Penguins/NHL category, Page 272
Empty Thoughts: Islanders 4, Penguins 3 (OT)
Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders. NEW YORK — Jake Guentzel was standing there. Chest out. Perfect posture. Hands on his hips. Equipment bag at his feet. As reporters were allowed into the Penguins’ dressing room, Guentzel was waiting for them. He was ready to claim...
Patric Hornqvist scores in return, but Penguins lose in OT againVideo
NEW YORK — One of the hallmarks of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ season has been discipline. Entering Thursday, they had faced an average of 2.3 opposing power-play opportunities per game through 21 contests. Yet, in their 22nd game, referees Jean Hebert and T.J. Luxmore, with assistance from linesmen Steve Barton and...
Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz sidelined because of injuryVideo
NEW YORK — The injuries keep piling up for the Penguins Defenseman Justin Schultz will be sidelined “longer term” due to an undisclosed injury, according to coach Mike Sullivan. Schultz left practice in Cranberry on Wednesday early and did not return. Sullivan was uncertain if he was injured during practice....
Ex-Penguins forward Derick Brassard is producing with Islanders
NEW YORK — Derick Brassard’s time with the Pittsburgh Penguins was a massive disappointment. Few would dispute that. Brassard sure didn’t offer a counterargument when he visited PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday as a member of the New York Islanders. He didn’t agree with it, either. In fact, he had...
Penguins recall defenseman Zach Trotman
NEW YORK — The Pittsburgh Penguins recalled defenseman Zach Trotman on Thursday from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Trotman, 29, has appeared in eight AHL games this season and has five points (two goals, three assists). He opened the season on long-term injured reserve because of a sports hernia....
Another Penguins-Islanders battle: More scoring, lots of stress
Penguins fans, sick of the New York Islanders yet? I already was after the playoffs last spring. And I sure as heck am now! On Thursday night, we will witness the third game in 14 days between these two clubs. The Penguins won Game 1 of the season series 4-3...
Penguins acquire forward Graham Knott in minor league trade with Chicago
The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired forward Graham Knott in exchange for forward Joseph Cramarossa in a minor-league trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday. Knott, 22, was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. A second-round pick in the 2015 draft, he hasn’t panned out in three pro seasons. This year, he’s been with the...
Penguins notes: Justin Schultz leaves practice for unspecified reason
Justin Schultz began practice with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, but the veteran defenseman did not end the session at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. It is not known why Schultz left about midway through the hourlong practice. After practice ended, coach Mike Sullivan was asked if there was...
Longtime Penguins penalty-killer Bryan Rust gets time on power playVideo
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Bryan Rust already was known and respected for his ability to play with virtually any linemate on almost any spot on the forward depth chart. Recently, he has added power-play time to his resume, too. Rust’s power-play goal early during Tuesday’s game against the New York Islanders...
A day after ‘brutal’ overtime, Penguins practice skating 3-on-3
Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan’s assessment of his team’s play during overtime of Tuesday’s game was not kind. “I didn’t think we were very good at all,” Sullivan said after a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders. “I just thought our details were brutal.” So with the same opponent...
Mark Madden: Penguins can’t get out of their own way
The Pittsburgh Penguins have played terrific. Structurally and fundamentally, they’ve been at their best since the 2016 and ’17 Stanley Cup seasons. Their defense and penalty-kill are top-notch. Their speed and energy are high. They are 11-7-3 and hold the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot despite a crippling slew of...
Patric Hornqvist prepared to return to Penguins lineup Thursday at IslandersVideo
Patric Hornqvist warned reporters after practice Wednesday that he was going to limit questioning to less than 2 minutes. True to his word, the Pittsburgh Penguins veteran forward politely but firmly ended his media session after less than 100 seconds. Fitting for a player who often only needs a few...
Tim Benz: Penalty ruins Bryan Rust’s night in Penguins loss against IslandersVideo
What a way to ruin a night. Bryan Rust scored a goal again Tuesday night against the New York Islanders. That’s his seventh in 10 games this season. The Penguins winger nearly assisted on another one before it was waved off for offsides. He was a genuine offensive presence all...
