PHILADELPHIA — Sidney Crosby passed Mario Lemieux in Pittsburgh’s record book and pushed the Philadelphia Flyers to the brink of elimination. Flyers fans booed the goal — and the ones that stuck around for the end belted a familiar refrain: “Fire Hakstol! Fire Hakstol!” Crosby scored his fifth goal of the series and became the […]

PHILADELPHIA — Claude Giroux carried the Philadelphia Flyers into the playoffs. The Hart Trophy candidate might be the reason they get knocked out in the first round if he can’t become the force the Flyers need to have a chance against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Only six years ago, Giroux was dubbed “best in the world” […]

PITTSBURGH — The sluggish opening three months. The so-so finish. The only occasional attention to detail on defense. None of it matters anymore. The playoffs are here. The champs are, too. Sidney Crosby and the Penguins provided proof in Pittsburgh’s 7-0 dismantling of the Philadelphia Flyers in the opening game of their first-round series Wednesday […]

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins weren’t about to let Patric Hornqvist get away. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions signed the 31-year-old forward to a five-year extension Tuesday that runs through the 2022-23 season. The deal has an average annual value of $5.3 million. He was set to become a free agent this summer but […]

OTTAWA, Ontario — It was a night of sticky ice, last-minute player signings and a small crowd. Such were the glitches when the NHL it made its debut 100 years ago. Now, the world’s premier hockey league celebrates its centennial with an outdoor game Saturday night between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators. The days […]

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP — The Pittsburgh Penguins will have to try to shake out of their early season funk without goaltender Matt Murray. And the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are now without both members of their successful tandem from the start of the season. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions placed Murray on injured reserve Tuesday with a […]

PITTSBURGH — The fan in Connor McDavid comes out whenever he sees Sidney Crosby’s familiar No. 87 on TV. “When you’re watching, you’re hoping for him to do something cool,” the Edmonton Oilers star said. Defending one of his childhood idols is another matter entirely. McDavid will get an up-close look when the Oilers visit […]

WASHINGTON — The Penguins marched through the NHL this past season en route to a second consecutive Stanley Cup. On Tuesday, they did something perhaps even more impressive: They got President Donald Trump to stay on script. In a most civil — and hardly political — 13-plus minute celebration of the Penguins’ most recent Cup, […]

The NHL became entwined with the Olympics before young stars like Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel or Auston Matthews even pulled on a pair of skates. Nagano in 1998 started a string of five consecutive Olympics featuring NHL players, a tradition that became so routine that young players around the world added dreams of winning a […]

A few weeks after the Flyers made him the second overall selection in this year’s NHL draft, Nolan Patrick was at rookie camp in July, unable to participate because he was still recovering from abdominal surgery. He was asked what it would mean to him if he made the Flyers’ opening-night roster this season. “That […]