Pens playoff hopes stay alive with 4-1 win against Capitals
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin carried the Pittsburgh Penguins back into contention with starring performances over the past couple of weeks.
When they were held off the scoresheet Thursday night in arguably the team’s biggest game of the season, a handful of new faces stepped up to deliver a 4-1 victory at the archrival Washington Capitals. Alex Nedjelkovic led the way with 30 saves, Ryan Shea scored his first NHL goal, Michael Bunting got his fourth since joining in a trade and Pittsburgh moved closer to a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
(AP) – Dougie Hamilton scored on the power play in overtime and Vitek Vanecek made 25 saves to give the New Jersey Devils a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Minnesota Wild 6-4 last night in the opening game of a three-game road trip. Sidney Crosby led the Pens with two goals and two assists
The Penguins visit Winnipeg Saturday night for a 7pm face-off. Hear the pre-game beginning at 6:30pm on WISR.
The Penguins visit Chicago Sunday night before returning home. They will host Calgary Wednesday.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche clinched a playoff spot with the help of two goals from Nathan MacKinnon in a 6-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.
It’s the fifth straight playoff berth for the Avs, who also became the first NHL team to 50 wins this season and have ripped off nine wins in 11 games.
MacKinnon scored his 23rd and 24th of the season, while J.T. Compher got his his 14th of the year. Darren Helm, Josh Manson and Artturi Lehkonen also scored. Darcy Kuemper won his 33rd game and stopped 41 shots.Bryan Rust, Evan Rodrigues, Jake Guentzel and Mike Matheson all scored for the Penguins, but they lost for the second time in as many games against Colorado. The Avalanche beat Pittsburgh 3-2 in Denver on Saturday. Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for Pittsburgh, which has lost five of its last seven games.
Pittsburgh and Colorado exchanged goals in the first 5:30 of the game. MacKinnon’s centering pass hit Rust’s stick and went past Jarry. Mikko Rantanen continued a six-game point streak with an assist in his 400th NHL game (he has 400 career points).Rust responded for Pittsburgh, and established a new career-high in points, when he converted a rebound behind Kuemper to tie the game.
Penguins: Travel to face the New York Rangers on Thursday.
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ next scheduled game is Dec. 29 at Toronto.
PITTSBURGH —
The Penguins-Bruins game Monday night in Boston is being postponed, as the NHL says the league’s regular-season schedule will not resume before Tuesday.
It’s the third postponement for Pittsburgh in recent days, along with home games against New Jersey on Dec. 21 and Philadelphia on Dec. 23.
It’s been 360 days since Penguins fans were last able to watch a game in person at PPG Paints Arena due to the covid-19 pandemic.
They’ll have to wait for a few more, at least, to see the team’s captain for similar reasons.
Sidney Crosby will not play in Tuesday’s contest against the rival Philadelphia Flyers at PPG Paints Arena as he will be placed on the NHL’s list of absences related to the league’s protocol for covid-19.
PITTSBURGH — A teenager was rescued after falling through the ice at Lake Elizabeth on Pittsburgh’s Northside. There’s a sign near the lake at Allegheny Commons West Park that reads “no ice hockey.” However, that is exactly what Channel 11 crews found a group of teens doing. Minutes later, one of the teens fell through the iced-over lake. His friends starting laughing, but he had a hard time getting out.
One of his friends eventually used a hockey stick to help pull him to safety.
The NHL postseason will have a Pennsylvania flavor, as the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers will meet in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals this week.
“It never hurts when we play the Flyers,” Patric Hornqvist said recently, talking specifically about getting up for games. “There have been a lot of good memories and good battles. They’re always fun games.”
The Penguins have home-ice advantage for the best-of-seven series, which should draw plenty of national attention and easily could start Wednesday — the first night of games.
The Penguins swept the regular-season series against the Flyers, 4-0, totaling 20 goals in those four games. It’s the first time since 2006-07 (8-0) that the Penguins have swept the Flyers in the regular season.
NIPAWIN, Saskatchewan — Canadian police said early Saturday 14 people were killed and 14 people were injured after a truck collided with a bus carrying a junior hockey team to a playoff game in Western Canada.
Police say there were 28 people, including the driver, on board the bus of the Humboldt Broncos team when the crash occurred around 5 p.m. Friday on Highway 35 in Saskatchewan.
“We can now confirm fourteen people have died as a result of this collision,” The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a release early Saturday.
Patric Hornqvist picked up his 200th career goal and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins clinched their 12th straight playoff berth with a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
BY WILL GRAVESAP Sports Writer
March 31, 2018 11:17 PM
Updated March 31, 2018 11:18 PM
PITTSBURGH
Mike Sullivan knew the Stanley Cup hangover was coming. Even if the Pittsburgh Penguins coach danced around the phrase whenever the subject came up during the opening three months of the season as the two-time defending champions alternated between sizzling and sleepy.
“The first part of the year was a bit of a struggle,” Sullivan said. “It wasn’t anything we didn’t anticipate as a coaching staff going into it.”
Sullivan didn’t panic — to be fair, he never really does — and instead offered a reminder to his team that nothing was inevitable.
Maybe not. It just sort of feels that way in Pittsburgh when Sidney Crosby and the Penguins are involved.
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The proof came on Saturday night, when a pair of third-period goals by the NHL’s best power play pushed Pittsburgh to a 5-2 victory over Montreal to clinch a franchise-record 12th straight postseason berth.