Since taking over the behind the Penguins' bench in mid-February, Dan Bylsma could do no wrong during his head coaching debut in Pittsburgh. His hiring, combined with the return of defenseman Sergei Gonchar, and the in-season acquisitions of Chris Kunitz, Bill Guerin and Craig Adams, helped the Penguins win their first Stanley Cup in 17 years.
The Pittsburgh Penguins ended a 17-year Stanley Cup drought on Friday night with a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings, giving the franchise its third championship. While current general manager Ray Shero will get his name on the cup for overseeing the hockey operations the past three seasons, former general manager Craig Patrick also had a hand in putting this team together.
After the jump, a player-by-player look at how the 2008-09 Penguins were built over the years.
After asking where the bitterness was in the Penguins-Hurricanes series, it took us all of one game to potentially find some. Late in the third period of Pittsburgh's 3-2 win on Monday night, Penguins forward Matt Cooke and Hurricanes forward Erik Cole were involved in a knee-on-knee collision that resulted in Cole leaving the game and not returning. The Hurricanes, as one would expect, weren't all that happy with the play.
On Wednesday, the NHL announced there will be no punishment for Cooke in the form of a suspension, while Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports there is no word yet on whether or not he will be issued a fine.
Well this is kind of a letdown. After watching the Penguins take on long-time rivals Philadelphia and Washington in the first two rounds of the Eastern Conference playoffs, they're now taking on the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final. It's a match-up that offers nothing in the way of hatred, bitterness or rivalry. Hopefully the Staal brothers pull a Keith and Wayne Primeau and fight sometime in the first two games. You know, just to stir the pot a little bit.
Having said that, this is an interesting match-up when it comes to hockey and that, of course, is the most important thing. It should be an exciting series, and who knows, perhaps by the end of it both teams will end up hating each other anyway.
It's not exactly a national secret that hockey teams tend to go through coaching changes about as often as a high school kid goes through a change of clothes (speaking on personal experience, that's about once per year). As we begin the conference finals, it's probably worth pointing out that three of the four teams taking part -- the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks -- experienced a change behind the bench during the regular season.
WASHINGTON -- Just a couple of minutes into the second period of Wednesday night's big hockey game at the raucous arena here nicknamed The Phone Booth, let's just say the line went dead. All of a sudden, you could barely hear a thing, except for that scraping sound that metal blades make sliding across the ice.
At this particular point, they were the skates laced to the feet -- the clay feet, as it turns out -- of Simeon Varlamov, the young goalie for the hometown Capitals. He was skating to the swinging door of his team's bench, head down, and would not come back. A fourth puck had just screamed past him and into the back of the net
Though we won't know for sure until the puck actually drops, KDKA, via its Pittsburgh Sports Insider blog, is reporting that Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar will play in game 7. It's not known how much he will actually play, but it's likely he will see extensive time on the power play. His mere presence on the bench should be an emotional boost to the Penguins. Gonchar was injured in Pittsburgh's 5-3 win in game 4 when he was hit by Alex Ovechkin. [Pittsburgh Sports Insider]
The Pittsburgh Penguins will likely wait until the last possible second to announce whether or not defenseman Sergei Gonchar will play in game 7, but that won't stop us from speculating. According to Shelly Anderson and Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Gonchar took part in Wednesday's morning skate, practicing for the second day in a row. This, of course, leaves open the possibility of him being active for Wednesday's win-or-go home throw down at the Verizon Center. If he plays, it's entirely possible that the Penguins could use him simply as a power play specialist. Alex Goligoski and Philippe Boucher played the past two games in his absence. [Pittsburgh Post Gazette]
After reports surfaced this morning that Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar would be a game-time decision for Saturday's game 5 in Washington, TSN's Darren Dreger is reporting that the veteran rearguard will miss several weeks, perhaps even the remainder of the season with "an apparent knee injury."
Also in the report is word that the NHL will not suspend Alex Ovechkin for dishing out the hit that resulted in Gonchar's injury. That news isn't exactly surprising, but it's still not sitting well with Gonchar's agent, JP Barry.
Since taking over the behind the Penguins' bench in mid-February, Dan Bylsma could do no wrong during his head coaching debut in Pittsburgh. His hiring, combined with the return of defenseman Sergei Gonchar, and the in-season acquisitions of Chris Kunitz, Bill Guerin and Craig Adams, helped the Penguins win their first Stanley Cup in 17 years. 
After asking 
Well this is kind of a letdown. After watching the Penguins take on long-time rivals Philadelphia and Washington in the first two rounds of the Eastern Conference playoffs, they're now taking on the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final. It's a match-up that offers nothing in the way of hatred, bitterness or rivalry. Hopefully the Staal brothers 
WASHINGTON -- Just a couple of minutes into the second period of Wednesday night's big hockey game at the raucous arena here nicknamed The Phone Booth, let's just say the line went dead. All of a sudden, you could barely hear a thing, except for that scraping sound that metal blades make sliding across the ice.
After being knocked out of Friday's game on 
After reports surfaced this morning that Penguins defenseman 
