Ted Nolan, Pittsburgh Penguin

I was perusing some of the Penguins old media guides (all available on the Pens website, BTW) when I came across none other than current Sabres coach Ted Nolan in the 1985-86 publication. I had no idea Nolan had once skated for the Pens.

Before he went on to fame as the inspirational Buffalo bench boss during some of the team's most successful years in the late nineties, Nolan played a handful of games with Pittsburgh - 19 to be exact - totaling one goal, one assist and 34 penalty minutes.

Nolan's lone lamp-lighter came on December 2, 1985 during a Penguins 6-0 whitewashing of the Rangers in New York. This game report is unfortunately a grainy one, but does give a good description of Nolan's tally:

"Ranger defenseman James Patrick blocked Terry Ruskowski's shot, leaving a loose puck in the slot. Nolan rushed the net and pushed the puck by Scott."

This more recent piece has some nice reflections from Ted on his time in Pittsburgh.