Penguins Today: Vintage Sidney Crosby and a family reunion

New York Times

30-01-2025

Anyone who stayed awake to watch the Penguins' stretch of late games deserves a treat. And for most of their game in Utah last night, you probably figured on settling for a Pop-Tart or anything else hiding in the cupboards.
But your favorite team is captained by Sidney Crosby, and well … good gravy!
BACKHAND KING 👑 pic.twitter.com/F2j63j2Iws
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 30, 2025
Josh Yohe captured the moment from Salt Lake City. There isn't much more I can add, other than a reminder that Crosby's backhand is as wicked a weapon as the NHL has known.
The Penguins really needed that victory over Utah Hockey Club.
Not because the two points dramatically improve their playoff chances. Not because it's a signal that a second run of winning is about to start.
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They just needed something good to happen at the end of a seven-game road trip. That return flight to Pittsburgh today won't feel as long.
The Hershey Bears are the standard-bearing AHL franchise, and the Penguins' AHL affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, put it to them last night. Where to begin?
Ville Koivunen has his FOURTH goal of the game. 7-0 #WBSPens.
A nifty move & Koivunen pokes it through the five-hole. WOW!@InsideAHLHockey pic.twitter.com/dZtglgPPZZ
— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) January 30, 2025
• Ville Koivunen and Vasily Ponomarev, two of the prospects acquired in the Penguins' Jake Guentzel trade last season, each turned hat tricks. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had never had two players score hat tricks in the same game.
• Emil Bemström recorded four assists, as did Filip Král, who also added a goal.
• The 9-0 victory was the largest margin for a win in franchise history.
Two of Kyle Dubas' objectives when he was hired to run the Penguins' hockey side two years ago were to improve the prospect system and make Wilkes-Barre/Scranton competitive. This is hardly a mission-accomplished moment, but things are going well.
Koivunen and Ponomarev are two prospects fans want to see in Pittsburgh soon. The AHL Penguins are 23-10-4-0 with several games in hand because of an arena issue, so it's fair to consider them a contender for the Calder Cup.
Things might look bleak for the Penguins at the NHL level, but that's not the case throughout the entire organization — and that's not nothing.
There is no shortage of Pittsburgh ties to Utah Hockey Club. One could become the best NHL player Pittsburgh has produced: Logan Cooley.
He's skilled. He's smart. He's growing into his frame. He goes to the net.
Offensively, Cooley checks all the boxes. He's the type of talent a franchise builds a top line around and expects it to work for a decade.
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Former Penguins defenseman Ian Cole, one of four notable former Penguins on Utah's roster, compared Cooley to 'a young Nathan MacKinnon.'
Enough said, right?
The Penguins donned Pittsburgh's colors — black and gold — for the first time on this date in 1980.
Original general manager Jack Riley picked the original colors (Columbia blue, navy blue, black). I asked the late Riley years ago why he didn't pick black and gold, and he said he wanted the Penguins to stand out from the Pirates and Steelers and the Pittsburgh Hornets, a popular minor-league team that predated the Penguins. Also, he said, 'I'm from Toronto, and the team there wore blue — blue is a hockey color.'
I miss Riley. He attended games at Civic Arena and PPG Paints Arena until late in a life well-lived. He was a gentleman. More Penguins fans should know about him.
I'm a fan of the Penguins' blue uniforms, especially the mid-to-late 1970s ones that have never been reimagined as a third kit. Here's hoping that changes.
Anyway, as the story goes, the Penguins had to win approval from the NHL to change to black and gold. The Boston Bruins fought them on the issue. Precedent from Pittsbugh's original NHL franchise, the Pirates, carried the day for the Penguins' quest. And they broke out the black and gold on Super Bowl Sunday a few hours before the Steelers won their fourth title in six seasons against the Los Angeles Rams.
• Yesterday, Utah Hockey Club announced three potential team names and will put them to a fan vote. Yeti, sadly, won't be one. Nor will Blizzard, which was my personal choice. Anything other than Utah Hockey Club will do.
• The Devils have struggled since the NHL's holiday break. They'll probably be fine, especially given the relatively weak state of the Eastern Conference. Might the NHL's first woman GM be honing her craft in New Jersey? Peter Baugh documents Meghan Duggan's 'huge, lofty goal' in this story.
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• The Athletic has launched an Alex Ovechkin tracker as he closes in on Wayne Gretzky's goal record. It forecasts a 10 percent chance he will do the deed in Pittsburgh at the end of the season. The hockey gods should let him break it at home, but if not, in Pittsburgh against the Penguins would be fitting given the eternal link between Ovechkin and Crosby.
Enjoy the weekend, everyone. The Penguins will finally play a home game!
(Photo of Sidney Crosby: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)