Penguins/NHL category, Page 306
Penguins, Blue Jackets end up where they started after home-and-home series
COLUMBUS, Ohio – There was plenty of sound and fury contained in a home-and-home series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets that concluded Saturday night. There was the great Blue Jackets goaltending debate. Columbus coach John Tortorella all but admitted that Sergei Bobrovsky has a Penguins problem when...
Penguins to stick with Matt Murray in goal against Bruins
Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Matt Murray is officially moving into workhorse territory. Murray will make his eighth straight start when the Penguins play host to the Boston Bruins on Sunday night, coach Mike Sullivan announced a few hours before the puck dropped. Casey DeSmith, who hasn’t started since Feb. 21, will...
Penguins sign high-scoring draft pick Justin Almeida
The Pittsburgh Penguins got a draft pick under contract Saturday, signing 2018 fifth-rounder Justin Almeida to a three-year entry level contract that kicks in next season. A 5-foot-11, 165-pound center, the 20-year-old Almeida is having an outstanding season for the Moose Jaw Warriors, ranking fourth in the Western Hockey League...
For Penguins, schedule gets no easier after back-to-back set with Columbus
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A physical home-and-home series with the Columbus Blue Jackets that will wrap up Saturday night is just the beginning of the most difficult stretch of schedule the Pittsburgh Penguins will deal with in the last quarter of the season. On Sunday night, they’ll play the tail end...
Penguins aim to use shot blocking as a tool, not a crutch, down the stretch
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella had no problem pinpointing the one area of the game that gave his team the most trouble in a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night. Shot blocking. The Penguins held a 24-12 advantage in blocked shots in the...
Blue Jackets turn to goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for important matchup with Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins have won eight straight meetings with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Over the past two seasons, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is 0-2-3 with an .882 save percentage of the Penguins. Columbus coach John Tortorella said he will pay neither of those facts any mind as his team prepares to...
Kevin Gorman: Jake Guentzel’s goal is to push Penguins into playoffsVideo
Jake Guentzel doesn’t deny he is goal-oriented, even if the Pittsburgh Penguins winger is focused more on the standings than his statistics as he approaches a meaningful milestone. It’s more about the race than the chase. Guentzel’s overtime winner against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night was his 33rd goal...
Mark Madden: Penguins helping ensure Blue Jackets lose ‘all-in’ bet
As the NHL’s Feb. 25 trade deadline beckoned, Columbus was half-expected to trade goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and winger Artemi Panarin, each in the final season of his contract. A rebuilding of sorts seemed likely. But there were no obvious suitors for Bobrovsky. The legit Stanley Cup contenders all have legit...
Columbus rivalry makes Penguins’ Garrett Wilson feel right at home
A home-and-home series – like the one the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets are currently in the middle of – is a relatively rare occurrence in the modern NHL. The Penguins, for instance, have only three of them on their schedule this season. For someone like winger Garrett Wilson,...
Plenty to praise as Penguins take 1st of back-to-back games vs. Blue Jackets
In the most important stretch of the season, the Penguins are starting to get hot. Thursday night, they won the first of two crucial games against the Blue Jackets, with a return match coming Saturday in Columbus. The Penguins blanked the Blue Jackets, 3-0. And a lot went right along...
Penguins goalie Matt Murray heating up as season hits stretch run
By winning two Stanley Cup rings before his 24th birthday, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Matt Murray established himself as the type of player who ramps up his game as the stakes get higher. Murray wouldn’t say he’s the kind of guy who particularly likes playing at this time of year, though....
Despite Matt Murray’s strong performance, Penguins fall to Blue JacketsVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Faced with the prospect of falling six points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins in the standings, the Columbus Blue Jackets were forced into the role of a cornered animal Saturday night. Not even a spectacular performance from goalie Matt Murray could keep them from claiming their prey. Boone...
