Penguins first win, October 13, 1967

The Penguins notched their first-ever win in their second-ever game, October 13, 1967. Former Pittsburgh Hornet Art Stratton netted the winner in a 3-1 win against the Blues in St. Louis. Stratton gathered in a rebound off a Keith McCreary shot and flipped it over goalie Seth Martin.

Read the game report from the following day.

Pens meet Sabres in 1979 playoffs

Here's the first in a series of posts that will look at the Penguins 1979 preliminary round playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres...

The Penguins returned to the playoffs in 1979 after having been left out of the dance the previous year. At this point in the NHL's history the first round of the playoffs was a short and sweet best-of-three series. The Penguins opponent was the Buffalo Sabres, who finished three points better than Pittsburgh's 85, giving them home ice advantage.

On the eve of Game One at the venerable Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, the Beaver Valley Times offered up this article previewing the tilt, which detailed some of the Pens' injury woes. Notably, defencemen Dale Tallon and Russ Anderson were not available for the game. Starting goalie Denis Herron didn't seem worried by that: "We've played Buffalo before with injuries and it didn't seem to matter. The only thing that worries me is that this is the playoffs. That makes a big difference."

Rene Robert: One that got away

On paper, it has to rank as one of the worst trades in Penguins history: promising young centre Rene Robert sent to the Buffalo Sabres for the entertaining yet clearly-past-his-prime Eddie Shack.

The deal went down on March 4, 1972, not even a full season after Robert has been claimed by the Penguins from, ironically enough, the Sabres. Shack would end up producing a decent 25-goal showing the next season for the Pens, but that would prove to be his last hurrah in the NHL. By 1975 he was done. Robert, meanwhile, went on to become one-third of Buffalo's legendary French Connection line that helped turn the Sabres into a contender. He scored 40 goals and totalled 83 points in his first full season as a Sabre (1972-73).He would go on to score at least 20 goals in the next eight seasons, also topping the 100-point mark in 1974-75, the year the Sabres went to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Ouch.

During his short stint with the Penguins, Robert scored seven goals, one of which came in an 8-1 rout of the Los Angeles Kings at the "Big Igloo" on October 20, 1971. This Pittsburgh Press game report describes how he scored it, and also features a beautiful shot of him putting the puck past Kings keeper Denis Dejordy.

This short piece a few months later describes the trade to Buffalo. Rene Robert was truly one who got away.