Penguins

The signs of penguins in love were unmistakable at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach on Monday: puffing their chests, standing on tiptoes while clicking their beaks together, belting out donkey-like brays. The colony of 13 Magellanic penguins, which recently moved from holding pens to a new $1.5-million exhibit that opens to the public Thursday, has seethed with courting rituals since the arrival of breeding season. One pair is already tending to a newly hatched chick.

The Bruins and the Red Sox, Boston-based professional sports teams with home games that had been scheduled for Friday, postponed competition as authorities searched for and apprehended a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. Regional rail and bus systems were closed part of the day after Gov. Deval Patrick urged residents of Boston and nearby areas to avoid going out in public. Many fans use mass transit to attend hockey games at TD Garden and watch the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby watched the Penguins raise their Stanley Cup banner, then got the NHL champions off to a familiar start by scoring their first two goals during a 3-2 victory against the New York Rangers on Friday night. Crosby and Tyler Kennedy scored 1:08 apart in the second period to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead and allow them to withstand Marian Gaborik's first goal for the Rangers, the only scoring during the third period. Malkin, the league's leading scorer last season, and Crosby each got their first of the season and Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves, including a glove-hand stop on Vaclav Prospal in the first period.

Playing without young star Sidney Crosby for the first time this season, the Penguins' winning streak came to an end Tuesday when Pittsburgh lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1. The Penguins (28-9-0), who had won 15 consecutive games heading in to Tuesday night's matchup with the Sabres (14-17-6), were two games shy of tying the NHL record of 17 straight wins set by the 1992-93 Penguins. Veteran right wing Jarome Iginla, whom Pittsburgh recently acquired from the Calgary Flames for a pair of college prospects and a first-round draft pick, scored his first goal for the Penguins -- the team's only goal of the night.

What happened last week to Ted Engelbart's penguins that are usually found with the restaurant listings at the back near Restaurant Notebook? It's the first thing we look for, with everyone saying, "Where are the penguins eating today?" So where were they? BONNIE IKEMURA & FAMILY Los Angeles Last week they were vacationing (They sent the post card above) . This week they're on Page 93.

Penguins traipse past the Golden Gate bridge, pay a visit to the beach and hold up traffic during a trip through the Golden State in a TV commercial from Minneapolis-based HMS Partners for Mervyn's California. Mervyn's chose penguins as part of its effort to boost holiday receipts. Sales at the retailer fell 2.8% in the third quarter, and parent Dayton-Hudson has threatened to sell the chain. How Hollywood-based post-production house Post Logic Studios put the ad together:

Wild Adelie penguins have killer appetites - and they rarely miss a target. Neither fish nor krill can escape the Antarctic seabirds, according to scientists who outfitted them with cameras to spy on their feeding habits. Understanding an animal's feeding patterns can be crucial to gauging the population's health and survival. The study, published this week in PNAS, provides a look at the foraging patterns of these penguins and provides future researchers with a way to study other penguins' mysterious eating habits.

Boston's Tim Thomas stopped 27 shots for his second shutout of the season, and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby was held without a point for the fifth straight game as Bruins defeated the Penguins, 3-0. Matt Hunwick backhanded a rebound under the crossbar, then had to wait 77 seconds for a whistle so NHL officials could consult a video replay and give Boston the goal. Mark Recchi had the 900th assist of his career, Daniel Paille had his first goal with the Bruins, and Patrice Bergeron scored a short-handed empty-netter with 3.5 seconds left as Boston won consecutive games for the first time this season.

Playing without young star Sidney Crosby for the first time this season, the Penguins' winning streak came to an end Tuesday when Pittsburgh lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1. The Penguins (28-9-0), who had won 15 consecutive games heading in to Tuesday night's matchup with the Sabres (14-17-6), were two games shy of tying the NHL record of 17 straight wins set by the 1992-93 Penguins. Veteran right wing Jarome Iginla, whom Pittsburgh recently acquired from the Calgary Flames for a pair of college prospects and a first-round draft pick, scored his first goal for the Penguins -- the team's only goal of the night.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal, Sidney Crosby added an assist, and 13 of Pittsburgh's 18 skaters got onto the scoresheet in the Penguins' 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. Matt Cooke had a goal and an assist, Kris Letang had two assists, and Tyler Kennedy, Evgeni Malkin, Ruslan Fedotenko and Alex Goligoski had goals as the Penguins won their sixth straight and pushed their record to an NHL-best 8-1. Paul Kariya scored for the Blues, 1-3-1 in their last five games.

