Penguins Nation

As the 2014-15 NHL regular season heads into its third month, the Pittsburgh Penguins are once again in a familiar spot, atop the Metropolitan Division, and have the look of a Stanley Cup contender. While their success is not surprising, some of the reasons for their success are, and as the season wears on, it remains to be seen whether these are a sign of things to come or simply blips on the radar. As the team looks ahead to a busy December with 14 games in 31 days, let's take a look at the five biggest surprises for the Pittsburgh Penguins so far ...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are off to a good start in 2014-15. After a 1-0 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night, the Penguins boast a 17-5-2 record through 24 games. That's good for top spot in the Metropolitan Division and second overall in the NHL. Last weekend, for a brief moment, Pittsburgh sat at the top of the league standings. The race for No. 1 is very tight this season, but the Penguins are in line to contend for the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the best regular-season record. Though Pittsburgh has won three Stanley Cups in its 47-year franchise ...

With the November 19 announcement that first-line right wing Pascal Dupuis is sidelined for months with a blood clot, hockey experts prognosticated that the Pittsburgh Penguins would need to swing a trade to add depth at forward. "Not so fast," says current Penguin Blake Comeau. With a hat trick on Wednesday to give the Penguins an overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Comeau served notice that he's ready to make the most of his opportunity to play with Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz. The line combined to open the scoring just 26 seconds into Wednesday's game. Comeau added his second of ...

When Pittsburgh Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis was sidelined for the season Nov. 19 with a blood clot in his leg, it heightened the need for a capable top-six forward to pair with either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. First-year Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford has been aggressive in the past when he held the same role with the Carolina Hurricanes by acquiring players his team needs before the trade deadline. In fact, the word "aggressive" and Rutherford seem to be synonymous with each other. As Kevin Allen of USA Today Sports pointed out, Rutherford is no stranger to being forceful when he realizes his ...

November has been a good month for Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. He's 6-1-1 in eight starts with two shutouts and was rewarded by general manager Jim Rutherford with a four-year, $23 million contract extension on November 5, per Patrick Williams of NHL.com. On Monday night, the 29-year-old Fleury joined an elite group of netminders when he turned aside 27 shots for the 300th win of his NHL career—a 3-2 overtime road victory over the Boston Bruins. As Matt Kalman of NHL.com explains, "Jacques Plante and Andy Moog are the only goaltenders to reach that milestone in fewer games, and Martin Brodeur and Terry Sawchuk are the only ones to do ...

For decades, the Pittsburgh Penguins' template for success was to rely on skilled skaters to outscore the opposition. This season, Pittsburgh has added a strong defensive component to its arsenal. A commitment to playing well on both sides of the puck should help the Penguins keep winning games despite the absence of one of their best two-way players, right wing Pascal Dupuis. There's a lot more to this year's team than a world-class top line. When the Penguins won their first Stanley Cups, they finished 18th in goals against in 1990-91 and 20th the following season in a 22-team league. During their ...

The health scares keep on coming for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team's off to a great start with a 13-3-1 record, but its fine early-season performance was overshadowed on Wednesday by the news that right wing Pascal Dupuis has been diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung and will be out of action for at least six months. It's a scary situation for the 35-year-old, who missed 43 regular-season games and all of the playoffs last year after undergoing knee surgery. Dupuis has started the 2014-15 season well, recording six goals and five assists in 16 games and escaping serious injury on October ...

Pascal Dupuis is one of the nicer, smarter men you could ever encounter in an NHL locker room. Need a thoughtful quote whether things are going well or poorly for the Pittsburgh Penguins? You got it. Need a few minutes of his time as he's making his escape to a back room away from the media? He'll make a U-turn and talk to you. That's what makes the news that Dupuis will miss six months after he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung that much more disheartening. NHL.com's Wes Crosby reports it's the second time in less than a year ...

The Pittsburgh Penguins were dealt a major blow Wednesday as it was announced that forward Pascal Dupuis has been lost for the remainder of the 2014-15 regular season.According to Penguins.com, Dupuis will be on the shelf for at least six months due to a blood clot in his lung. Team physician Dr. Dharmesh Vyas elaborated on his condition:Pascal had a blood clot in his leg that traveled to his lung. In medical terms, that is a deep vein thrombosis resulting in a pulmonary embolism. This is the second such incident that we know of for Pascal. The treatment is at ...

With the Pittsburgh Penguins rolling comfortably through the early part of the 2014-15 season, general manager Jim Rutherford is already focused on locking up the team's key talent for future years. On November 5, Rutherford inked starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a four-year contract extension. Veteran defenseman Paul Martin should be the next potential free agent on his to-do list. Martin's contract will expire on July 1. With many teams around the league currently looking for blue-line help, the Penguins could be tempted to trade him during the season to help shore up their forward ranks. But if Pittsburgh is serious about ...