The Latest Breaking News from Jake Guentzel

NEW YORK — Back in November 2019, the fire alarm blared inside the visiting locker room at New Jersey’s Prudential Center, a fitting metaphor for the state of panic that permeated throughout the Penguins fanbase that day.

The Rangers have a long way to go before salvaging their first-round playoff series against the Penguins, but on Wednesday night they got one-third of the way there.

PITTSBURGH — Barry Trotz’s simmering concern over Oliver Wahlstrom’s play came to a boil on Thursday when he scratched the young forward for the Islanders’ 6-3 loss to the Penguins, replacing him with Kieffer Bellows.

Linemates Brock Nelson and Anders Lee will almost certainly finish 1-2 in goal scoring for the Islanders this season. The former could reach 40 goals for the first time while the latter, coming off a devastating knee injury last season, is in reach of 30 goals for a third time.

PITTSBURGH — The Penguins had to like what they saw from Rickard Rakell in his first game.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It had been a while since the Penguins played here, but they were quickly reminded of why the locals like to call this place Smashville.

They aren't the highest-scoring points line in the NHL. That's the Calgary line of Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk with 192 points going into Monday night's game. They aren't the best goal-scoring line. That's Toronto's Michael Bunting, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner with 79 goals. But they are…

LAS VEGAS — While the All-Star Game has no impact on the standings, Flyers and Metropolitan Division captain Claude Giroux brought the intensity and the scoring skills he’s displayed all season long.

This was a different Red Wings team Friday in Pittsburgh.