The Penguins have been criticized, both internally and externally, for their lack of effort and intensity in losing back-to-back games to the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets last week. The Penguins had no lack of effort in Sunday afternoon’s rematch in Philadelphia. They dominated the Flyers up and down the ice at even strength, but they couldn’t put enough pucks past Flyers goaltender Steve Mason and gave up a pair of power play goals en route to a 4-1 beating at the hands of ... Read More
Pens get Malkin back, lose Downie for final meeting with Flyers
As has been typical of the Pittsburgh Penguins 2014-15 season, as soon as they get one player back from injury, they lose another one. When the Penguins visit the Philadelphia Flyers this afternoon, center Evgeni Malkin will make his return to the Penguins lineup after missing the last two games with a nagging injury. Missing in action will be right-winger Steve Downie, who is out for today’s game and is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Downie did not appear to be injured during ... Read More
Pens blow two-goal lead to Blue Jackets
With the Penguins struggling to score goals over the last few weeks, a 2-0 lead midway through Saturday afternoon’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets seemed to be exactly what the doctor ordered. Instead, it was the Penguins defense, which has kept them in so many games lately, that faltered, giving up four consecutive goals en route to a 5-3 loss in Columbus. The Blue Jackets have now won nine consecutive games. The Penguins build their lead with an up-tempo offense that saw the ... Read More
Pens will finally field full squad today at Columbus
The Pittsburgh Penguins will finally have a full lineup again for today’s 2:00 p.m. faceoff against the Columbus Blue Jackets, as defenseman Taylor Chorney has been recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. With Evgeni Malkin missing Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to Philadelphia with an undisclosed injury, the Penguins were finally able to bring up a defenseman. Chorney, 27, was chosen over prospects Brian Dumoulin and Scott Harrington. The Pens had played their previous ... Read More
Penguins can’t solve Flyers; Malkin out with injury
The Pittsburgh Penguins might eventually win another game at home against the Philadelphia Flyers, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. The Pens dropped their seventh consecutive game to their cross-state rivals and five straight games at Consol Energy Center by losing a 4-1 decision on Wednesday night. The game, as many against the Flyers have lately, started out promising for the Penguins. Captain Sidney Crosby collected the rebound of a Patric Hornqvist shot and chipped it past the outstretched ... Read More
Kapanen comes to Pennsylvania; Penguins host Flyers
The Pittsburgh Penguins first-round draft pick and top forward prospect Kasperi Kapanen has ended his season and his native Finland and will soon join the Penguins’ top farm club in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Kapanen, 18, scored 11 goals and recorded 10 assists in 41 games with KalPa of the Finnish Liiga. It was a disappointing season for the youngster, who played well for stretches but failed to dominate the league as hoped. He also added one goal in five games for Team Finland in the under-20 ... Read More
Gary Agnew an underrated part of Penguins success on defense
When general manager Jim Rutherford took over his position, he had a long of work to do in overhauling the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had a front office to rearrange, a new coaching staff to hire and he had to do something with the team on the ice that blew a first-round series to the New York Rangers last spring. The jury is still out on some of those moves. Several efforts to reinvigorate the team’s bottom-six forwards seem to have mostly failed, while a contract extension to goaltender ... Read More
Two Riverhounds earn USL honors
Pittsburgh Riverhounds midfielders Rob Vincent and Kevin Kerr were named to the first United Soccer League team of the week of 2015 on Tuesday. The pair of midfielders, who were deployed on the wings in a 4-5-1 formation by head Coach Mark Steffens, combined to score all five of the club’s goals in their 5-2 win over the Harrisburg City Islanders in the home opener on Saturday. Vincent, 24, scored two goals and assisted on two of Kerr’s tallies. The Liverpool-born midfielder led the team ... Read More
Mailbag: How can the Penguins replace Kris Letang?
We got a lot of questions this week surrounding Kris Letang's injury and the Penguins playing with only five defensemen on Saturday. Let's dive right in. Why can’t the Penguins call up a defenseman or exchange a forward on the roster for a defenseman in Wilkes-Barre to balance out the roster? The Pens don’t have enough cap space to call up Tux (that’s the WBS mascot, if you didn’t know), let alone a player. Some back-of-the-envelope math reveals less than $100 thousand of cap space in the ... Read More
Penalty kill comes up big as Pens beat Sharks in shootout
The Pittsburgh Penguins were playing their second game in as many nights on Sunday evening against the San Jose Sharks, and they were playing short a defenseman, with Kris Letang missing the game with a concussion. So when the Penguins and Sharks needed overtime to settle things, and the Patric Hornqvist took a four-minute high-sticking penalty, things certainly looked bleak for the black and goal, but the Penguins were able to kill off the penalty and beat the Sharks 3-2 in a ... Read More