Connect with us

Published

on

Captain Sidney Crosby scored his 600th NHL goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night during his team’s 6-1 loss to the Utah Hockey Club.

Crosby is the 21st player in NHL history to reach the milestone. He landed at 600 with 10 seconds left on a 5-on-3 power play, giving him seven goals in his past 12 games. Crosby finished a one-timer from the right side of the net, set up on a pass from Erik Karlsson at 3:11 of the second period.

“It’s hard to say. There’s lots of time to think about that, when I’m done playing,” Crosby said on the game broadcast when asked where No. 600 ranked on his list of career accomplishments. “But it’s nice to get it. I’ve been hovering right around it.”

According to ESPN Research, Crosby, the No. 1 pick by the Penguins in the 2005 NHL draft, is the seventh player in league history to score 600 goals for a single franchise and the second to do so with Pittsburgh, after Mario Lemieux finished his career with 690 goals.

“It means a lot,” Crosby said when asked how special the accomplishment is to have done so entirely for Pittsburgh. “Obviously, I’ve been here for a long time. And to be able to do it at home and have another memory, it’s special, and happy to see it go in.”

After the goal was announced, the crowd gave Crosby a standing ovation. The Penguins captain acknowledged the fans and raised his stick in the air. His parents, Troy and Trina, were in attendance for the moment.

After the game, however, his thoughts had already turned to his team and its struggles this season.

“It’s not enjoyable, obviously,” Crosby said after Pittsburgh lost for the 14th time in 18 games. “It was a nice reception and a cool moment. I thought we got some momentum and we were doing some good things, and [Utah] got one shortly after. Even with that, we were still in the game, but it got away from us.”

Dylan Guenther scored twice for Utah, while Nick Bjugstad, Jack McBain, Mikhail Sergachev and Alexander Kerfoot also scored. Karel Vejmelka stopped 27 shots for Utah.

Karlsson surpassed Borje Salming for 15th place on the NHL’s career assists list among defensemen. Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for Pittsburgh.

Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are the only active players with at least 600 NHL goals.

Pittsburgh is the second team in NHL history with multiple 600-goal scorers, joining the Detroit Red Wings‘ Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

NHL Bubble Watch: Which eight teams will emerge from the chaos in the East?

Published

on

By

NHL Bubble Watch: Which eight teams will emerge from the chaos in the East?

NHL teams don’t necessarily need a goaltender that can drag them to the Stanley Cup, mostly because those types of netminders are unicorns. What they need is a goalie that can make a save at a critical time; and, perhaps most of all, not lose a game for the team in front of them.

As the NHL playoff picture comes into focus, so does the quality of every team’s most important position. Will their goaltending be the foundation for a playoff berth and postseason run? Or is it the fatal flaw in their designs on the Stanley Cup?

The NHL Bubble Watch is our monthly check-in on the Stanley Cup playoff races using playoff probabilities and points projections from Stathletes for all 32 teams. This month, we’re also giving each contending team a playoff quality goaltending rating based on the classic Consumer Reports review standards: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

We also reveal which teams shouldn’t worry about any of this because they’re lottery-bound already.

But first, a look at the projected playoff bracket:

Continue Reading

Sports

CFP title game viewership down from last year

Published

on

By

CFP title game viewership down from last year

Ohio State‘s 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship game was the most-watched game of the season. However, it was a double-digit drop in viewers from last year.

ESPN announced Wednesday that the Buckeyes’ second national championship in the CFP era averaged 22.1 million viewers. It was the most-watched, non-NFL sporting event over the past year, but a 12% drop from the 25 million who tuned in for Michigan’s 34-13 victory over Washington in 2024.

It was the third-lowest audience of the 11 CFP title games, with all three occurring in the past five years. The audience peaked at 26.1 million viewers during the second quarter (8:30 to 8:45 p.m. ET) when the score was tied at 7.

Since Alabama’s 26-23 overtime victory over Georgia in 2018, the past seven title games have had an average margin of victory of 25.4 points. Ohio State had a 31-7 lead midway through the third quarter before Notre Dame rallied to get within one possession with five minutes remaining in the fourth.

Georgia’s 65-7 rout of TCU in 2023 was the least-viewed title game (17.2 million) followed by Alabama’s 52-24 win over Ohio State in 2021 (18.7 million). The first title game in 2015 — the Buckeyes’ 42-20 victory over Oregon — remains the most-watched college football game by viewers in the CFP era, according to Nielsen at 33.9 million.

This was the first year of the 12-team field. The first round averaged 10.6 million viewers with the quarterfinals at 16.9 million. The semifinals averaged 19.2 million, a 17% decline from last year. Both semifinal games in 2024 though were played on Jan. 1. Michigan’s OT victory over Alabama in the Rose Bowl drew a bigger audience (27.7 million) than the Wolverines’ win in the title game.

CFP games ended up being nine of the 10 most-viewed this season. Georgia’s OT win over Texas in the SEC championship on ABC/ESPN was sixth at 16.6 million.

Continue Reading

Sports

Sources: Irish’s Golden back to Bengals as DC

Published

on

By

Sources: Irish's Golden back to Bengals as DC

CINCINNATI — A familiar face is headed back to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden is expected to join the Bengals in the same role, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Wednesday. The news comes two days after the Fighting Irish lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.

Golden, 55, spent the past three seasons as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. He replaces Lou Anarumo, who held the post for the past six seasons before he was fired after the Bengals missed the postseason.

This will be Golden’s second stint on Zac Taylor’s coaching staff. Before taking the job at Notre Dame, he was Cincinnati’s linebackers coach during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. During those years, Golden played an integral role in leading a defense that helped the Bengals reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years.

The Fighting Irish’s defense was a major reason why Notre Dame was a win away from its first national championship since 1988. Entering the CFP final against the Buckeyes, Notre Dame’s defense ranked fourth among Power 4 teams in points allowed per drive (1.21), according to ESPN Research.

He will be tasked with leading a Bengals defense that looks vastly different from just a couple of years ago. Staples from that Super Bowl team, including safety Jessie Bates III and defensive tackle DJ Reader, departed in free agency in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Last season, Anarumo was tasked with balancing a group that featured aging veterans, injuries at key positions and inexperience at others.

Eventually, the defense figured things out during the Bengals’ five-game winning streak to close the regular season. But with Cincinnati missing the postseason for a second straight year, Taylor opted for a staff shake-up. Along with Anarumo, offensive line coach Frank Pollack and defensive line coach Marion Hobby were among those who were not retained.

On Monday, Cincinnati announced Scott Peters as Pollack’s replacement and Michael McCarthy as the assistant offensive line coach. Later in the day, Anarumo was hired as the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive coordinator.

The Bengals will need to improve a unit that finished near the bottom of the league in several key categories. Last season, Cincinnati was 26th in points allowed per drive, 30th in defensive red zone efficiency and 30th in first downs allowed per game, according to ESPN Research.

Cincinnati is trying to build around star quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase as the team looks to end a two-year playoff drought. Burrow was named to his second Pro Bowl following a career year. Chase made his fourth Pro Bowl in as many NFL seasons and joined defensive end Trey Hendrickson as the team’s first All-Pro selections since 2015.

Continue Reading

Trending