McCann, second-period burst leads Pens past Blue Jackets
By DAN SCIFO Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins rebounded from a season-opening dud.
Jared McCann scored twice as the Penguins had five goals in the second period to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2 on Saturday night.
The offensive outburst helped Pittsburgh rediscover its confidence after making 17 turnovers in a home loss to Buffalo on Thursday.
Pittsburgh scored five goals on 14 second-period shots. The last time Pittsburgh scored five goals in a period came on Jan. 16, 2017, against Washington.
“I thought our confidence built as the game went on,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought we were playing on our toes and I thought we mounted a pretty good attack. There’s still some areas where we know we have to clean up, but I thought the guys played hard.”
The Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin left in the second period and did not return with an undisclosed injury. He ran into D Kris Letang near center ice and awkwardly fell into the boards. Malkin, the 2012 NHL MVP, scored a power-play goal against Buffalo on Thursday.
Center Nick Bjugstad also left and didn’t return for Pittsburgh. Sullivan said after the game that Malkin and Bjugstad were being evaluated and he didn’t have an update on their status.
McCann tied a career high with three points. The other time came as a member of the Florida Panthers when he had a goal and two assists on March 20, 2018. McCann scored two goals once with Pittsburgh on March 23 last season against Dallas.
“It’s huge, but I can’t take all the credit,” McCann said. “My linemates did most of the work and found me. I just tried to get it to the net.”
Patric Hornqvist scored twice and Letang had a power-play goal, while Teddy Blueger and Marcus Pettersson also scored for Pittsburgh. Alex Galchenyuk, acquired from Arizona in a trade for Phil Kessel, recorded two assists for his first two points with Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby also had two assists.
Matt Murray made 28 saves and is now two wins from 100 in his NHL career.
Gustav Nyquist scored his first goal for Columbus and Zach Werenski scored for the Blue Jackets, who lost their second game in as many days. Columbus lost its season-opener 4-1 to Toronto at home and has been outscored 11-3 in two games. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 31 shots in his NHL debut.
“It’s an opportunity for us right away at the beginning of the year to teach about patience, to teach about how we have to play,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “Hopefully, we’ll go about it the right way.”
Pittsburgh opened the scoring at 1:45 of the second when Hornqvist tipped Jack Johnson’s point shot past Merzlikins. The Penguins took a 2-0 lead 2:29 later when Pettersson’s shot from the top of the left circle caromed off Merzlikins’ glove and behind the line.
Not long after Pittsburgh’s second goal, Werenski was left alone at the right side of the crease and cut the Blue Jackets’ deficit in half.
But the Penguins regained their two-goal cushion, 3-1, two minutes later when McCann sent a blocker-side wrist shot behind Merzlikins during a two-on-one.
McCann scored his second goal of the game 14 seconds after a fighting major to Crosby, his first in four years. McCann took a backhand pass from Galchenyuk at the blue line and sent another blocker-side wrist shot past Merzlikins.
Letang scored Pittsburgh’s fifth goal of the second period with 1.2 seconds to play. He beat Merzlikins with a slap shot from the right faceoff dot.
“It took us awhile to find our swagger,” McCann said. “That’s something that this team needs to play with. We have guys who have so much skill and need to make plays, but sometimes we just have to keep it simple.”
NOTES: Crosby passed Larry Murphy for sole possession of 42nd-place on the NHL’s all-time points list with 1,218. … Werenski, with 39 goals, is two from the Blue Jackets’ record for most by a defenseman. … Murray has nine wins in 12 games all-time against Columbus. … Pittsburgh has won eight straight home games against Columbus and 16 of 20 all-time. … The Penguins have won eight of their last 10 games against Columbus. … Brandon Tanev and Dominik Kahun, acquired in the offseason, recorded their first points with Pittsburgh.
UP NEXT
Blue Jackets: Host Buffalo on Monday
Penguins: Continue a season-opening four-game homestand Tuesday against Winnipeg.
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Sheary scores twice against old team, Sabres beat Penguins
By DAN SCIFO Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Conor Sheary took it personally when Pittsburgh traded him to Buffalo in June 2018.
Sheary scored twice and Carter Hutton stopped 26 shots in the Sabres’ 3-1 victory over the Penguins on Thursday night in the opener for both teams.
“I think you just want to prove to people that you can still play,” Sheary said. “You kind of get the feeling that someone doesn’t want you when they trade you, and I think I took that to heart, so coming back is always fun.”
Rasmus Dahlin also scored to help Buffalo give Ralph Krueger a victory in his Sabres coaching debut. Buffalo beat Pittsburgh in regulation for the first time since April 23, 2013.
Krueger last coached in the NHL in 2012-13 when the Edmonton Oilers had 19 wins during a shortened 48-game regular season. Buffalo went 33-39-10 under Phil Housley last season.
“For me, personally, I said that I was going to have fun during this ride in the National Hockey League, and these guys helped the fun part with games like (Thursday),” Krueger said.
Sheary, who played on two Stanley Cup champions teams with the Penguins, has four goals and six points in four games against his former team. He scored two goals twice last season, including a March 1 home game against Pittsburgh.
“For him, here in Pittsburgh, no question he was ready and dialed in,” Krueger said.
Buffalo’s last game in Pittsburgh was an overtime win in November 2018 when the Sabres snapped an eight-game winless streak in Pittsburgh. The victory Thursday gave Buffalo consecutive road wins in Pittsburgh for the first time since 2012-13.
Evgeni Malkin scored on the power play for Pittsburgh. Matt Murray made 38 saves.