Sidney Crosby, who was hit in the face with a puck on a deflected shot, will be out indefinitely with a broken jaw, the team announced on its website Sunday. Crosby was struck in the face in the second minute of a 2-0 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday. He left the game under his own power but lost several teeth and required oral surgery, the team reported. The NHL's leading scorer, who missed all but 22 games last season and 41 games the season before with concussion problems, will require more surgery later in the week.

Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins' high-scoring captain, was hit in the face by the puck Saturday when a teammate's shot was deflected. Crosby lost several teeth and needed oral surgery. Crosby, who was a few feet to the right of the goal, couldn't react fast enough when Brooks Oprik's hard slap shot from above the slot was redirected by an Islander in the first period of a 2-0 victory over visiting New York. Crosby, who has struggled with concussion problems the last two seasons, is leading the NHL with 56 points, 10 more than Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos.

The Pittsburgh Penguins took most of the fun out of speculation leading up to Wednesday's noon Pacific trade deadline when they pulled off major deals last week for veteran wingers Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginla and defenseman Douglas Murray. Their acquisition of Iginla was bizarre. Several major media outlets, led by Canada's TSN, reported he had been sent to Boston and it was a done deal. Except it wasn't. Iginla, who waived his no-move clause, decided he preferred Pittsburgh and went there for two prospects and a first-round draft pick.

Pluses The rich got richer Sunday when the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired left wing Brenden Morrow and a third-round draft pick from the Dallas Stars for touted defense prospect Joe Morrow and a fifth-round pick. The Penguins, winners of 12 straight games, had enough young depth on defense to make a move that positions them to win the East. Brenden Morrow, the Stars' classy captain and a free-agent-to-be, waived his no-trade clause. This is one of those rare deals that should help both sides.

The Justice Department has given the green light to Random House and Penguin for their proposed merger, they announced Friday. The department approved the proposed merger of the two major publishing companies “without conditions.” In October , the companies confirmed that they had plans to merge into a single entity, Penguin Random House (Alas, not Penguin House or Random Penguin).  Random House is part of Bertelsmann Group, based in Germany; Penguin is part of Pearson, which is based in England.

Wild Adelie penguins have killer appetites - and they rarely miss a target. Neither fish nor krill can escape the Antarctic seabirds, according to scientists who outfitted them with cameras to spy on their feeding habits. Understanding an animal's feeding patterns can be crucial to gauging the population's health and survival. The study, published this week in PNAS, provides a look at the foraging patterns of these penguins and provides future researchers with a way to study other penguins' mysterious eating habits.

More than 370 penguins that mysteriously washed up on Brazil's equatorial beaches were flown south on a huge air force cargo plane and released closer to the frigid waters they call home, advocates said. Onlookers cheered as the young Magellanic penguins were set free on a beach in southern Brazil and scampered into the ocean, the International Fund for Animal Welfare said in a statement. It called the penguin release the largest in South America. The penguins were among nearly 1,000 that have washed up on Brazil's northeastern coast in recent months, said group spokesman Chris Cutter.

Re "Do penguin brides get cold feet?" editorial, Sept. 13 The tone of this editorial was extremely irritating to me. I saw "March of the Penguins" because I am a nature lover, and most of the movies out there have no believable premise or good actors. Your inference "flocked ... like lemmings" indicates a lack of appreciation for the fact that the majority of people are looking for entertainment that has substance, pleasance and even reality. MARK SAVALLA Altadena

Penguin has settled with the Department of Justice in the e-book price-fixing case brought against Apple and five publishers this year. Three of the other publishers involved &38212; Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins - have already agreed to settle. Penguin and Macmillan were holdouts, insisting that the case had no grounds. " We did not collude ," said Macmillan CEO John Sargent in April, when the DOJ brought its case. In announcing its settlement, Penguin concurred.

NEW YORK - Finally, there's reason to believe the NHL and the players' association are listening to each other and might be inching toward a labor agreement that would salvage some semblance of a season. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, who has often accused the NHLPA of being unwilling to negotiate, was cordial toward the union after marathon meetings between selected owners and players at a New York hotel Tuesday. That was significant because Daly has been a loud and constant critic of the union's supposed reluctance to compromise.