Pittsburgh Penguins / NHL category, Page 246
U mad, bro?: Penguins are down 2-1 to Canadiens. So, yeah. We’re furious.
Our weekly reader-reaction question for Pittsburgh sports fans is “U mad, bro?” Well, the Penguins just blew a 3-1 lead to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of their best-of-five preliminary round series. The franchise is now on the verge of losing its third straight playoff series. This time, it’s...
Empty Thoughts: More lineup changes can’t be ruled out for the Penguins
Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 loss to the Canadiens: Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has a pretty standard answer when he’s asked about playing or not playing certain players. That answer was established in the early portions of 2016 when he regularly scratched forward Sergei Plotnikov. When asked why Plotnikov was...
Penguins lose Game 3 to Montreal, on brink of eliminationVideo
In the decade and a half he has played in the NHL, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has faced elimination from the postseason many times. He’s won and lost in plenty of those situations. They’ve come in all kinds of scenarios. In the first round or the Stanley Cup Final. Home...
Game 4 of Penguins-Canadiens scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday
Game 4 of the Penguins’ best-of-five qualifying round series with the Montreal Canadiens on Friday has been scheduled for 4 p.m. The Penguins are scheduled face the Canadiens in Game 3 on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. Game 5, if necessary, is scheduled for Saturday, but a...
After Game 3 loss, Benz and Madden break down what went wrong in ‘Hockey in the Hub’ postgame show
The Penguins’ season comes down to one game. The Canadiens outlasted the Penguins, 4-3, in Game 3 on Wednesday night to take a 2-games-to-1 lead in the qualifying-round series. The Penguins must win Game 4, scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday, to keep their season alive. So in a game in...
Penguins looking for more from line of Patrick Marleau, Jared McCann and Patric Hornqvist
The Penguins don’t number their lines. But they have lines that play the most minutes, the second-most, the third-most and the fourth-most. Right now, the trio of Patrick Marleau, Jared McCann and Patric Hornqvist, colloquially referred to as the third line, is bringing up the rear in terms of ice...
Sidney Crosby’s knack for scoring the 1st goal of playoff games lifts Penguins
Sidney Crosby hasn’t been dominant through two games of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ qualifying-round series against the Montreal Canadiens. He hasn’t stood out as particularly the best player in this unique NHL postseason, nor even necessarily on his own team. But that doesn’t mean the Penguins’ captain isn’t making an impact...
Penguins adjust to peculiar trend of increased penalties during playoffsVideo
In 2020, seemingly everything is weird or backward. So why not the conventional wisdom regarding officiating in the Stanley Cup playoffs, too? The standard operating procedure for hockey postseasons typically involves referees who overlook infractions as part of a “let them play” philosophy. Then again, the standard operating procedure for...
When will Penguins scoring pick up? How do they work around it until it does?
The Penguins may have scored enough to beat the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. But that’s a far cry from saying that they are scoring … enough. The team’s 3-1 victory in Game 2 of its preliminary-round series was a rarity of late. The Penguins had lost their previous seven postseason...
The Penguins see some progress with their power play
After his team largely struggled with its power play — going 1 for 7 with 10 shots — during Game 1 of their qualifying round series against the Montreal Canadiens at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, there was a pretty simple edict issued by Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. “We’ve got to try...
Despite leading in shots, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin has no points
Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin’s statistics offer a pretty stark dichotomy through two games of his team’s qualifying round series with the Montreal Canadiens. Prior to Tuesday’s games, he led the postseason with 15 shots. Yet, he has yet to record a single point. Coach Mike Sullivan appears to put far...
Mark Madden: Penguins determined to travel most difficult path possible
Desperate times call for unusual measures. In the 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs, the defending champion Penguins trailed Washington three games to one. The Penguins were a high-octane flying circus led by Mario Lemieux, scoring a league-high 343 goals. Problem was, the Capitals netted 330 times, second-most in the NHL. The...
