Category: Sports

Guentzel’s OT winner lifts Penguins over Panthers 3-2

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored on a breakaway 2:44 into overtime to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Guentzel took a lead pass from Sidney Crosby and slipped a backhand by Roberto Luongo for his second goal of the night and 33rd this season. Pittsburgh picked up two vital points as it tries to create some breathing room in its pursuit of a playoff berth.

Crosby finished with a goal and two assists on the night he became the 48th player in NHL history to reach 1,200 points. Matt Murray had 32 saves for the Penguins. Matt Cullen played 12:36 in his 1,500th career game.

Henrik Borgstrom and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Panthers but Florida dropped its fifth straight — four of them in overtime — when Guentzel found his way behind the defense and came in all alone on Luongo, who made 34 stops but couldn’t reach out and get his glove on Guentzel’s winner.

The 42-year-old Cullen — affectionately known as “Dad” on the club he helped win consecutive Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 — joined some elite company more than a full generation after his NHL debut, becoming the second American-born player and 20th overall to reach the 1,500-game plateau. His teammates honored him by wearing black jerseys with his familiar No. 7 in warmups, and Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel all helped present Cullen with a handful of gifts, including a silver stick and a Penguins-themed ATV.

A short video tribute ended by thanking Cullen for the memories while urging him to help create more. Fitting. The Penguins are in need of a memorable stretch to assure themselves a 13th straight postseason berth. Hardly a given for a talented if erratic club that’s spent the last five months mixing bursts of vintage play with lengthy stretches of mediocrity.

Facing a team whose playoff prospects are eroding by the day, it was more of the same.

Florida needed just 1:45 to take the lead when Borgstrom’s shot from the left circle was redirected into the net by Pittsburgh defenseman Erik Gudbranson. The Penguins pressed to tie it thanks in part to some spirited play by Kessel, who is riding a goalless streak that dates back to Jan. 30. Luongo fended off two quality chances from Kessel in the first period but Pittsburgh pulled even 16 seconds into the second when Mike Matheson’s turnover ended up on Crosby’s stick in the Florida zone.

Crosby tried to slip the puck to Jared McCann but it was poke-checked away. No matter. Guentzel jumped on the loose puck and beat Luongo from the slot. Crosby’s 55th assist of the season also made him the 48th NHL player to reach 1,200 points.

Crosby needed less than 10 minutes to pick up career point No. 1,201. With the Penguins on the power play, he threaded a pass to Kessel. Luongo made the stop but the rebound went right to Crosby, who pounded it home at 10:01 of the second period to reach 30 goals for the ninth time in his career.

Trocheck, a Pittsburgh native, evened it at 2 when his one-timer from the bottom of the left circle zipped past Murray with 2:29 to go in the second.

NOTES: Pittsburgh D Kris Letang skated in the morning but continues to wear a red “no contact” jersey while recovering from an upper-body injury that has sidelined him for the last four games. … The Penguins are the fourth NHL team to have two players reach 1,200 points with one franchise, joining Boston, Montreal and Detroit. … The Panthers went 1 for 3 on the power play. The Penguins were 1 for 2.

UP NEXT

Panthers: Play at Boston on Thursday.

Penguins: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. The Penguins have won each of the first two meetings between the Metropolitan Division rivals.

 

Scoring Updates: Penguins vs. Panthers, Tuesday March 5, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.

 

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Cullen Ready To Play In 1500th Career Game Tonight Against Florida

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

The fans don’t call him “Dad” without a proper reason.

Matt Cullen, the usual fourth-line center for the Penguins, will be playing in his 1500th career NHL game tonight when he suits up in his #7 jersey for the black and gold. The game will put Cullen by himself at 20th on the all-time games played list, surpassing Mike Modano (1499).

He is a three-time Stanley Cup winner, winning his first with Carolina in 2006 and the latter two with Pittsburgh in 2016-17. Cullen began his career in the 1997-98 season with the Anaheim Ducks, and has spent time with 5 other teams over his 21-year career: Florida, Ottawa, NY Rangers, Minnesota, and Nashville (the latter two not even existing at the beginning of Cullen’s career).

Coverage for Cullen’s milestone game begins at 6:30 tonight on Beaver County Radio. Puck drop from the PPG Paints Arena is at 7:00.

Guentzel, Crosby power Penguins past Canadiens 5-1

MONTREAL (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored two goals and had two assists and Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Evgeni Malkin and Jared McCann — into an empty net — also scored for Pittsburgh, and Matt Murray stopped 36 of 37 shots.

Both the Penguins and Canadiens have 77 points in the standings. Pittsburgh is in the first wild-card spot with the victory, while Montreal dropped down into the second slot.

Brendan Gallagher scored the only goal for the Canadiens. Carey Price gave up four goals on 24 shots and remained one victory away from tying Jacques Plante’s franchise record with 314.

It was the second of back-to-back games for both teams. Pittsburgh lost 4-3 in overtime in Buffalo on Friday, while Montreal defeated the New York Rangers 4-2.

The Canadiens outshot the Penguins 37-25, but Pittsburgh took better advantage of their chances and jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on its first four shots of the game.

The Penguins needed just 21 seconds to beat Price after a bad giveaway by Jordie Benn in his own zone led to Crosby’s deflected goal.

They doubled their lead on the power play when Malkin’s slap shot changed course on a deflection by Joel Armia at 4:38.

Pittsburgh finished 1 for 3 with the man advantage.

Guentzel went five-hole on Price at 8:51 right after a faceoff win by Crosby for his first goal of the night and 30th of the season, his first time reaching the milestone.

The Penguins went the next 11:09 of the first period without firing a shot on net — but still led 3-0 at intermission.

Guentzel netted his second of the game 6:24 into the second period with a precise wrist shot into the top corner of the net.

Pittsburgh’s leading scorer nearly completed a hat trick late while on a breakaway in the second, but Price made a nice glove save.

The Canadiens scored their only goal when Gallagher beat Murray for his team-leading 29th of the season with a shot from inside the left face-off circle.

McCann added the empty-netter with 1:24 left.

NOTES: Crosby has 10 points on his current four-game scoring streak. He also moved into second place on Pittsburgh’s all-time scoring list with his 440th career tally.

UP NEXT

Penguins: host Florida on Tuesday night.

Canadiens: at Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

Scoring Update: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Canadiens Saturday, March 2nd 2019

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New Castle Defeats Quaker Valley In 4A Boys Championship For 3rd Straight Season

 

New Castle 60, Quaker Valley 54.

For the third consecutive year, the Quaker Valley Quakers fall to the New Castle Red Hurricane in the WPIAL 4A Boys’ Championship at the Petersen Events Center on Beaver County Radio.

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The Quakers led by as much as 10, and took a 43-34 lead into the final quarter. But over those 8 minutes, CCBC Player of The Game Drew Cox came alive for the Canes, scoring most of his 20 points in the 4th as New Castle outscored a frozen Quaker Valley 26-11 in the final frame. Ryan Stowers had 31 for the Quakers, earning CCBC Player honors for QV.

Tom Hays has the recap:

Link for WPIAL Boys Basketball Class 4A Championship – Quaker Valley vs. New Castle on WBVP/WMBA and Trib-Live High School Sports Network, Saturday March 2, 12:30 pm.

1230 WBVP and 1460 WMBA’s Bob Barrickman and Tom Hays have the call from the Petersen Events Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh of this 2019 WPIAL Class 4A Boys Basketball Championship Game as the Quakers battle the defending champion Red Hurricanes.

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If you can’t tune into the broadcast on 1230 WBVP 1460 WMBA and want to hear the broadcast streaming live over the Trib-Live High School Sports Network click on the logo below at 12:30 p.m. for for the pre-game. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m……….

