Phil Hughes gets 3 years, $24 million from the Twins

Phil Hughes was among the bounce back candidates the Pirates looked into early in free agency but it’s no wonder they never made a strong push for him. Lavelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune reports the Minnesota Twins and Hughes have agreed to a three year deal worth $24 million. Hughes went 4-14 with a 5.19 ERA last season with the Yankees.

Takeaway’s & Observations: Malkin puts on a show, Zatkoff excellent in goal in 5-1 win over Panthers

PITTSBURGH 5 – FLORIDA 1 The streaky Penguins extended their winning streak to three games with a 5-1 win over the lowly Florida Panthers. The game, though, wasn’t as lopsided in the Penguins favor as the final score might indicate. The Panthers were the better team at times and outshot Pittsburgh 40-22 but bad teams sometimes just have some bad luck and Florida couldn’t finish. What also didn’t help the Panthers tonight was that Evgeni Malkin put on a show in the victory with a four point night. The Penguins improved to 18-9-1, 37 pts) on the season. Takeaway’s & Observations — Evgeni Malkin had a goal and three assists and don’t look now but he’s just one point behind

Fleury has strong bounce back game to post 3-0 shutout win over Lightning

PITTSBURGH 3 – TAMPA BAY 0 Marc Andre Fleury bounced back after a couple of poor starts to make 21 saves in a 3-0 shutout win over the Tampa Bay Lightning (16-9-1, 33 pts) on Friday evening. It was Fleury’s third shutout of the season and 14th win of the season. The Penguins played far from a perfect game defensively and when they needed Fleury to be great, he was. “He was our best player tonight and a big reason why we won,” captain Sidney Crosby said of Fleury. Speaking of Crosby, he picked up three assists to give him 36 points on the season and Crosby reached 700 career points, becoming the fastest active player to reach that milestone

Steelers playoff hopes back on life support and deserving team won Thanksgiving night

The Pittsburgh Steelers playoff hopes are back on life support with a 22-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving Night. Here are some key takeaway’s from the loss: When you start 0-4 and then lose on the road to a bad Raiders team, you leave yourself no room for error. However, the bottom line last night is that the Ravens were the deserving team to win. The Steelers were plagued by mistakes in all three phases: — Offensively the Steelers had a nice rally in the second half to come within a two-point conversion of sending the game to overtime but again the team was plagued by a slow start and that can’t be overlooked when evaluating this offense

Takeaways & Observations from the Penguins thrilling 6-5 shootout win over the Leafs

PITTSBURGH 6 – TORONTO 5 (SO) 1. We saw the good and the bad from Penguins Wednesday night in their thrilling 6-5 shootout come from behind win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Penguins were a disaster in the first 30 minutes with turnovers and suspect goaltending, falling behind 4-1, 42 seconds into the second period. “I think you can look at four specific mistakes that we made, whether it’s with the puck or mental mistakes, that gave them goals,” Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma said. Costly mistakes came from Marc Andre Fleury, Kris Letang and the Penguins only having four players on the ice for a goal against, plagued the Penguins in the first 30 minutes. But, Memo to

Post-Morning Skate Buzz: Some Thoughts and a look at tonight’s expected lineup

MORNING SKATE BUZZ Leafs (14-9-1, 29 pts) @ Penguins (15-9-1, 31 pts) — The loss of Paul Martin is an obvious blow to the Penguins but don’t expect Martin’s injury to have any impact on his roster spot with Team USA. He’s on the team. — The Penguins continue to make some odd personnel decisions and they have continued with the decision to send Brian Gibbons down and recalling Chris Conner. The Penguins sent a smallish player in Gibbons down for an even smaller and less productive player in Chris Conner. Conner, 5-foot-6, will play on the third line with Brandon Sutter and Andrew Ebbett. You won’t find a more smaller third line on the wings than the Penguins will

Matt D’Agostini claimed by Buffalo Sabres

Forward Matt D’Agostini was awarded to the Buffalo Sabres on waivers. The Penguins tried to trade D’Agostini in the last week prior to putting him on waivers yesterday. There were obviously no takers but it’s not surprising D’Agostini got claimed.

Paul Martin out 4-6 weeks with a fractured tibia

Defenseman Paul Martin will be sidelined for 4-6 weeks due to a fractured tibia, head coach Dan Bylsma announced moments ago. The Penguins are now down their best defensive defensemen in Paul Martin and Rob Scuderi.

Penguins recall Despres, Megna and Conner

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled defenseman Simon Despres and forwards Jason Megna and Chris Conner. The callup’s for Megna and Conner are their second callup’s of the season. Despres who some can argue should have been up with the NHL club weeks ago, gets his first callup of the season with Paul Martin out for an extended period.