Pens tie high-flying Habs - February 1977

On February 16, 1977, Montreal came to town and the game was quickly shaping up to be your standard 1970s Canadiens-Penguins tilt: two quick goals by the Flying Frenchmen and an apparent blowout on the horizon. But for some strange reason, Pittsburgh decided to start playing. 

Pierre Larouche

Thirteen seconds after Pens goaltender Denis Herron let a bad one dribble by him to give Montreal their 2-0 lead, Rick Kehoe and Pierre Larouche broke in on a two-on-one. Kehoe used his teammate as a decoy and beat Ken Dryden cleanly. By the time the horn rang, the Penguins had built an improbable 3-2 lead, the last goal coming on another Larouche-Kehoe rush, with Pierre this time pulling the trigger. 

The teams traded goals in the second, giving the Penguin fans hope that the team might actually capture its first win against the Habs in their last 10 tries. Guy Lafleur, however, had other ideas. The superstar came into the Penguins zone on the right side early in the third and surprised Herron with a rocket of a shot, low on the stick side. 

There was no quit in the Penguins on this night, though, and it was only the incredible goaltending of Ken Dryden down the stretch that enabled the Canadiens to leave the Igloo with a point.

Lonsberry breaks drought, gives Pens win - 1980

The Colorado Rockies entered the Igloo on November 22, 1980 riding the best start in franchise history, sitting one game above the .500 mark - truly a lofty plateau for the perennial league doormat. They looked every bit the powerhouse in the first period, outshooting the Pens 13-4. It was Pittsburgh, however, that built a 2-0 lead by the midway point of the second.

Hardy Astrom surrendered
Ross Lonsberry's winning goal
November 22, 1980 at the Igloo.

A "familiar Penguin malady" - the inability to protect a two-goal lead, as described by game report writer Pete Wevurski in this piece the next day - then reared its ugly head. Colorado goals by Paul Gagne and Joel Quenneville tied things up before the frame was done.

The score stayed that way until Penguin left winger Ross Lonsberry scored his first goal in 12 games with less than five minutes to play. The veteran took a pass from George Ferguson from behind the net and slipped a backhand through the legs of Rockies goaltender Hardy Astrom. He then added an empty-netter with one second left for good measure. The win snapped Pittsburgh's five-game winless skid. The Rockies, meanwhile, would win only two of their next 10.

Pens clobber expansion Isles, 9-1

Apps got his first hat trick
against the Isles, not the Seals.

The Penguins were flying high against the expansion New York Islanders on December 13, 1972, skating away with a 9-1 victory at the Igloo. It was a banner night for Syl Apps, Jr., who set a team record with six points, half of those coming in the form of his first career hat trick.

Rookie goalie Denis Herron narrowly missed his second straight shutout against the Isles, giving up a goal with only four ticks left on the clock.

Read the game report from the next day's Post-Gazette.

Pens drop tight one in black and gold debut

Peter Lee shows off the Penguins new
black and gold uniforms against the St. Louis Blues. 

To align themselves with the other Pittsburgh pro sports teams sporting black and gold uniforms, the Penguins switched to the colour scheme in January, 1980. Until then, the Pens had worn various combinations of blues (navy, Columbia, powder) and white. But with the Steelers and Pirates winning championships, it made sense to mimic at least one aspect of those teams.

After some uncertainty as to when the Penguins would debut their new duds, the date was set: January 30 at home vs. St. Louis. Although at the time home teams traditionally wore white versions of their jerseys at home, an arrangement was made with the Blues so that they would wear white and the Penguins would wear the black-based version of their new uniforms.

Things didn't get off to a great start, with goalie Rob Holland letting in a pair of weak first period goals, including a 30-foot wrist shot that slipped between his legs with two seconds left. That performance earned him a seat on the bench, replaced by Greg Millen. Between the two Blues goals, Rick Kehoe had the honour of tallying the Pens' first black and gold goal at 14:50.

...and in colour.

Pittsburgh surged into the lead in the second on goals by Rod Schutt and Ron Stackhouse, but they couldn't hold it. Bernie Federko hammered the winning goal into an empty net at 5:18 of the third after a nice play by Brian Sutter to draw Millen out of position. The Pens fired a whopping 18 shots at goalie Mike Liut in the third but couldn't find the mesh.

See the full game report from the January 31, 1980 edition of the Post-Gazette.

The new colour scheme did not bring much good fortune to the Penguins early on. They would lose their first six games in them, not claiming a victory until beating Toronto 4-2 at the Igloo on February 13.

Carlyle jets off to Winnipeg

In the summer of 1978 the Penguins acquired a talented young defenseman named Randy Carlyle from the Toronto Maple Leafs. He quickly became a mainstay on the Pittsburgh blueline and developed into one of the premier defenders in the league. In 1981, he even captured the Norris Trophy, still the only Penguin to win the award. That season he tallied an incredible 83 points.

But during the Penguins dismal 1983-84 season, the captain's production slipped. By early March, he had only three goals and 23 assists in 50 games. The few fans who were turning up at the Igloo that year began to get on his case. The trade rumours that had swirled for much of the season became reality on March 5 when Carlyle was dealt to the Winnipeg Jets for a first-round pick and future considerations. Randy's largely successful six-year run in the Steel City came to an inglorious end, with the announcement of the trade at the Civic Arena prior to the Penguins game that night against Washington receiving a boisterous roar of approval. See the full report of the deal and the reaction in this March 6, 1984 report.

The move was later seen as a key plank in GM Eddie Johnston's plan to tank the season in order to finish last overall and secure the coveted number one pick in that year's draft, AKA Mario Lemieux. No mention of this possibility is included in the article.