Empty Thoughts: Step in right direction for Penguins’ power play
Observations from the Penguins’ 3-1 win against the Canadiens: After his team struggled with the power play in Game 1, going 1 for 7 and putting only 10 shots on net, coach Mike Sullivan had a pretty basic edict for his players. “We’ve got to try to get some shots,”...
Tim Benz: Some Penguins answered challenges in Game 2. More must do so in Game 3.
Challenges made. Challenges answered. Well, in some cases anyway. The Penguins lost Game 1 of their NHL Eastern Conference preliminary round series to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 Saturday. And it was very clear which players and which aspects of the Penguins game needed to improve for them to get a...
Matt Murray leads Penguins past Canadiens in Game 2 to even series
Game 2 of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ qualifying-round series with the Montreal Canadiens on Monday was delayed by about 10 minutes. The previous contest at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals went to a shootout and held up for the Penguins and Canadiens. That was about...
Penguins and other NHL teams adjust to very different normalVideo
Like the 11 other Eastern Conference teams participating in the NHL’s postseason, the Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t allowed to have a morning skate at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. The building is used throughout the course of the day for actual games, and it’s not practical to have another team skate at 10:30...
Tim Benz, Mark Madden break down Pittsburgh’s 3-1 win in Game 2 on ‘Hockey in the Hub’ postgame show
The Penguins evened their qualifying-round series against the Montreal Canadiens with a 3-1 victory Monday night. Trib columnists Tim Benz and Mark Madden break down the highlights of Game 2 on the Big Shot Bob’s “Hockey in the Hub” postgame show. Watch and listen here....
Penguins to start goaltender Matt Murray in Game 2
The Penguins are scheduled to start goaltender Matt Murray for Game 2 of their qualifying round series against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Monday according to coach Mike Sullivan. During Game 1 on Saturday, Murray made 32 saves on 35 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss....
Madden Monday: You know what Penguins did wrong. What did Canadiens do right?
Since the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 overtime loss in Game 1 to the Montreal Canadiens, Mark Madden and I have spent a lot of time grousing about the result and what the Penguins did wrong. We could use another day or two to get through it all. But what did the...
Tim Benz: Mike Sullivan is ignoring the obvious when it comes to net-front issues
After the overtime loss Saturday to the Montreal Canadiens in the 2020 playoff opener, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan blamed a lack of offensive net-front presence as a major factor. “We generated a fair amount of scoring chances,” Sullivan said after the defeat. “It’s not that there wasn’t opportunity....
Marcus Pettersson and John Marino remain resolute on Penguins blue line
John Marino picked a rotten year to be a rookie defenseman. Not so much because of everything else that made 2020 a rotten year. But because he has so much company. One of the defining traits of the NHL’s 2019-20 campaign was there were so many freshman blue liners who...
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan endorses duo of Jack Johnson, Justin Schultz
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan is typically hesitant to blame any individual player or select groups of players for any on-ice performance. He normally will defend them all. Such was the case when he was asked about the third defensive pairing of Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz on Sunday. During Saturday’s...
Penguins’ Conor Sheary on missed penalty shot in Game 1: ‘A bad move, I guess’
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Conor Sheary joined a somewhat select but certainly futile group of company during Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of their qualifying-round series at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. He became the seventh player in franchise history to attempt a postseason penalty shot but...
John Steigerwald: Not time for Penguins fans to panic; this series could go the distance
Now what? The Penguins are down 1-0 in a best-of-five series. Is it time to panic? Not really. A good time to panic might be if/when the Canadiens score first in Game 2. All the solutions are out there: Get Patric Hornqvist in front of the net, and sit Patrick...
Mark Madden: Penguins should make several lineup changes before Game 2 against Canadiens
It’s only one game. That was, no doubt, the phrase that pays in the Penguins locker room after Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to Montreal. It’s only one game. The Penguins lost their first playoff game to the New York Islanders last season, also in OT. That was only one game....