Phil Kessel ends scoring drought as Penguins blank Blue JacketsVideo
During the famous HBK run that carried the Pittsburgh Penguins to the 2016 Stanley Cup, Phil Kessel cemented his reputation as a high-stakes player. He scored a big goal in a big game again Thursday night, but the satisfaction of coming through in the clutch wasn’t the prevailing feeling that...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Penguins beat Blue Jackets for critical conference win
Only two points separated the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets for eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, so their Metropolitan Division game had Stanley Cup playoff implications. That their meeting Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena was the first of back-to-back games between the division rivals — they...
Injured Penguins defenseman Kris Letang misses Thursday’s skate due to illnessVideo
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang responded well after returning to practice this week, but he didn’t skate Thursday morning due to illness, coach Mike Sullivan said. Letang has been out since Feb. 23 with an upper-body injury. He skated with teammates Tuesday and Wednesday in a red, no-contact jersey. The...
Penguins, Blue Jackets heading in different directions since trade deadline
As good as a trade-deadline acquisition looks on paper, he still has to fit into his new team’s lineup. That’s a lesson the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets are on opposite sides of coming into their key Metropolitan Division matchup Tuesday night. Ballyhooed pick-ups Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Adam...
Blue Jackets sit top goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for crucial game against Penguins
Facing one of the teams the Columbus Blue Jackets are battling with for a playoff spot in a tight Eastern Conference race in one of the biggest games of the year, John Tortorella is starting his backup goalie and telling his players to relax and have fun. Joonas Korpisalo, not...
Penguins notebook: Penalty kill showing signs of life after rough stretch
As the Pittsburgh Penguins have begun to ramp up their play heading down the stretch, picking up points in the standings in five straight games, a serious flaw remains that could easily sink their progress. The Penguins are struggling on the penalty kill. The Penguins have allowed at least one...
Heading into critical home-and-home series, Penguins have Blue Jackets’ number
There’s a big home-and-home series that could have a massive impact on the Eastern Conference playoff race coming up in the next few days. On Thursday, the hammer hosts the nail. On Saturday, the windshield visits the bug. OK, that’s not what it says on the official NHL schedule. It...
First call: Ravens cut Mike Tomlin-favorite Eric Weddle; Bruins help Penguins
A Mike Tomlin favorite from Baltimore is hitting free agency. The Bruins helped the Penguins…a little bit. And Bryce Harper is so rich he may think that he can buy the definition of “tampering” out of the Oxford dictionary. We want Weddle? The Ravens released Eric Weddle. The Steelers could...
Tim Benz: Gushing over Jake Guentzel’s OT goal and what it means for Penguins
When it comes to praising the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin-era Penguins, as a fanbase — and media corps — we can get a little … What’s the word I’m looking for? Gushy? Effusive? Flowery? Fawning? Yeah. Any of those fit. Big picture, given the franchise’s accomplishments over those years, that applause...
Penguins fans show support for slumping Phil Kessel with ovation
Phil Kessel has been a popular player in Pittsburgh since joining the Penguins in a 2015 trade. On Tuesday night, fans at PPG Paints Arena showed just how much they adore the affable goal-scoring right wing with a remarkable second-period ovation. Kessel is mired in a career-long 16-game goal drought....
Previewing critical back-to-back Penguins-Blue Jackets games
Somerset native Bob McElligott is the play-by-play man for the Columbus Blue Jackets. He joins me for the Thursday Sided.co “Hockey Week” podcast. The Penguins and Columbus have enormous back-to-back games coming up. These contests Thursday and Saturday are huge in the Metropolitan Division standings and may go a long...
Penguins’ Matt Cullen taken aback by 1,500th game celebration
Pittsburgh Penguins center Matt Cullen knew the team was planning a pregame celebration to commemorate his 1,500th career NHL game Tuesday night. The scope of it surprised even him. Every Penguins player wore a No. 7 jersey for warm-ups in a tribute to their popular veteran teammate. His wife and...
Jake Guentzel’s breakaway goal in overtime leads Penguins past PanthersVideo
Locked in a tight battle with a game Florida Panthers club Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins needed a certain “it factor” to secure the two points in the standings they so desperately craved. Jake Guentzel provided it. Guentzel skated under a long, lob pass from Sidney Crosby and scored his...
