After scoring a total of three goals in the first three games of the Eastern Conference Final, the Pittsburgh Penguins are starting to look a lot like the Pittsburgh Penguins again. If the Penguins’ 3-2 win in Friday’s Game 4 signaled that they had started to poke...
The Pittsburgh Penguins were disappointed with their effort Wednesday in Game 3 and promised a better performance in Game 4. They brought it, with an aggressive forecheck, penalty kill and willingness to put pucks on the net. With a 3-2 Penguins win, the Eastern...
It stands to reason that, if the league’s highest-scoring team can win a game 1-0, a team known for its trapping, shutdown defense can win one in a blowout. Ottawa center Mike Hoffman opened the scoring just 48 seconds into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final, and...
It had been a while since the Pittsburgh Penguins had outshot an opponent. Since April 16, to be exact, when they outshot the Columbus Blue Jackets, 47-37 – and had 94 shot attempts – in the third game of their first-round series. Generating that kind of offense...
The Senators’ 1-3-1 system didn’t come as a surprise to the Penguins. And, while Ottawa executed it nearly to perfection in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Final series, Pittsburgh still managed to get their chances. They just didn’t get nearly enough of the...
This was supposed to be the Washington Capitals’ year. Again. After another dominant regular season where they ran away with the Presidents’ Trophy, the Caps entered the playoffs as a runaway favorite to finally capture their elusive Stanley Cup. As usual, though, the...
Late in the first period of a potential elimination game in which they had generated three shots – and none of them particularly threatening – the Penguins’ home-ice advantage had turned to boos. By a second period that went much the same way, fans derisively cheered...
With a three-goal third period, including two in 27 seconds, the Washington Capitals staved off elimination Saturday at Verizon Center and forced a Game 6 Monday in Pittsburgh. Things started well for the Penguins even before Game 5 as captain Sidney Crosby and winger...
As the Pittsburgh Penguins headed into Game 4 against the Washington Capitals without Sidney Crosby, there was only one kind of retaliation on their minds for the play that sidelined their captain with a concussion. “In the postseason, if you do retaliate and take a...
The Pittsburgh Penguins already knew they’d have to defend the Stanley Cup without their best defenseman. Now they might also have to face the postseason without their best player. Just 5:24 into Game 3, with Sidney Crosby headed to the net for a close-range chance on...
For the second straight game, the Penguins didn’t have the chances the Washington Capitals did. They were outshot, 36-24, including a 16-5 first period, and had to block 33 more on their way to the net. They didn’t have the better of the puck possession or zone time,...
With apologies to Sidney Crosby’s line and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, the Pittsburgh Penguins had no business emerging from Game 1 with a win. The statistics say the Washington Capitals outshot the Penguins, 35-21, and took more than double the shot attempts at...
For a little while, it looked like the Pittsburgh Penguins’ chance to clinch their first-round playoff series on home ice was slipping away. After building a 3-0 lead on a first-period laser from Phil Kessel in the first and two goals, just 2:43 apart, from Bryan Rust...
The Columbus Blue Jackets can finally jam with their postgame victory music and feel good about themselves. “This team has played really well this year; has grown tremendously,” head coach John Tortorella said Tuesday morning. “I do not want them leaving tonight not...
There’s a very big difference between a 2-1 series deficit and a 3-0 one. Close the gap to 2-1 and you’re right back in the postseason. Go down by three, however, and your margin of error shrinks to zero. With the stakes that high, the 2-0 Penguins expected the...
You couldn’t blame the Blue Jackets if Sid and the Kids are in their heads. Columbus came out for Game 2 of their first-round series in Pittsburgh with another strong start, firing the first nine shots at goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury, still in for the injured...
From the time their first-round playoff opponent started coming into focus, the Penguins knew what they were getting from the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets, as always, would try to establish a physical game. They’d bring a heavy forecheck, pressure the...
The calvary isn’t coming. But if you’re writing off the Pittsburgh Penguins’ chance of defending their Stanley Cup without their most important defenseman, they plan to do their best to prove you wrong. “We’ve talked to our group all year long about this, and I think...
As a hockey player, Marc-Andre Fleury has pedigree. Drafted first overall by the Penguins in 2003, he claimed the starting netminder’s job in 2005-06 and kept it for a decade. He sealed the franchise’s third Stanley Cup when he slid across the crease to deny Detroit’s...
Not everyone proves to be the right fit alongside arguably the best hockey player in the world. It takes speed to keep up with Sidney Crosby. It takes hockey IQ. And being a little crafty doesn’t hurt. Those attributes have been true of some of Crosby’s most...
They’re called the Penguins, but the defending Stanley Cup champions have come into March more like a lion. After opening the month with a 4-1 loss at Chicago, Pittsburgh has gone on a five-game tear at what might be just the right time. And they’re doing it without...
Time will tell if Jim Rutherford’s trade-deadline additions of Ron Hainsey and Mark Streit to the Penguins’ blueline will help Pittsburgh defend the Stanley Cup. But the acquisitions are already paying dividends for a club whose depleted defense may have cause for...
Saturday’s Stadium Series game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers had all the bells and whistles you’d expect. Outside Heinz Field was The PreGame, a fan festival offering live music, an interactive hockey museum, skills challenges and the chance...
It hardly stood out as a marquee matchup on the schedule, other than the first Pittsburgh appearance of one of the NHL’s most exciting rookies. But, when Patrik Laine and the Winnipeg Jets came to town on an ordinary Thursday in February, the Penguins managed to make...
In the National Hockey League, February is Hockey Is for Everyone month. Its purpose is to foster safe, positive and inclusive environments at all levels of the game, from youth organizations to the pros. A few of the National Women’s Hockey League All-Stars, asked...
January has been streaky for the Pittsburgh Penguins, with a three-game losing streak followed by a four-game winning streak, then another two-game downturn heading into the All-Star break. Much like the World Cup of Hockey did last summer, however, a successful...
Last Monday, the Penguins, losers of three straight, limped into their matchup with the Washington Capitals, owners of a nine-game winning streak. Pittsburgh was playing uninspired hockey, relying on bursts of offense instead of sticking to their system. They’d...
After a 12-1-2 December, the Penguins are off to a 1-3 start in 2017. And, with combined scores of 15-6, the three losses have been convincing. But head coach Mike Sullivan isn’t ready to sound the alarm on the defending Stanley Cup champions. Because he believes...
Evgeni Malkin ended the Penguins’ 2016 in fitting fashion, as the NHL’s leaders in third-period comebacks did it again. When Conor Sheary brought them back from a 3-2 deficit to tie the game with 55 seconds remaining, in fact, anyone who’s watched much of the 2016-17...
The Penguins’ decimated blueline has created an opportunity, and Justin Schultz is running with it. He’s likely also pricing himself right out of a Penguins’ jersey next year – but, for now, they’ll take what their resurgent, 26-year-old defenseman is bringing. “He...