Empty Thoughts: Islanders 5, Penguins 4 (OT)
Observations from the Penguins’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Islanders: When the NHL instituted three-on-three overtime prior to the 2015-16 season in the name of avoiding those unappetizing shootouts, it was automatically assumed the skilled and fleet Penguins would benefit. And sure enough, they did. In the first three seasons...
Penguins blow late lead, fall to Islanders in overtimeVideo
The crown jewel of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ modest accomplishments through all of 21 games of the 2019-20 season has been their penalty kill. Entering Tuesday, it was the second-best penalty-killing unit in the NHL. Much of that success could be attributed to how infrequently that squad had been utilized. Prior...
For Penguins forwards, ‘being a bad goalie’ can lead to good things
As he participated in Tuesday’s morning skate at PPG Paints Arena, Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist was in an area where anyone with even a passing interest in the team over the past five years could safely assume he would typically inhabit. Near the crease. Hornqvist, who has been sidelined due...
Minor league report: Drozg scores twice for Nailers in win over Cyclones
Forward Jan Drozg scored two goals and recorded an assist for the Wheeling Nailers in a 4-3 home win against the Cincinnati Cyclones at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling on Tuesday. A fifth-round pick of the Penguins in 2017, Drozg is now fourth in scoring in the ECHL with 18 points...
Penguins forward Nick Bjugstad sidelined ‘longer term’Video
Penguins forward Nick Bjugstad will be sidelined “longer term” because of an undisclosed ailment, coach Mike Sullivan said. Injured in Friday’s 2-1 road loss to the New Jersey Devils, Bjugstad missed Saturday’s 6-1 home win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 10 games this season, Bjugstad has one goal. He...
Fancy stats suggest Penguins are much better than their record indicates. That true?
Want hard-hitting Penguins analysis? You’ve got it! It’s in this week’s hockey podcast with Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network. Well, after a few minutes of discussion about Tool, Poison, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe and Kiss. Per usual. Then we get into more pressing matters such as Jim Rutherford’s...
Penguins GM Jim Rutherford overcomes odds, joins Hockey Hall of Fame
At the start of the 2016-17 NHL season, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was told teams couldn’t win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in the salary cap era. When the Carolina Hurricanes were founded in 1997, Rutherford was told there was no way a team could succeed in a hockey...
Penguins potent at scoring short-handed goals
Bryan Rust acknowledges his goal in Saturday’s 6-1 thumping of the Toronto Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena didn’t mean much to the outcome of the game. It was early in the third period and his team was already up four goals. His score merely added more security to a...
Tim Benz, Mark Madden discuss Mason Rudolph vs. Myles Garrett, Colin Kaepernick, Ben Cherington
If you were on Twitter this weekend, it was a frustrating place to be. Nothing but people trying to soften Myles Garrett’s actions against the Steelers by way of blaming Mason Rudolph. And people pounding the Colin Kaepernick drum because he threw a nice deep ball or two against air...
Minor league report: Nailers beat Komets in overtime
An overtime goal by forward Cam Brown gave the Wheeling Nailers a 6-5 home win against the Fort Wayne Komets on Sunday at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling. Brown also scored with 4:21 left in regulation to force overtime and recorded two assists while forward Jan Drozg, a 2017 fifth-round pick...
Relationships define Hall of Fame Penguins GM Jim Rutherford
Even after he set all sorts of American Hockey League goaltending records with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2014-15 then “graduated” to the NHL roster in 2015-16, Matt Murray didn’t have much of a relationship with Jim Rutherford. In fact, based on the way Murray detailed it, he had no relationship...
Penguins’ Joseph Blandisi: Facing Maple Leafs ‘always special’
Even after having played parts of five seasons in the NHL, games against the Toronto Maple Leafs remain poignant for Pittsburgh Penguins forward Joseph Blandisi. After his recall from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday morning, the native of Markham, Ontario, logged 12 minutes, 58 seconds of ice time on 17 shifts in...
