Rust and Kindel help the Penguins beat the Golden Knights 5-0

 

(FIle Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins’ Egor Chinakhov, center, celebrates with Justin Brazeau, left, and Tommy Novak, right, after scoring against the Vegas Golden Knights during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bryan Rust, Ben Kindel and Justin Brazeau each had a goal and an assist, helping the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-0 on Sunday.

Rickard Rakell and Egor Chinakhov also scored as Pittsburgh improved to 10-1-3 in its last 14 games. Erik Karlsson had two assists, and Arturs Silovs made 22 saves in his first shutout since opening night on Oct. 7 at the New York Rangers.

Vegas goaltender Adin Hill stopped 17 shots. The Golden Knights dropped to 4-7-2 in their last 13 games.

Vegas captain Mark Stone left late in the first period with an undisclosed injury. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang gave Stone a seemingly harmless shove to the left arm with his stick in the neutral zone, though it may have caught him in the gap between his elbow and shoulder pads. Stone grimaced in pain, went down to one knee and skated off.

Kindel, a first-round pick in the 2025 draft who turns 19 on April 19, scored his 15th goal with 5:04 left in the first.

The Penguins grabbed control with three more goals in the second. Rust and Rakell each scored on the power play.

Brazeau made it 5-0 with 5:01 left in the third. It was Brazeau’s 16th on the season, extending his career high.

Up next

Both teams play again on Tuesday night. The Golden Knights visit Buffalo, and the Penguins are at Boston.

 

Trocheck scores shootout winner as Rangers edge Penguins 3-2

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck (16) shoots the puck past Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) during a shootout in an NHL hockey game Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

NEW YORK (AP) — Vincent Trocheck scored the shootout winner and Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves and the New York Rangers rallied to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Saturday.

After an overtime in which each team had several good scoring chances, Trocheck beat Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner with the only goal of the shootout as the Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak. Shesterkin made five saves in overtime.

Mika Zibanejad and Taylor Raddysh also scored for the Rangers. The last-place Rangers are 7-15-5 at home this season.

Anthony Mantha and defenseman Ryan Shea scored for the Penguins, who had their two-game winning streak stopped. Pittsburgh is 8-1-2 since Jan. 17.

Mantha beat Shesterkin at 2:08 of the first with his 21st goal of the season. Shea made it 2-0 at 1:59 of the second with his fourth goal.

Zibanjead scored his team-leading 24th goal on the power play at the 10-minute mark of the second.

Raddysh tied it with his ninth at 2:57 of the third with assists to Vladislav Gavrikov and Brendan Brisson. It was Brisson’s first point as a Ranger.

Forward Tye Kartye, claimed off waivers from Seattle on Friday, made his Rangers debut.

Shesterkin made his second straight start since returning for Thursday’s 3-2 home overtime loss to Philadelphia. Shesterkin had suffered a lower-body injury suffered on Jan. 5

Skinner made 23 saves in defeat.

The Penguins under first-year head coach Dan Muse – a former Rangers assistant — lead the Rangers by 20 points in the Metropolitan Division.

The Rangers, coached by former Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, are last at 23-29-7.

The Penguins were without captain Sidney Crosby who suffered a lower-body injury at the Winter Olympics in Milan. The 38-year-old center leads Pittsburgh with 27 goals and 59 points. He is expected to miss four weeks.

Up next

Rangers: host Columbus on Monday.

Penguins: host Vegas on Sunday.

 

Late goals by Clifton and Chinakhov push the Penguins past Jack Hughes and the Devils 4-1

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins’ Tommy Novak (18) celebrates his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Connor Clifton and Egor Chinakhov scored 50 seconds apart in the third period and the Pittsburgh Penguins surged past Jack Hughes and the reeling New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Thursday night.

Tommy Novak, serving as the first-line center while captain Sidney Crosby recovers from a lower-body injury sustained at the Milan Cortina Olympics, picked up his 12th goal of the season. Blake Lizotte added an empty-netter late for Pittsburgh, which has won eight of 10 to move into second place in the crowded Metropolitan Division.

Arturs Silovs stopped 28 shots to win for the fourth time in five starts.

