The Latest Breaking News from Jake Guentzel

PITTSBURGH — Forty seconds into Saturday’s loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sidney Crosby was booting the boards in frustration and the Penguins were already behind.

PITTSBURGH — There was a sense heading into this Saturday night clash with a slumping, ailing foe that the Kraken had an opportunity to chart a course well beyond that of a .500 team.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — It seemed like the Penguins may have finally kicked their habit of periodic fits of futility when they had a responsible start Wednesday, an opening 30 minutes or so when they played a smart style, regularly closing gaps on Sabres skaters and denying passing lanes.

SEATTLE — Jordan Eberle was not to be denied.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Pittsburgh Penguins’ early-season funk continued on Friday with a 5-1 loss to the lowly Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena.

CALGARY, Alberta – The big boys of Alberta were quite rude to the Penguins.

PITTSBURGH — It was hardly a complete effort. But the Penguins on Thursday skated away with a 6-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings — and plenty to feel good about.

Perhaps it's the start of something bigger, a season-long tour de force where the Penguins prove to the rest of the NHL that rumors of their demise were premature, that the old guys can keep up and the younger core can play a little, too.

PITTSBURGH — Mike Sullivan’s squad on Saturday aced its first true test of the young season.

PITTSBURGH — No, that was not another preseason game for the Penguins. It just felt like it.

When Mike Sullivan was hired to coach the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the summer of 2015, he remembers meeting a wide-eyed, speedy winger only a couple years removed from his college career at Notre Dame named Bryan Rust.