Seth Rorabaugh stories, Page 44

Reilly Smith professed optimism. In the face of a three-game losing streak, he offered a buoyant outlook in advance of his team’s home game against the imposing Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. “It’s not easy in this league,” Smith said after a practice at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday. “You’re going...

Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic will be sidelined on a “week-to-week” basis due to an undisclosed injury he suffered during a 4-1 home loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Coach Mike Sullivan announced Nedeljkovic’s status following an optional morning skate at PPG Paints Arena in advance of the team’s game...

The Pittsburgh Penguins recalled forwards Vinnie Hinostroza and Radim Zohorna from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League and assigned forward Corey Andonovski to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday morning. These maneuvers come less than 24 hours after Andonovski was summoned from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Zohorna was sent to the AHL affiliate in a...

Bryan Rust and Jack Johnson had an adversarial relationship when they were teammates with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And it’s easy to understand why. Rust is a proud product of Notre Dame. And Johnson? Well, he’s a Michigan man. So when the Wolverines thumped the Fighting Irish, 45-14, in a football...

The comparisons between Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon are always going to be present. After all, there are only so many dynamic All-Star franchise centers who can label the small Canadian maritime town of Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, as their home. And on the scant occasions their respective teams, the...

The Pittsburgh Penguins recalled goaltender Magnus Hellberg from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Wednesday after placing incumbent backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic on injured reserve. Nedeljkovic suffered an undisclosed injury during a 4-1 home loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Hellberg, 32, was signed as an unrestricted free...

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Stars at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday was unsightly for a variety of reasons. • It was their third consecutive loss. • They yielded a lead they earned after a strong first period. • Their power play once again...

For those who watched it, there was little to like about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ malodorous 4-2 road loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. At least the first 56 minutes, 27 seconds of it. But late in the third period, one cause for optimism emerged. The Penguins got a...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are slated to start goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic for Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Stars at PPG Paints Arena. Nedeljkovic has played in only one game this season. During a 5-2 home win against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 14, Nedeljkovic made 34 saves on 36 shots. Throughout...

Bryan Rust was in a familiar realm Monday. The Pittsburgh Penguins’ first power-play unit. During a practice session in Cranberry, Rust replaced fellow forward Rickard Rakell on the top unit, joining forwards Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Erik Karlsson. Rakell skated on the second unit, along...

Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Adam Clendening has signed with Ilves of the top league in Finland, the Liiga. That team announced the transaction via a release Sunday. The Penguins acquired Clendening as well as forward Nick Bonino and a second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft (which was eventually used...

Jake Guentzel was almost insulted by the query. When the Pittsburgh Penguins All-Star forward netted his first goal of the season — one that proved to be the winning score — at 5 minutes, 50 seconds of the third period in a 5-2 win against the Calgary Flames on Oct....

Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan did not have much to say after his team’s latest loss, a 4-2 defeat to the St. Louis Blues at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. “We didn’t play hard enough and we didn’t play smart enough,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said to media in...

Since the year 2000, Hockey Fights has documented the pugilistic side of the NHL and the sport as a whole. Founded when dial-up modems and gif-infested GeoCities pages were still prevalent, Hockey Fights has maintained detailed logs of seemingly every bout in league history. And not surprisingly, there are leaderboards...

In August, new Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas indicated he would not be timid when it came to utilizing waivers to craft his roster. And throughout the preseason, he did just that by claiming castoffs such as forward Jansen Harkins and defenseman John Ludvig. It looks like...

Having missed the playoffs last season by a single point, the Pittsburgh Penguins learned a hard lesson. Points and wins carry the same value no matter when they are accrued. “Our team knows what we have to do in order to be successful here,” forward Bryan Rust said in Cranberry...

About 24 hours after he was acquired in a trade, the Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward Karel Plasek on waivers Wednesday for the purposes of terminating his contract. Assuming no other team claims Plasek, the Penguins can formally cut ties with him after 2 p.m. Thursday. At the moment, the Penguins...

Playing in Detroit always has an appeal to Bryan Rust. A native of Pontiac, Mich., the Pittsburgh Penguins forward grew up going to Red Wings games at the hallowed Joe Louis Arena rooting for his favorite players, forwards Martin Lapointe and Steve Yzerman. (The attraction to Yzerman, a Hockey Hall...