Paul Cotter scored his sixth goal of the season for the Devils but couldn’t halt New Jersey’s slide. The Devils have dropped seven of eight to fall off the pace in the race for one of the Eastern Conference’s two wild-card spots.

Hughes, who carved out a piece of U.S. Olympic history when he scored the winning goal in the gold medal game against Canada, received an extended ovation on the road — replete with chants of “Huuuughes” and “USA! USA!” — during a brief pregame ceremony in which the Penguins acknowledged the gold-medal winning U.S. men’s and women’s teams, as well as members of Team Canada.

The Penguins have pledged to stay in the playoff mix without Crosby. They began a busy stretch without him by using solid goaltending from Silovs and timely playmaking to keep it going.

Clifton’s blast past Jacob Markstrom 6:30 into the third period gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. Chinakhov doubled the Penguins’ advantage less than a minute later when he collected a stretch pass from Evgeni Malkin then slipped the puck between Markstrom’s legs for his ninth goal in 19 games since being acquired from Columbus in December.

Up next

Devils: At St. Louis on Saturday.

Penguins: At the New York Rangers on Saturday.

 

Jack Hughes scores in overtime as US beats Canada for gold at the Olympics

AP Photos by Luca Bruno

By  STEPHEN WHYNO

MILAN (AP) — No miracle needed. The United States is on top of the hockey world for the first time in nearly a half-century.

Jack Hughes scored 1:41 into overtime and the U.S. defeated Canada 2-1 in the gold medal final at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday, claiming the nation’s third men’s title at the Games and its first since the “Miracle on Ice” on 1980.

Unlike that ragtag group of college kids that pulled off one of the biggest upsets in sports history 46 years ago by knocking off the heavily favored Soviet Union, the Americans in Milan were a machine that rode goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and a stacked roster full of NHL players through the tournament unbeaten.

Hellebuyck was by far the best player on the ice, stopping 41 of the 42 shots he faced as Canada tilted the ice toward him. He made the save of the tournament by getting his stick on the puck on a shot from Devon Toews in the third period, then minutes later denied Macklin Celebrini on a breakaway — something he also did to Connor McDavid earlier.

It was only fitting they needed to go through Canada, their northern neighbor that beat them at the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago and has claimed hockey supremacy for quite some time, winning every international competition over the past 16 years that featured the world’s best players.

Avery Hayes scores twice in his NHL debut, Penguins beat Sabres 5-2

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins forward Avery Hayes (85) celebrates his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Avery Hayes scored twice in his NHL debut, Arturs Silovs made 26 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Thursday night in the final game for both teams before the Olympic break.

Called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League with the Penguins hit by a series of injuries, Hayes tied at 1 at 9:18 of the period on his first shot on goal. He raced to beat defenseman Jacob Bryson to the puck and put a wrister past goalie Alex Lyon.

Hayes made it 2-1 with 1:13 left in the period, taking Anthony Mantha’s short, backward pass and knocking it in. He’s the third Penguins player to score twice in his NHL debut, joining Rob Brown (two goals on Oct. 21, 1987) and Jake Guentzel (two goals on Nov. 21, 2016).

Hayes has 13 goals and 10 assists in 31 games this season in the AHL. He made his NHL debut with Blake Lizotte out for the birth of his first child, Rickard Rakell nursing a lower-body injury and Noel Acciari sidelined by an illness.

Fellow rookie Ben Kindel gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead at 7:44 of the second, Tommy Novak made it 4-2 with 4:29 to go in the third, and Kindel had a short-handed empty-netter with 14 seconds to go for his 14th of the season. The Penguins rebounded from a 5-4 overtime loss at the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

Tage Thompson scored his 30th goal of the season for Buffalo. Jason Zucker also scored, and Lyon stopped 27 shots. The Sabres have lost two in a row.

Zucker opened the scoring for Buffalo at 1:46 of the first period. Thompson scored on a power play to cut it to 3-2 at 1:55 of the third.

Up next

Penguins: Host New Jersey on Thursday, Feb. 26.

