The Pens return to the Igloo down 2-0 to the Washington Capitals tonight. They lost two close games in which it would be patently wrong to say they were outplayed to any large degree. In fact, these young Pittsburghers come home filled with as much optimism about their chances as any team down 2-0 ever has.
The situation is quite similar to that of the 1991 Pens, who came back to the Civic Arena down 2-0 to the Boston Bruins in their Wales Conference Final series. Despite the losses, including a hard-fought overtime affair in Game 2, the Penguins felt they had been anything but dominated by the Bruins and liked their chances quite well, thank you very much. In fact, winger Kevin Stevens predicted they would come back and win the series...which they did, rhyming off four straight victories and moving on to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance.
This article from the May 5, 1991 New York Times presents a nice summary of the management changes in Pittsburgh that started the ball rolling on the team's resurgence, as well as a nice quote from coach Badger Bob Johnson about some whistle-happy referees in Game 2.
And for all of us Pens fans hoping for a turnaround in 2009 like we saw in '91, check out this small piece in the May 14, 1991 Post-Gazette about one of the many nice things that can happen when your team wins!
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