Penguins/NHL category, Page 287

Sitting in his locker stall moments after his team was swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin said it was difficult for him to talk about how the team needed to improve to regain its championship form. He...

Tim Benz and Mark Madden wrap up the Penguins’ season after the Islanders completed a first-round sweep with a 3-1 win Tuesday night. The guys discuss which players might be on the trading block, how much the coaching staff is to blame, how much certain players are to blame and...

Some of the quotes coming out the Penguins locker room were illuminating. The same could be said about comments in the Islanders room. New York finished off a sweep of the Penguins last night. And trash talk was minimal because when you beat a team that easily, is it necessary?...

The Penguins season is over a lot earlier than we expected. And there are many reasons why. So let’s take a look at all of them in our final Peguins Sided.co podcast of the 2018-19 season. Tribune-Review beat writer Jonathan Bombulie joins me to discuss how the Islanders managed to...

Watching the Islanders sweep the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals was like watching the Steelers defense at the end of the Dick LeBeau era. They kept trying to do the same things they’ve always done, even though those things stopped working long before they were willing to admit. This...

The game had been over for no more than 15 minutes, and the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room was full of players with bruised feelings, unfulfilled expectations and heads hung in despair. But Matt Cullen still was asked to answer the toughest question of all: What’s next? Cullen, who will be...

THIRD PERIOD: Islanders 3, Penguins 1 The strategy for the New York Islanders is simple: Sit back and wait for the opponent to make mistakes. The Penguins were all too happy to comply. That made their Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series a bad matchup for the Penguins, despite the two...

For decades, it generally has been an accepted part of hockey lore: The playoffs are where high-flying offenses go to die. Over the past three seasons, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals have done their part to change that attitude, winning the Stanley Cup on the backs of their generational...

When the Pittsburgh Penguins open the fourth game of their first-round series against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night, they will apparently be using their third different top-line combination. Jared McCann was bumped up to the first line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel as the team took morning...

In Monday’s “First Call,” Alex Ovechkin’s knockout in a fight. A preview of the Pirates series in Detroit. Gerrit Cole is heating up for Houston. Ovi K.O. Alexander Ovechkin didn’t score for the Capitals on Tuesday night. No one from Washington did. The Capitals were blanked by the Hurricanes, 5-0,...

The Penguins are facing playoff elimination in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals Tuesday night against the Islanders. Puck-drop is 7:30 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena. Penguins Radio network host Brian Metzer isn’t sounding too optimistic about the club staying alive in our weekly Sided.co hockey podcast. He’ll tell...

So how do they do it? The truth is, it almost assuredly won’t happen. But … If the Penguins are to come back from a 3-0 hole against the New York Islanders in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, how will it happen? The usual empty explanations were thrown around the...

In explaining the Pittsburgh Penguins impotent offensive production, it’s easy to point to the New York Islanders and the Penguins’ obvious troubles in solving their first-round opponent’s commitment to defense. But in reality, the Penguins’ struggles with scoring goals extend well back beyond the start of the postseason. Though winning...

Sidney Crosby has made an indelible permanent mark on the NHL. He’s carved out a place in the hockey history books. So, the way he sees it, why not embrace an opportunity to make more history? The Pittsburgh Penguins captain recognizes the dire situation and the long odds the Penguins...

Mike Sullivan’s viewing of choice was Game of Thrones. For Justin Schultz, Masters post-tournament coverage. The routine-oriented Matt Murray and Sidney Crosby planned on spending time with family. The Pittsburgh Penguins’ season is on the line Tuesday. But Monday, players and coaches mostly were electing to keep from dwelling too...

What possibly was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ final practice of the season became not a practice at all Monday. Though the team gathered Monday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, players did not take the ice on the eve of Game 4 of their first-round playoff series they trail...

It’s the day after another Penguins loss, and Tim Benz and Mark Madden discuss the state of the team, how good the Islanders are and what, if anything, can be done to salvage this first-round playoff series for Pittsburgh. Benz and Madden discuss the Penguins’ issues maintaining momentum, the stars...

The extent to which the New York Islanders have suffocated the Pittsburgh Penguins in their first-round playoff series is surprising. The Penguins had the sixth-best offense in the league in the regular season, boasting a roster that included four 70-point scorers. They’ve managed a total of two goals in the...

Penguins fans might have “Game of Thrones” on their minds watching this series against the New York Islanders. Because it has been a massacre akin to “The Red Wedding.” Apparently, the Islanders players have been thinking about “G.O.T.,” too. Instead of wondering about what a sweep of the Penguins would...

Do you believe in miracles? If the Pittsburgh Penguins win the next three games against the New York Islanders and are leading in Game 7 with 10 seconds to go, whoever is calling the game shouldn’t feel guilty about stealing Al Michaels’ line from 1980. Coming back to win this...