Sabres: At New Jersey on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

 

Bo Horvat’s 2nd goal of the game lifts the Islanders over the Penguins 5-4 in overtime

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: New York Islanders center Bo Horvat (14) scores past Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brett Kulak (77) during the overtime period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored his second goal of the game 52 seconds into overtime and the New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Tuesday night.

Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists, Ilya Sorokin made 31 saves and New York snapped its two-game skid. Matthew Schaefer added a goal and an assist, and Ryan Pulock also scored for the Islanders.

Justin Brazeau had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who dropped their second consecutive game. Anthony Mantha, Egor Chinakhov and Bryan Rust also scored. Stuart Skinner stopped 18 shots.

Horvat, who also had an assist, buried a breakaway in overtime to give the Islanders a critical victory in their second-to-last game before the Olympic break.

Barzal tied it at 3 midway through the third period, but Brazeau redirected a shot from Brett Kulak to put Pittsburgh ahead 4-3 with 9:20 remaining.

Pulock responded for the Islanders with less than six minutes left in the third to tie it again and force overtime.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby corralled a loose puck behind the net and slid it to Rust, who fired a sharp-angled shot from behind the goal line that caught Sorokin off guard with under six minutes to play in the second.

Brazeau set up Mantha in the slot for the opening goal of the game at 12:09 of the first.

Horvat tied it with less than two minutes left in the period when he buried a rebound.

Schaefer, an 18-year-old rookie defenseman, fired a slap shot from the point in the closing seconds of the first to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead. He has 16 goals and 23 assists.

Chinakhov evened the score at 2 early in the second off a feed from Tommy Novak.

Up next

Penguins: Visit the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

Islanders: Visit the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

 

 

Giroux’s goal with just over five minutes remaining lifts Senators past Penguins 3-2

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Ottawa Senators’ Tyler Kleven (43) and Pittsburgh Penguins’ Connor Dewar (19) collide with Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Claude Giroux scored with just over five minutes remaining in the third period and the Ottawa Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Monday night.

Giroux skated in on goal, was tripped by Erik Karlsson and went hard into the post. The net lifted off its moorings, but officials determined the puck crossed the line first at 14:52.

Giroux, a longtime Philadelphia Flyer, tied Alex Ovechkin for the most points against Pittsburgh by an active player. He has 23 goals and 78 points in 72 games against the Penguins.

Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle scored in his third straight game and Michael Amadio scored his first goal since Dec. 11 at Columbus. Stutzle has four goals in his last five games.

Linus Ullmark made 14 saves for the Senators, who won their fourth straight game. Ottawa has points in nine of its last 11 games overall. Ullmark joined Tony Esposito and Bob Froese as the only goalies in NHL history to win each of their first eight games against Pittsburgh.

Tommy Novak scored for Pittsburgh, and Egor Chinakhov added a goal and an assist. Chinakhov has seven goals in 16 games with Pittsburgh since he was traded from Columbus. Evgeni Malkin continued a six-game point streak with an assist.

Arturs Silovs stopped 28 shots for the Penguins, who had their six-game win streak halted. The Penguins also had a nine-game point streak snapped. Pittsburgh has points in 16 of its last 20 games overall.

Ottawa outshot Pittsburgh 31-16, including a 9-3 margin in the second period, the second-fewest in a period this season for the Penguins.

Amadio and Stutzle scored Ottawa’s first two goals off Pittsburgh turnovers.

Up next

Senators: Continue a three-game trip Tuesday at Carolina.

Penguins: Visit the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

 

Mantha and Acciari score twice, Penguins running winning streak to 6 by holding off the Rangers 6-5

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins’ Anthony Mantha, center, celebrates in the second period with Evgeni Malkin, left, and Sidney Crosby, right, after his second goal of an NHL hockey game against the New York Rangers in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari scored two goals apiece, and the surging Pittsburgh Penguins held off the New York Rangers 6-5 on Saturday for their sixth straight victory.

Mantha and Acciari beat Jonathan Quick twice in a span of just over three minutes early in the first period to give the Penguins an early cushion. Mantha made it 3-0 with an easy tap-in in the second period. Acciari and Rickard Rakell scored 20 seconds apart early in the third to push Pittsburgh’s advantage to 5-1 on a night the franchise celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 2016 club that won the Stanley Cup.

