The natives are restless. In the last three years, Penguins fans have seen their team go from the Eastern Conference Final in 2013, to a second-round loss to the Rangers 2014 and then a first-round loss after barely qualifying for the postseason this year. The blame game has run amok. From Mike Johnston’s facial expressions to the team’s recently hired medical staff to the allegedly cursed Consol Energy Center, no one has escaped the wrath of a fan base that expected nothing short of ... Read More
Crosby to join Canada for World Championships
While the Pittsburgh Penguins season is over, captain Sidney Crosby isn’t quite ready to hang up his skates for the summer. Crosby will be joining Team Canada for the 2015 IIHF World Championships, which begin May 1 in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic. Because the World Championships coincide with the NHL playoffs, Crosby hasn’t represented his national team since 2006. He scored eight goals and added eight assists in Canada’s nine games in his only previous appearance at the World ... Read More
Mike Johnston deserving of another season behind Pens bench
Pittsburgh Penguins CEO and president David Morehouse told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Friday that head coach Mike Johnston, along with general manager Jim Rutherford and star centers Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, would be returning to the club for the 2015-16 season. Not only will they returning, Morehouse said that the Penguins’ upper management “never considered” replacing the team’s GM or head coach. In Johnston’s case, it will be a much-deserved second chance to establish himself ... Read More
Penguins’ effort unquestionable despite loss
The Pittsburgh Penguins certainly had a disappointing finish to their 2014-15 season. A year that started with such hope and promise finished with a dizzying tail slide down the home stretch of the regular season and a first-round playoff exit at the hands of the New York Rangers. The late-season slide showed that this Penguins club has many weaknesses, chiefly among them scoring goals. That demon reared its head in the playoffs as the Pens scored just one goal in each of their four ... Read More
Rangers send Pens packing again
If the 2014-15 Pittsburgh Penguins season had a tombstone, it would read “2-1”. Their 2-1 loss on Friday night in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden was their fourth loss of the series – all of which came with a 2-1 final, and for the second consecutive year, the Rangers ended the Penguins’ season. The Rangers again got off to a strong start, scoring the opening goal for the fourth time in five games and outshooting the Penguins 12-6 in the first period. It was Derek Stepan that broke through on ... Read More
Penguins visit New York for must-win Game 5
For the first time in the 2014-15 season, the Penguins will play with their season on the line in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals tonight at Madison Square Garden. In 2009, the last year the Penguins won the Stanley Cup, they went 3-0 in potential elimination games. The Penguins will have to match that output in the opening series if they hope to escape from the first round. Since the last Cup run, the Pens have gone just 2-5 in games that they could be eliminated in and are ... Read More
Pens start strong, but fall in overtime
The Pittsburgh Penguins came into Wednesday night knowing that they needed to improve in the poor first period starts that had resulted in no goals and just 13 shots over the first three games. The Penguins turned that trend on its ear in Game 4, scoring the opening goal for the first time in the series, and dominating the Rangers through the first 20 minutes, but came away with just a 1-0 lead. The Penguins’ failure to improve their early advantage was crucial as the Rangers came back to win ... Read More
First period failures standing between Pens, victory
The Pittsburgh Penguins, down two games to one in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals to the New York Rangers, do not face a must-win situation in Game 4 tonight at Consol Energy Center. It does feels like one, though. A win would send the Penguins back to New York with the series evened and assured that a pivotal Game 6 would be played on home ice. With a loss, the Penguins will face elimination in Madison Square Garden on Friday, and would have to win three straight games to move on to ... Read More
Another poor start dooms Penguins in Game 3 vs. Rangers
For the third straight game, the New York Rangers scored the opening goal, as they quieted a boisterous Consol Energy Crowd by taking an early lead and taking the life out of the building with a slow, defending style that lead to few scoring chances for either side and a 2-1 victory for the visiting Rangers. The start of the game was especially slow-going. Neither team had a shot on goal in the first five minutes of the game. A pair of Penguins miscues – an Evgeni Malkin turnover while ... Read More
Pressure is now on Rangers as series shifts to Pittsburgh
Pressure makes people do funny things. In the National Hockey League, pressure can make a defenseman whiff as he tries to chip the puck out of the zone, a goal scorer fire a shot high and wide at an open net, or a goaltender blink as a slap shot comes sizzling in from the point. In the NHL playoffs, pressure is everywhere, but some teams feel it more than others. In 2014, the with a Stanley Cup mandate from ownership and the coaching staff’s jobs on the line, the Penguins collapsed under ... Read More