Jonathan Bombulie stories, Page 19

The only suspension of Phil Kessel’s 13-year NHL career came when he delivered a series of two-handed chops to former Buffalo Sabres heavyweight John Scott in a 2013 preseason game. In an appearance on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast this week, Scott said he has no hard feelings. Thinking one of...

Matt Murray had his finest showing of the IIHF World Championships in a game against his home country’s biggest rival. Murray recorded a 28-save shutout to lead Canada to a 3-0 victory over the United States on Tuesday in Slovakia. Penguins forward Jared McCann scored a goal. That's a 28-save...

It’s one of the top defensive talking points for the Steelers this offseason. A unit that ranked 29th in the league with 15 takeaways and 28th in the league with eight interceptions last season will simply have to force more turnovers to have any kind of success. On the very...

The Pittsburgh Penguins should be pleased with what winger Dominik Simon is accomplishing this month at the World Championships in Slovakia. Simon has recorded three goals and five assists in his first six games with the Czech Republic, ranking on the fringes of the top 10 among the tournament’s leading...

North Huntingdon native Austen Swankler’s first season in the USHL ended with a championship celebration. Swankler, 17, and his Sioux Falls Stampede teammates marched through the USHL playoffs, going 11-1 and claiming the team’s third championship with a 5-1 victory over Chicago on Friday night. Sioux Falls recorded three-game sweeps...

The Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have much work to do this summer when it comes to re-signing their own restricted free agents. When they do get around to the task, defenseman Marcus Pettersson and winger Zach Aston-Reese will be due the biggest raises, according to hockey-graphs.com’s annual free-agent contract projections. Among...

Despite the best efforts of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, a championship NHL superstition just won’t die. After the Boston Bruins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 Thursday night to complete a sweep of the Eastern Conference finals, captain Zdeno Chara did not touch the Prince of Wales Trophy. In 1997,...

Most of the players who had a bad year for the Pittsburgh Penguins this season did so at a high volume. The struggles of Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Patric Hornqvist, for instance, were loud. Justin Schultz, on the other hand, had a bad year quietly. Perhaps it’s because he...

A referral from Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford helped the Buffalo Sabres choose their new coach. According to a story in the Buffalo News, Rutherford has held new Sabres coach Ralph Krueger in high esteem since hiring him as a European scout for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005. Rutherford...

An angry St. Louis Blues fan is trying to turn the pain of a blown call that cost his team a playoff game Wednesday night into a fundraiser. John Randall, a fan from Chesterfield, Mo., has started a GoFundMe page in honor of Marc Joanette, the referee who missed a...

It’s not hard to figure out why Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan thinks his team made a hasty, inglorious exit from the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. “To win in the playoffs, you can’t be a high-risk team,” Sullivan said at his season-ending press conference. “You’ve got to have a certain...

The Pittsburgh Penguins signed their top prospect Wednesday, agreeing with winger Kasper Bjorkqvist on a two-year, entry-level contract. Bjorkqvist, a second-round pick in the 2016 draft, had 17 goals and 30 points in 42 games as a junior this season for Providence, helping the team advance to the NCAA Frozen...

A stunning individual effort by Sidney Crosby that gave the Pittsburgh Penguins an overtime victory in Edmonton in October is a nominee for NHL goal of the year. Goal of the Year is one of 20 categories on the ballot in the NHL’s Fan Choice Awards, which hand out offbeat...

In the days immediately following his team’s first-round ouster from the playoffs, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said he needed to take some time to make sure the emotion had faded from the decision-making process before plotting out his offseason plans. It’s a particularly good idea when deciding whether...

The scoring slump that plagued Pittsburgh Penguins winger Patric Hornqvist throughout much of the second half of the NHL season apparently hasn’t accompanied him to Slovakia for the IIHF World Championships. With two goals in a 9-1 victory over Norway on Monday, Hornqvist has scored in each of Sweden’s first...

Playoff losses can be hard to swallow. Just ask Carolina Hurricanes captain Justin Williams. After his team suffered a 6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Sunday, Williams summed up the experience with an unappetizing analogy. “Sometimes you gotta eat a poop sandwich,” Williams said. “It doesn’t taste good. You...

Pittsburgh Penguins castoff Greg McKegg has found a home on the fourth line of the Carolina Hurricanes. McKegg, who scored two goals in 26 games with the Penguins in 2017-18, has scored in each of Carolina’s last two playoff games coming into Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against...

There are plenty of questions facing the Pittsburgh Penguins as they consider how to retool their roster after a disappointing 2018-19 season. Here’s a big one: Did the Penguins struggle in transition because their defense corps lacked the speed and skill to get the puck to the forwards effectively or...

Evgeni Malkin had a better time than Matt Murray as the IIHL World Championships began Friday in Slovakia. Malkin had a pair of assists as his Russian team cruised to a 5-2 victory over Norway. Murray stopped 24 of 26 shots as Canada dropped a 3-1 decision to Finland. Malkin...

When everything goes right, it’s a tournament Pittsburgh Penguins fans pay little mind. Everything didn’t go right for the Penguins this season, of course, so some of their players will be in the field when the IIHF World Championships begin Friday in Slovakia. Patric Hornqvist and Marcus Pettersson will try...

Despite a quick exit for the home team, Pittsburgh remains one of the top markets in the country when it comes to TV ratings for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Through two rounds, Pittsburgh ranks as the seventh-best market with a 1.65 rating. It’s a big drop from last season, when...

The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed one of their top defense prospects to an entry level contract, announcing a three-year deal with 20-year-old Niclas Almari on Thursday. A fifth-round pick in the 2016 draft, Almari helped HPK to the championship of the Finland’s top league this season. He had a goal,...

Barring something unforeseen, in less than two months, the Pittsburgh Penguins will be making a first-round pick in the NHL draft for the first time since 2014. On Wednesday night, they found out they’ll be picking 21st overall. When the NHL sets its draft order, it determines the first 15...

At the core of the swirling offseason debate surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins and their willingness to trade center Evgeni Malkin is one fundamental question: How much of the team’s poor 2018-19 season can be pinned on the 32-year-old Russian superstar? A closer look at Malkin’s stats gives one answer: He’s...

Riley Barber, a native of Washington, Pa., who was one of the top scorers in the AHL this season, sounds like he’s ready to move on from the Washington Capitals organization. Barber, 25, told NBC Sports Washington that he’s eager to test the waters once he hits unrestricted free agency...