Andy Brown, the last "Maskless Man"

Andy Brown makes a nice pad save.

On November 1, 1959, Jacques Plante first wore his famous goalie mask and ushered in the era of regular use of protective facial equipment for netminders. But the transition didn't happen overnight. It would take another 15 years before all goalies saw the merits of protecting their mugs from flying pieces of hard rubber coming at them each night.

In an interesting piece of trivia, it just so happens that the final member of the old guard was a guardian of the Penguins cage - Andy Brown. Acquired from the Red Wings in February 1973, Brown would play 45 games in a Pittsburgh uniform before moving to the WHA following the 1973-74 season.

Fourteen years less a day after Plante made history, the Penguins came to Montreal and left with a 1-1 tie behind Brown's solid performance. This story from the Montreal Gazette the following day features some nice action shots of Brown stopping Hall of Famer Henri Richard on a breakaway (along with some funny verbal swipes between the two after the game). And this report from the Pittsburgh Press includes another nice shot of the Last Maskless Man in action.

Another #1 pick traded away

The 1977-78 season in-depth review continues:

Monahan actually made a brief stop
 in Pittsburgh in between these two teams.

The Penguins hit the road for their second game of the season, losing a tight 2-1 battle against Norris Division rival Washington Capitals. While the loss surely stung, it was the self-inflicted wound the Pens endured that day that was the most painful.

The short piece accompanying this game report article describes how the Pens traded away their first round pick in the 1979 draft to Washington for a guy named Hartland Monahan. He would play a total of seven games for the Pens and score a whopping total of two goals. Pens general manager Baz Bastien would soon trade Monahan to the Kings.

The pick itself seemed to be a hot potato. The Caps would send it to Minnesota, who had the sense to keep it and use it on Tom McCarthy, a left wing who went on to have a solid career, scoring 399 points in 466 games, including 39 goals in 1983-84. He would have looked good in a Penguins uniform.

Stan Gilbertson

Just prior to the start of the 77-78 season, Penguins left winger Stan Gilbertson was involved in a horrific car crash that forced the amputation of part of his right leg. This article acts as a fine tribute to a player who had a great sense of humour and tons of heart. And this piece on Gilbertson over at Greatest Hockey Legends describes what happened in the years after the accident.

The 1977-78 Penguins: An in-depth review

Penguins News Archive begins an in-depth review of the 1977-78 Penguins. It was a season of more downs than ups and resulted in yet another spring out of the playoffs. Nevertheless, a cast of colourful characters and exciting games makes it a season worth documenting. There's a personal interest for me, too, with this season being the one where I started following the game and the Penguins. So, here goes...

The Penguins get off to a winning, if not pretty, start to the season with a 4-2 win over the Blues at the Igloo, thanks to some clutch goaltending from Dennis Herron. This win gave the Penguins their seventh straight season-opening victory - one of the few NHL records the 10-year-old club held.

In this Post-Gazette article, Herron talks about how his teammates helped him get through a difficult preseason.

And the Beaver County Times game review briefly mentions the Penguins' new uniforms for 1977-78, which this blog author still thinks are the nicest unis the team has ever donned! Do you agree?

Bathgate nearly bailed

Andy Bathgate scored the first-ever Penguins goal and was perhaps the biggest "name" on the early Penguins roster. Learn how he almost didn't come to Pittsburgh at all in this piece from the Calgary Herald of October 19, 1967.

Pens turn in "Lax" effort in Montreal

Gordie Laxton was a busy man October 7, 1976.

Montreal was never a nice stop for the Penguins in the '70s. Witness the outset of the 1976-77 campaign: After blasting the Canucks in the season opener at the Igloo, the Pens took their show on the road to the Forum, and promptly got blasted themselves, 10-1.

This story from the Post-Gazette sees shell-shocked goalie Gord Laxton taking a glass-half-full look at the massacre, quipping that it "wasn't boring out there."

The Penguins could also take heart in knowing they weren't alone in leaving Montreal battered and bruised - the Habs would lose (incredibly) only one game on home ice that year (4-3 to the Bruins later that month).

And this piece from the Montreal Gazette has some other Pens quotes on the carnage and two nice action shots.