Erik Karlsson became the 12th defenseman in NHL history to reach 700 career assists when he picked up the secondary helper on Rakell’s 10th goal of the season 1:20 into the final period. The other 11 defensemen to reach the 700-assist plateau are in the Hall of Fame.

Stuart Skinner improved to 8-1 in his last nine starts but nearly let a four-goal third period get away.

Alex Lafreniere scored twice for the Rangers. Vincent Trocheck, Vladislav Gavrikov and Will Cuylle all scored during a late rally, but it wasn’t enough for the Rangers to fall to 2-10 since goaltender Igor Shesterkin was lost indefinitely with a lower-body injury.

Until the late surge, New York coach Mike Sullivan — who guided the Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 during a decade-long run as head coach before trading Pittsburgh for New York last summer — watched his team spend most of the afternoon putting up little fight against the surprising Penguins.

Pittsburgh moved into second place by itself in the Metropolitan Division with the victory despite being without veteran defenseman Kris Letang, who will miss at least a month with a fractured left foot sustained in a win over Chicago on Thursday. The 20-year veteran was wearing a protective boot on the foot during a pregame ceremony honoring the 2016 club.

Up next

Rangers: Off until Thursday night, when they host Carolina in the final game before the Olympic break.

Penguins: Host Ottawa on Monday night.

 

NASCAR delays preseason race at Bowman Gray Stadium to Monday

Daniel Suarez (99), left, edges out Kyle Busch (8), center, and Ryan Blaney (12) at the finish line to win during the NASCAR auto race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR has postponed the preseason exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium until Monday night because of ice and snow blanketing the Winston-Salem area.

The Clash was supposed to be a two-day event beginning Saturday, with the main event held Sunday evening. NASCAR late last week cut it to a Sunday-only event in anticipation of poor weather, and as snow blanketed the Carolinas on Saturday, NASCAR made the call to run the race Monday.

“Nothing matters more than the safety of our fans, even when the weather doesn’t cooperate,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president and chief venue & racing innovations officer. “We were ready to fight the weather, and appreciate the collaboration with Winston-Salem and N.C. officials to make the best decision. Our operations team is hard at work for a Monday race.”

The roads around Winston-Salem had not yet totally been cleared from last weekend’s ice storm and then more snow arrived Saturday morning. Forecasts call for as much as 12 inches.

NASCAR said parking lots for fans will open at 9 a.m. Monday, with practice and qualifying scheduled for 11 a.m.

Penguins have 4-goal 2nd period to rout Blackhawks 6-2 for 5th straight win

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea (5) celebrates his goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Egor Chinakhov and Anthony Mantha scored on rushes in a 31-second span in Pittsburgh’s four-goal second period, helping the Penguins beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 on Thursday night for their fifth straight victory.

Connor Dewar scored twice, Ben Kindel and Ryan Shea added goals, and Arturs Silovs made 17 saves. Mantha, Shea and Noel Acciari each had two assists.

The Penguins had been off since sweeping a four-game trip with a victory over Vancouver on Sunday, with forward Bryan Rust starting a three-game suspension for a check to Canucks forward Brock Boeser’s head.

Connor Murphy and Connor Bedard scored for Chicago, and Soderblom stopped 38 shots in the first game of a back-to-back. The Blackhawks have lost four straight, falling 4-3 in a shootout in Minnesota on Tuesday night.

Kindel gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead at 5:54 of the second period. He came down the left side and beat Soderblom to the far side with a wrister.

Chinakhov slipped a shots between Arvid Soderblom’s leg pads with 4:30 left in the period, and Mantha also beat Soderblom through the legs with 3:59 to go. Shea capped the spree with 30 seconds left in the period, and Dewar added his second of the night with 6:01 left in the third.

Bedard fired a wrist shot past Silovs with 5:21 to go for his 21st of the season.

Murphy opened the scoring for Chicago at 9:32 of the first. Dewar tied it 1:52 later.

Penguins forward Rutger McGroarty was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League for his NHL game since sustaining a concussion in practice Jan. 6. He had five shots, three hits and a block in 10:36.

Up next

Blackhawks: Host Columbus on Friday night.

Penguins: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday.