Pittsburgh

The Penguins faced one of the hottest NHL teams on Friday night, the New York Rangers. After the Pens fell by a final score of 3-1, the loss wasn't the only dark cloud over Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Jordan Staal's left knee collided with Mike Rupp late in the third period. Staal immediately went to the ice, writhing in pain. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins rebounded from an ugly loss to the New York Rangers by shutting the Washington Capitals down. The Capitals could only manage two shots on goal in the third period and lost to the Pens by the score of 2-1.

Tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins wrap up their West Coast trip with a game against the Los Angeles Kings. In their previous game, the Pens lost in a shootout to the San Jose Sharks.

If you are like me, you try not to get too worked up about regular season games, whether they are good or bad. Watching each and every game means you will always find some things on either side of the coin, though.

The Pittsburgh Penguins opened their 2011-2012 season with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Their next game is in Calgary against the Flames.

It is probably advantageous for a team to see their flaws early on in the hockey season. Both teams got a glimpse of areas where they can improve in Thursday night's game.

The legal opposition to the demolition of the Civic Arena ran out of chances and time recently. Much like a condemned prisoner, the historical home of the Pittsburgh Penguins has now begun its death march.

Every September die-hard hockey fans look forward to drafting season for fantasy hockey. We get so excited to stack our teams and then we realize that after the first round almost every player you imagined would be on your team is gone.

So here it is, the Ultimate (Or should it be called impossible?) Fantasy team, line by line. Most of the entries will be obvious until we get a bit deeper, but hey, we can still have fun with this can't we?

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After last night's hard-fought loss at the St. Pete Times Forum, one thing is certain if the Pittsburgh Penguins want to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs: Changes must be made.

With the exception of Game 4, when Chris Kunitz was suspended for elbowing Simon Gagne, the Penguins have played with the exact same lineup every game.

This lineup has gotten stale at this point, though, and I believe that there are three changes that need to be made for the Penguins to advance to the next round.

Change is the only certainty in the NHL's salary cap era. Dynasties are harder to come by as teams are forced to make difficult financial and personnel decisions each year, but sustained success can still be had by the clubs which are best able to maneuver within the system.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been one of the most consistently successful clubs since the salary cap was enacted at the beginning of the 2005-06 season, with five straight postseason appearances and counting and a Stanley Cup win to their credit.

Welcome once again to another edition, episode, podcast of the T.J. McAloon and the Sports Half Hour. Today, we were joined by the editor of the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch.com Robert Edward Healy III. 

Sidney Crosby is the talk of the playoffs.

He's practicing daily, slowly regaining the speed and intensity necessary to make a return. Videos of his stick handling sessions are daily headlines. By all accounts, he looks game ready.