Tomlin rumored as Patriots’ target if Mike Vrabel exits; Steelers ‘alerted’ Aaron Rodgers about UFA tag
Thursday’s “First Call” highlights a wild story about Mike Tomlin’s name coming up for a potential NFL coaching vacancy. There’s an update on that Aaron Rodgers UFA tag. George Pickens’ contract fate is known. And Robert Morris is going to be a lacrosse hotbed this weekend. Another Mike for Mike?...
‘They’re like family’: Crosby addresses the future with Malkin and Letang after Penguins’ season-ending loss
A 1-0 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of a first-round series Wednesday night might have been the end of a championship era in Pittsburgh Penguins hockey. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have played together for 20 seasons, establishing themselves, with three Stanley Cup titles...
Pirates farm report for April 29, 2026: Jared Jones begins rehab with 3 perfect innings, hitting 101 mph
INDIANAPOLIS (Triple A, 11-18) split a doubleheader with Memphis (Cardinals). Memphis won Game 1, 3-0. RHP Antwone Kelly (6.38) went all six innings, allowing three runs on four hits, including a homer, with three strikeouts and two walks. !B Nick Cimillo (.213) went 2 for 2. DH Rafael Flores Jr.,...
Flyers bring end to Penguins’ unexpected playoff march with OT victory in Game 6
PHILADELPHIA — So much about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2025-26 season was about defying expectations. Few — externally — anticipated the Penguins would contend for anything other than a lottery selection in the NHL Draft this summer. Yet, they managed to remain competitive all season to reach the playoffs and even...
NBA playoffs roundup: Cavaliers rally past Raptors, take 3-2 series lead
CLEVELAND — Dennis Schroder scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Evan Mobley hit a pair of pivotal 3-pointers in the final period and finished with 23 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a 125-120 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night in Game 5...
Canadiens edge Lightning in another close game to take 3-2 series lead
TAMPA, Fla. — Alexandre Texier broke a tie 1 minute, 6 seconds into the third period, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2, on Wednesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round series. Rookie Jakub Dobes stopped 38 shots to help Montreal move within a...
Nick Gonzales robbed of home run as Cardinals hold off Pirates to clinch series winVideo
Trailing the St. Louis Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Pittsburgh Pirates had the tying run on base and their hottest hitter at the plate. Nick Gonzales showed why he lives for such moments. Gonzales sent Riley O’Brien’s belt-high slider 373 feet to the left-field corner at...
Westmoreland college notebook: Derry grad Sophia Mazzoni makes mark at Auburn
Sophia Mazzoni called last year’s PIAA track and field championships “a good warm-up for college” and “what I needed going into the SEC.” The Derry graduate and three-time WPIAL champion was already beyond her years when she won two state titles in the javelin before moving on to Auburn. The...
George Pickens signs $27.3M franchise tag with Cowboys
FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys receiver George Pickens signed his $27.3 million franchise tag Wednesday, making it almost certain the Pro Bowler will show up for mandatory offseason work while the club remains adamant it has no plans to trade CeeDee Lamb’s sidekick. Pickens informed the Cowboys just hours before...
More March Madness: NCAA basketball tournaments reportedly set to expand to 76 teams
Ever-growing power conferences are the driving force behind an impending expansion of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, which ESPN reported could be formalized within weeks and begin next season. The field would grow from 68 teams to 76 that would include eight additional at-large teams in each tournament....
Scott Wedgewood rises from career backup to Avalanche’s playoff rock
DENVER — Scott Wedgewood tends to notice just about everything happening around him, no matter the task. That traffic pattern five lights ahead while driving? He’s already planned for it. The people passing by while he’s walking in the airport or the mall with his family? He’s logged each detail....
Pa. House passes bill opening door to separate public, private state playoffs
The state House on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted in favor of a proposal that would clear the way for the PIAA to hold separate postseason tournaments for traditional public high schools and private, parochial and charter schools. The bipartisan bill passed on a 178-23 vote and now goes to the Senate...
Don Mattingly thought he was done, then Phillies pinned hopes on him
PHILADELPHIA — Don Mattingly thew in the towel on his managerial career and had all but retired from baseball after he left his bench coach job with the Toronto Blue Jays following the World Series. Prodded by his son, Mattingly decided to give baseball another go, and he accepted a...
Wild going home with chance to advance for 1st time since 2015
DALLAS — Mats Zuccarello and the Minnesota Wild are now in the position that they try to be in every season in the NHL playoffs. Things feel a bit different now, with the Wild going home for Game 6 on Thursday night with a chance to eliminate the Dallas Stars...
Panthers sign 5th-year option on QB Bryce Young’s contract
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers signed the fifth-year option on quarterback Bryce Young’s rookie contract Wednesday, keeping the 2023 No. 1 pick with the team through the 2027 season. General manager Dan Morgan first mentioned on SiriusXM’s “Mad Dog Sports Radio” that he was planning to sign the contract...
The 1st Kentucky Derby since the death of trainer D. Wayne Lukas has a different vibe
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — D. Wayne Lukas always talked up his latest crop of 2-year-old horses with an eye toward the next Kentucky Derby, telling his wife to get her dress for Oaks day. “This was what he lived for,” said Todd Pletcher, now an accomplished trainer himself after working for...
PGA Tour returns to Trump Doral this week for Cadillac Championship, 1st time there since 2016
DORAL, Fla. — Scottie Scheffler doesn’t have much familiarity with Trump National Doral. Then again, neither do most of the players in the field this week for the Cadillac Championship. The PGA Tour is back in Doral for the first time in a decade, this time as a 72-player, $20...
Pirates select contract of righty Chris Devenski, option left-hander Hunter Barco to Triple-A
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ bullpen shakeup continued Wednesday in advance of the club’s home game vs. the St. Louis Cardinals. Left-hander Hunter Barco, who scarcely had time to unpack his bags after being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on Tuesday, was optioned back to the Indians, and, in a related transaction, righty...
