Jonathan Bombulie stories, Page 25

RALEIGH, N.C. — Kris Letang nearly finished off his first game back after an 11-game absence due to an upper-body injury as a returning hero Tuesday night. Instead, he ended it sitting in the locker room while his team lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes. The heroics...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Matt Cullen recently played his 1,500th NHL game, and Sidney Crosby recently recorded his 1,200th point in the league. They know a thing or two about longevity. As such, they’re impressed with the record teammate Phil Kessel set when he stepped on the ice Tuesday night against...

RALEIGH, N.C. – When Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta went down with a shoulder injury Feb. 11 in Philadelphia, the team said he would be out indefinitely. Maatta took a significant step toward putting a timetable on his return Tuesday morning in Raleigh. Maatta took part in a practice with...

RALEIGH, N.C. – Due to the ability of in-season acquisitions Jared McCann and Nick Bjugstad to play multiple positions up and down the lineup, Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan had a plethora of options to choose from when figuring out how to replace injured center Evgeni Malkin. He decided to...

RALEIGH, N.C. – Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang made his return from an upper-body injury Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, starting the game in his customary spot on the right side of the team’s top defense pair with Brian Dumoulin. “I’ve been feeling pretty good,” Letang said. “It’s just...

On March 11, 2016, Evgeni Malkin suffered an upper-body injury after a collision with Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout. The Pittsburgh Penguins had gone 5-5-0 in their previous 10 games and were seventh in the Eastern Conference, only three points ahead of the ninth-place Philadelphia Flyers. Missing the playoffs...

Statistically speaking, the Pittsburgh Penguins are one of the best teams in the league at protecting third-period leads. They’re 32-0-3 when leading after two periods this season, one of only four teams in the NHL that haven’t lost in regulation under those circumstances. Recent results, though, tell a vastly different...

Just when the Pittsburgh Penguins were nearly healthy up front, they were dealt a massive blow on the injury front Sunday. Evgeni Malkin will be out on a week-to-week basis with an upper-body injury, coach Mike Sullivan said after his team lost 2-1 in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers. Sullivan...

Despite the bad blood that has been building between the long-time rivals this season, shenanigans aren’t in the forecast when the Pittsburgh Penguins play host to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night. The standings are probably too tight to expend energy on extracurricular activities. When the teams met Feb. 11,...

The Pittsburgh Penguins came into March with three forwards lugging around lengthy goal droughts. The third zero has finally been erased. Dominik Simon scored his first goal in 21 games during the second period of a 5-1 Penguins loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon. “It’s obviously always...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are expecting Bryan Rust and Kris Letang to return from injury in short order, but they won’t be in the lineup Saturday afternoon. Coach Mike Sullivan said Rust and Letang will remain out as the Penguins play host to the St. Louis Blues. Letang has been out...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – In the waning moments of Tuesday’s win over the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Patric Hornqvist came to the conclusion that this just might not be his year when it comes to scoring goals. Forty-eight hours later, after scoring a second-period power-play goal that helped his team...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – When Kris Letang went down with an upper-body injury during the outdoor game in Philadelphia on Feb. 23, the remaining healthy defensemen on the Pittsburgh Penguins roster realized it would require a collaborative effort to replace him. They’re taking that concept to the extreme. The Penguins have...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – When the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, the most dangerous scorer on the other bench might be a familiar face. With Jack Eichel serving the second game of a two-game suspension Thursday night and Jeff Skinner slumping, Conor Sheary is Buffalo’s leading scorer...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The news was good for Bryan Rust, bad for Zach Aston-Reese and status quo for Kris Letang and Olli Maatta as Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan gave an injury update Thursday afternoon. Rust made the trip to Buffalo with the team and participated in morning skate in...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Matt Murray’s streak of consecutive starts in net for the Pittsburgh Penguins won’t hit double digits. After turning to Murray to start the team’s previous nine games, coach Mike Sullivan will use backup Casey DeSmith in goal for Thursday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. Murray was...

Considering the only 88 players have reached the 1,000-point milestone in the 102-year history of the NHL, it’s pretty remarkable that PPG Paints Arena has hosted two such celebrations in the span of a little more than two years. Evgeni Malkin hit 1,000 with a third-period assist on a Phil...

In 20 games since being acquired from the Florida Panthers in a Feb. 1 trade, Jared McCann has made a significant impact with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s scored nine goals. He’s given the team’s top-line duo of Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel a formidable running mate. He’s been an effective...

If he tried really hard, Evgeni Malkin could think up a thing or two that could have gone better on the night he became the 88th player in NHL history to record 1,000 career points. The milestone moment could have come on one of those trademark Malkin goals where he...

A short time after he was traded to the Washington Capitals on Feb. 23, Carl Hagelin came to a shocking realization. They’re not the jerks he thought they were all those years. Playing against the Capitals in high-pressure, high-intensity games for the better part of three seasons while with the...