The NHL has an unprecedented problem, and it needs to be dealt with in an unprecedented way. It's not fighting, it's not concussions, and it has nothing to do with protecting star players; allowing them to thrive with stricter enforcement of the rules. This is about protecting the NHL from the Mumps, a contagious disease that is spreading like wildfire in locker rooms from coast to coast. The disease, which symptoms include fever, chills, headaches, muscle pain and swelling of the salivary ... Read More
Fleury, Maatta, Bortuzzo may also have mumps
The Pittsburgh Penguins battle with the mumps took a turn for the worse on Wednesday when the team announced that goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and defensemen Robert Bortuzzo and Olli Maatta have been quarantined pending results of testing for virus. The three players were not feeling well and as a result were separated from the team as a precaution. Those three players join forwards Beau Bennett and Sidney Crosby to make five Penguins players currently sidelined by the mumps. Testing for ... Read More
A game to remember for Rust and Dumoulin
Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin and forward Bryan Rust each scored their first career National Hockey League goal in the team’s 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Neither player looked like a good bet to see a lot of NHL time this season, but with eight players sidelined with injuries or illnesses, the duo were a big part of the Penguins’ win. “I was just happy to get in a game or two,” said Rust, who was called up last week but did not get into a game. He scored his ... Read More
Penguins use secondary scoring to beat Lightning
The mumps may have set back the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it wasn’t able to stop them on Monday night. Without Sidney Crosby and Beau Bennett, both sidelined with the illness, and a handful of other players missing due to injuries, the Penguins merely turned to different sources of scoring to earn a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Consol Energy Center. The Penguins started out slowly, with the Lightning outshooting the Penguins by a 12-to-5 margin in the first period, and Penguins ... Read More
Pens battle mumps & Bolts
It will be a battle of first place teams in the Eastern Conference when the Penguins host the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at 7:00 p.m. TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: The Lightning is struggling as of late, having lost three of their last four games, all of which have been against the Metropolitan Division. Tonight’s game is the second game of a five-game road trip for Tampa Bay. After dropping their first game 4-2 in Washington on Saturday night, the Lightning will travel to Philadelphia, New Jersey, ... Read More
Mayhem in Columbus leads to shootout loss for Pens
In a card worth of a WWE pay-per-view, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets squared off on Saturday night. The Penguins and Blue Jackets played physically all night long and they racked up 88 penalty minutes, including fights between Bobby Farnham and Jordan Leopold and Steve Downie and Brandon Dubinsky. Through 65 minutes, however, the fight card, and the scoreboard, was all square, and it came down to a one-on-one battle between goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Thomas Greiss in ... Read More
Surging Blue Jackets host Pens
After a miserable, injury-riddled start to the 2014 season, the Columbus Blue Jackets (11-15-2, 24 pts.) have won five straight and are beginning to climb out of the basement in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference standings. TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: A playoff opponent of the first-place Penguins (19-6-3, 41 pts.) last season, the Blue Jackets bottomed out in late November with a sixth consecutive loss and they earned just six points in all of that month. December has been much kinder ... Read More
Pens use total team effort to beat Flames
Even though captain Sidney Crosby was missing from the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup the Penguins extinguished the Calgary Flames with a 3-1 win on Friday night. “When your best player is not playing, it's always tough, but you have to rely on other guys to get the job done, and I think that what we just did tonight” said Penguins defenseman Kris Letang. Penguins forward Blake Comeau scored the first goal of the night on a snapshot 48 seconds into the first period. He came in on a two-on-one with ... Read More
Letang, Hornqvist make returns vs. Flames
The Penguins are hosting the Calgary Flames tonight at 7:00 p.m. The Flames are making their only trip to Pittsburgh in the 2014-15. The Penguins have dominated the Flames in recent meetings. The Pens have won seven straight contests dating back to Dec 3, 2005. In Pittsburgh, the series has been even more lopsided. The Flames have won only once in Pittsburgh since 1989. TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: The Flames success this season has been fueled by their top defensive pairing of Mark Giordano and ... Read More
Pens come up short in OT against Rangers
For the second time in three games this season, regulation time was not enough to settle things between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers. This time, it was the Rangers scoring in overtime and skating away with a 4-3 victory in Madison Square Garden on Monday night. Rangers defenseman Kevin Klein scored the game-winning goal 3:45 into the extra period on a slapshot from the point through a screen and past Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguins came back from a 3-1 ... Read More