Pittsburgh had 15 wins in its past 18 games against the Sabres, dating to Oct. 5, 2013. The Penguins also previously won eight of nine home games against the Sabres and 11 of 15 since PPG Paints Arena opened in 2010-11.
“We just weren’t good enough in a lot of areas,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I know we’re capable of being better.”
Pittsburgh earned an NHL-best 13th-straight playoff berth last season, but was swept from the opening round of the playoffs by the New York Islanders.
The Penguins didn’t make sweeping changes to the roster. Instead, they brought in wingers Alex Galchenyuk and Dominik Kahun, through trades with Arizona and Chicago, in addition to free-agent pickup Brandon Tanev, as Sullivan seeks a brand of intelligent and responsible hockey that demands responsibility at both ends of the ice.
After one game, it remains a work in progress.
“We just have to do a better job as a group,” Sullivan said. “We’ll see what we can learn from it. We have a lot of hockey in front of us. I know this team is capable of being better.”
The Sabres took control early with 10 of the game’s first 12 shots and the opening goal.
Sheary started the scoring at 5:23 following a Penguins’ turnover at their own blueline. He took a pass from Casey Mittelstadt and beat Murray to the blocker side from in close.
Malkin tied it at 5:50 of the second period with a power-play goal. He beat a screened Hutton with a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot. Malkin has points in 10 straight games against Buffalo.
Sheary gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 14:03 when he converted a rebound from the slot past Murray.
It’s a lead the Sabres never relinquished.
“Conor is a guy that can finish,” Sullivan said. “He did it for us when he was here, and he’s a dangerous guy.”
NOTES: Sidney Crosby had an assist to tie Larry Murphy for 42nd on the NHL’s career points list with 1,217. Crosby has a seven-game points streak against Buffalo and one point in 36 of 40 career games against the Sabres. … Buffalo’s Victor Olofsson and Henri Jokiharju were recalled from Rochester of the American Hockey League. … Sabres’ D Colin Miller recorded his 100th NHL point. … Buffalo’s last opener in Pittsburgh was the team’s first game, a 2-1 victory on Oct. 10, 1970.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Host New Jersey on Saturday night.
Penguins: Host Columbus on Saturday night.
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Orpik retires after 15 NHL seasons, 2 Stanley Cup titles
By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer
Brooks Orpik called it a career Tuesday after 15 bruising NHL seasons in which he established himself as a big-hitting, shutdown defenseman and won the Stanley Cup twice.
The 38-year-old played 1,171 regular-season and playoff games for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. He won the Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009 and Washington in 2018.
“I’ve been extremely lucky to have the best job in the world for many years, but my body is telling me it is time to move on to something new,” Orpik said. “I’m excited for more family time and to experience a lot of the things that being a professional athlete forces you to miss out on.”
Orpik was more known for his physicality and defense than his offense. He put up 194 regular-season and 26 playoff points but also scored the Game 2-winning goal for Washington in the 2018 final on the way to the franchise’s first title.
“We wouldn’t have a Stanley Cup if it wasn’t for him,” Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby said at the end of this season. “The impact he’s had on our team is probably second to none, the way he’s changed the culture and pushed guys to make them better. One of the true leaders in our game.”
Orpik became a respected alternate captain and leader during his five seasons in Washington. Teammates nicknamed him “Batya” — Russian for “Dad.”
“Batya was a great leader in our locker room and was so important for us to win our first Stanley Cup,” captain Alex Ovechkin said in a statement Wednesday. “We will miss his presence in the room and on the ice. Not only was he a great leader and a player, but he was a better person. I’m so happy I had a chance to play with him and for our young guys to have had the chance to learn from him.”
Orpik implied throughout this season it could be his last in the NHL. He had surgery in November to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.
“Trying to maintain that level, efficiency was tough,” Orpik said. “So I think there were times of the year, I was frustrated just that I couldn’t do what I wanted to do.”
Orpik was back to his vintage self in the playoffs, emptying the tank for 18 minutes a night during the Capitals’ seven-game series against Carolina. After the first-round exit in late April, the San Francisco native conceded he thought he may have played his final NHL game but didn’t want to make a rash decision.
“You got to be 100% committed to it,” Orpik said of potentially playing another season. “If you’re not, then it’s unfair to your teammates and other people that are trying to help you out. In terms of like wanting to play or being committed to play, I think that’s something that, I think when stuff doesn’t go your way after the season you got to take a lot of time off to let things settle down.”
Orpik came to that decision and will now turn his attention to finishing his communications degree at Boston College. He said he wished he had a better post-playing career plan in place but will see where the degree takes him.
He will be remembered for being the muscle behind two Cup champions — Sidney Crosby’s first and Ovechkin’s first. He often toed the line on hits and was suspended three games during the 2016 playoffs for a late, high hit that injured Pittsburgh’s Olli Maatta.
“He’s a little bit of a dinosaur because he hits and there’s not a lot of hitting in this game,” said Columbus coach John Tortorella, who knows Orpik well from U.S. teams in international play. “A lot of people think he might hit hard. I think he plays the game hard. I think he plays the game the right way.”
Orpik’s ability to play on the edge and defend other players made him beloved in Washington. The Capitals prepared for his departure by trading for big-hitting defenseman Radko Gudas, but teammates know there’s no replacing Orpik and what he meant on and off the ice.
“He’s been a force for all of us to gain knowledge from — how to better understand certain parts of the game, what it takes, the mental side of it,” Capitals defenseman John Carlson said. “He’s just a really aware person that can help anybody at any part of their career at any level of play. He’s just been so important to us.”
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