 

Pens fall to Sabres 4 to 3 in overtime

Conor Sheary scores 2 in Sabres’ 4-3 OT win over Penguins
By JOHN WAWROW, AP Hockey Writer
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Conor Sheary and the Buffalo Sabres aren’t ready to be counted out of the Eastern Conference playoff race just yet.
With Buffalo in jeopardy of fading further down the standings, Sheary assisted on Brandon Montour’s tying goal with 2:32 left in regulation and scored his second of the game with 49 seconds left in overtime in a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
“We know at this point of the year we’ve got to press for every point we can get,” Sheary said. “So these two points were really important. I get the opportunity to be in some really good positions being out there in overtime, and I was able to take advantage.”
After both teams traded scoring chances, Sheary scored on a giveaway in the Penguins end. Marcus Pettersson’s pass up the left boards skipped off the stick of teammate Evgeni Malkin and directly to Sheary. He then cut into the middle and, using Phil Kessel as a screen, snapped a shot that beat goalie Matt Murray over his right shoulder.
The goal was allowed to stand after the NHL reviewed whether the Sabres were offside upon first entering the zone. Though a replay showed Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin crossing the blue line with the puck behind him, the league ruled Dahlin had possession.
“It was big. We’ve been in a rut late,” said Sabres captain Jack Eichel, who also scored. “It was awesome to see ‘Shears’ get rewarded against his old team.”
Scoring clutch goals was a key reason the Sabres acquired Sheary in trade with the Penguins last June. And though he’s only scored 11 times in 60 games for Buffalo, Sheary on Friday provided Buffalo a tremendous boost at time it was slipping out of the playoff race.
By improving to 2-5-1 in their past seven, the Sabres jumped into 11th place in the East, and now sit seven points back of eighth-place Columbus and Pittsburgh, which remained in ninth.
Linus Ullmark stopped 41 shots for Buffalo.
Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist scored power-play goals 63 seconds apart late in the second period, and Nick Bjugstad also had a goal for the Penguins. Crosby’s goal was the 439th of his career to move into a tie with Jaromir Jagr for second on the franchise list.
Murray stopped 26 shots as the Penguins dropped to 5-2-2 in their past nine.
With five weeks left in the season, the aging and injury-depleted Penguins are suddenly facing questions of potentially missing the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons.
“We need to fight. It’s not easy games anymore. We understand that it’s not easy and it’s a good challenge before the playoffs,” Malkin said.
Defenseman Erik Gudbranson made his Penguins debut since being acquired in a trade with Vancouver on Monday. In the meantime, defensemen Brian Dumoulin (concussion) and Kris Letang (upper body) missed their second straight game and have already been ruled out from playing at Montreal on Saturday.
“It’s frustrating for sure that we let a point get away because it was there to be had,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “But I thought for the most of the night we were the better team.”
The Penguins outshot Buffalo 44-30 overall, and went ahead 3-2 with 1:39 left in the second period when Hornqvist and Crosby scored with Sabres forward Scott Wilson serving a double-minor penalty for high sticking Pettersson.
The Sabres responded when Montour, playing in his first game in Buffalo since being acquired in a trade with Anaheim on Sunday, tied it by knuckling in a shot from the blue line that beat Murray on the right, glove side.
It marked Buffalo’s second consecutive overtime win over the Penguins. The Sabres rallied from a 4-1 deficit to beat the Penguins 5-4 in overtime at Pittsburgh in November.
Despite the loss, the Penguins and Crosby continued their lengthy string of dominance over Buffalo.
Pittsburgh improved to 14-0-3 in its past 17 meetings, and hasn’t lost to the Sabres in regulation since Buffalo’s 4-2 win on April 23, 2013. And the Penguins improved to 8-0-2 in their past 10 visits to Buffalo since a 6-2 loss on Feb. 19, 2012.
Crosby has a point in 34 of 38 games against the Sabres — a stretch in which he has 20 goals and 39 assists.
NOTES: Sabres C Vladimir Sobotka is listed as day to day after sustaining an upper-body injury in 5-2 loss at Philadelphia on Tuesday. … Sabres D Marco Scandella was out with a lower-body injury. …. Hornqvist became just the second player selected last in the draft to appear in his 700th career game. He joined Kim Johnsson (selected 286th by Rangers in 1994), who played 739 games. Hornqvist was selected 230th overall by Nashville in 2005. … Linesman Brad Kovachik worked his 1,500th career game.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Conclude four-game road trip at Canadiens on Saturday.
Sabres: At Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports