Greg Polis wins 1973 All-Star MVP

January 30, 1973 was quite a day for former Penguins left winger Greg Polis. He had just welcomed his son Jason into the world the day before and was now in New York City for the NHL All-Star Game. Hoping simply to get a puck to bring back for his new boy as a souvenir to keep forever, Polis instead returned with a new car after taking home the game's MVP honours.

The article below nicely describes the whirlwind 48 hours in the life of the Pens' first pick in the 1970 draft (7th overall). And this piece from 2013 looks at Polis's post-hockey life in British Columbia.

Pens blast Atlanta Flames with 50 shots in January 1975

The Penguins were riding an 11-game home unbeaten streak when the Atlanta Flames paid a visit to the Igloo on January 15, 1975. The Pens firepower was on full display for the 7,554 fans who made it out for the Wednesday night tilt, with a whopping 50 shots flying at goalie Phil Myre. Five of them made their way into the net and Pittsburgh skated off with a 5-3 victory.

“The puck was in Atlanta’s end all night because the forwards were forechecking like mad,” said Pens D-man Barry Wilkins in this game report from the Pittsburgh Press (article on next page). “That takes a lot of pressure off a defense.”

Despite the barrage of rubber at the Flame cage, the two teams were tied midway through the third before Jean Pronovost netted the winner at 11:36, his 21^st of the season.

Pens halt Islanders' record winning streak at 15 in 1982

On February 20, 1982 the New York Islanders beat the Colorado Rockies to earn their 15th straight win, breaking the mark held for 52 years by the Boston Bruins.

The next night they visited the Igloo to take on the Penguins, who had but one win in their last 10 games. Seemed like a mismatch, but lo and behold, the Pens ended up stunning the Isles 4-3 behind the stellar goaltending of Michel Dion to put a kibosh on the rival Islansers' streak. It was just the kind of boost the Pittsburghers needed heading into the season's home stretch.

"Everybody in the league is going to know that it was the Pittsburgh Penguins who stopped their winning streak," said a proud Dion in this game report. "We're back on the map again."

The Isles' record would stand for 11 years when it was broken by - you guessed it - the Penguins, whose mark of 17 straight wins in 1993 still stands.

Leafs oust Pens from 1976 playoffs with easy 4-0 win

The Penguins were given an early opportunity to take charge of the third and deciding game of their 1976 Preliminary Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs when Toronto’s Dave “Tiger” Williams was sent to the sin bin for a five-minute major penalty less than two minutes in. But the Pens power play stayed dormant, as it had been all series long, and the Leafs fed off the mammoth penalty kill to grab the momentum and hold it until the final buzzer.

“Killing that penalty was the key point of the game,” said Leaf coach Red Kelly in this game report. “After that we took charge of everything.”

Pittsburgh's Vic Hadfield regretted the missed opportunity. “We knew we had five minutes so we took our time, but pretty soon time ran out on us.”

Toronto goalie Wayne Thomas had another great game but long-time Penguin Jean Pronovost saw another reason for his club’s demise. “Thomas robbed us and was a big factor, but as a whole their team worked harder than ours.”

Pens battle back to even 1976 series vs. Leafs

After getting beaten up like a collective rag doll in Game One of their 1976 Preliminary Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Penguins realized they too were going to have to play it tough if they were to advance out of the short best-of-three series.

This was only one of four career
playoff games for Michel Plasse. 

Back home on Igloo ice for Game Two, coach Ken Schinkel was able to get the line matchups he wanted thanks to having the last change on each shift. That meant that every time Toronto's dangerous Darryl Sittler came out, so too did Ron Schock, who shut the all-star centre down. The toughness was infectious and the entire team played like the mean-looking Penguin on the front of their jerseys, en route to a 2-0 win.

"We did intimidate them a little," coach Schinkel told the Pittsburgh Post in this article. "There were several of their guys backing up."

Goalie Michel Plasse had to stop only 21 Leaf shots to gain the shutout - which would turn out to be the only playoff one of his NHL career. "We played a helluva game as a team," he said. "We simply deserved to win."

The Pens would have to turn in another team effort the very next night back in Maple Leaf Gardens where one team would be moving on to the Quarter-Finals and the other would be heading to the golf course.

Pens try to regroup ahead of Game 2 in 1976 playoffs

Larouche: "Things will be different. You'll see."

After dropping Game One of their 1976 Preliminary Round series to the Maple Leafs, the Penguins had a day off before the series was scheduled to resume at the Igloo on April 8. The Pittsburgh Press ran this profile of the man who stoned the Penguins in that first game, Toronto goaltender Wayne Thomas (go to the following page for the article - and enjoy the Bad Company profile too, if you wish...)

In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, writer Bob Whitley held out little hope for the Pens in his article, "End is Near For Tender Pens." Pierre Larouche, however, seemed to think otherwise. "We get a few goals and things will be a lot different. You'll see," he told Whitley.

Leafs use "sledgehammer" strategy to take Game One in 1976

Penguin Pierre Larouche looks for an open puck
to put behind Toronto goalie Wayne Thomas.

With talented scorers such as Pierre Larouche, Jean Pronovost and Rick Kehoe in their lineup, the Penguins had garnered a well-deserved reputation around the NHL as a team that could put the puck in the net and do it with a lot of flair.

In Game One of their 1976 Preliminary Round playoff series against the Pens, the Toronto Maple Leafs tried to counter this firepower by employing a game plan that was "as simple as a sledgehammer," according to Pittsburgh Post writer Dan Donovan in this game report. The strategy involved hitting every Penguin who put his stick on the puck, and it worked perfectly for the Leafs, who came away with a 1-0 series lead.

"We hit them the whole game, and that's how we stopped them," observed Toronto netminder Wayne Thomas, whose spectacular pad save on a Pierre Larouche shot that was headed for a half-empty net lifted his team late in the first period.

Wayne Thomas's game was as sharp as his mask
in Game One against the Pens.

"Pittsburgh usually makes the pretty play," said Leafs centre Darryl Sittler. "So we had to check them closely to take that away from them. If we don't, they have the passers and shooters to blow us out."

Coach Schinkel guarantees 1976 playoff series win vs Leafs

Our next few posts will look at the Penguins' 1976 Stanley Cup Playoff Preliminary Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs...

Following their 1975 quarter-final collapse against the New York Islanders, the Penguins put up a respectable 35-33-12 record the following season and were in the playoffs once again. Their opponent in their best-of-three Preliminary Round series would be the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had finished a point ahead of the Pens and thereby owned home-ice advantage.

Ahead of Game One in Toronto, Pittsburgh coach Ken Schinkel boldly predicted in this gameday article that his team would take the series on the strength of a win at Maple Leaf Gardens and one at home. It's almost impossible to conceive of a head coach uttering such a statement these days, but that's what went on in earlier eras.

Schinkel's brashness was all the more surprising when you consider that his charges had nosedived at the end of the season, going 2-4-1 in their last seven, including a loss in their final game at home to the sad-sack Washington Capitals, owners of the league's worst record.

Steeler win motivates Seals to top Pens, Jan. 7, 1976

The Penguins dropped a 4-1 decision to the woeful California Golden Seals on January 7, 1976 in Oakland. According to Seals goalie Gary Simmons, he and his teammates were motivated to beat the Pens after the Steelers had beat the Oakland Raiders 16-10 three days earlier in the AFC Championship Game.

"A lot of us saw what the Steelers did to the Raiders last Sunday and we just felt it was another reason to win this one," Simmons said in this game recap.

Pens bow to Habs, March 1979

The Penguins were riding a 10-game unbeaten streak when they headed into the Montreal Forum to take on the Canadiens on March 31, 1979. The last time Pittsburgh had played in that building they'd suffered the worst defeat in franchise history, getting blown out by a score of 12-0. On this night, the team was intent on showing the Habs and the hockey world that they were better than that.

Guy Lafleur scored his 50th goal of the season
March 31, 1979 against the Penguins.

Despite outshooting the mighty Montrealers 32-31, however, the Penguins once again came out on the short end of the scoreboard, losing this time by the much more respectable score of 5-3, as this game report from the Pittsburgh Press explains.

Canadiens superstar Guy Lafleur notched his 50th goal of the season in the game, the fifth consecutive year he had reached that lofty level. He scored it on Denis Herron, who had also surrendered Lafleur's 50th goal in two of the other seasons. "I think he was waiting for me to get number 50," Herron told the Montreal Gazette after the game. "At least I'll have my name in the record book again."

Penguins hire Eddie Johnston - the first time

The Penguins hired Eddie Johnston as the sixth coach in franchise history on July 15, 1980. This article describes the rift Johnston had with his former employer, GM Bob Pulford of the Chicago Black Hawks, that led to Eddie leaving the Windy City earlier in the year.

"I've played in a lot of Stanley Cup games and was never as nervous as this in my life," said the former NHL goalie in this wire article about being introduced as the new coach in town.

A few months later, Johnston would win his first game behind the Penguins bench, a 5-4 win over Winnipeg that evened the Pens record at that point to 1-1.

Johnston would leave the Penguins in 1988 and return to the team as - once again - head coach in 1993.

Dion backstops Pens to New Year's Day 1983 win

A look at the NHL standings on January 1, 1983 would reveal that the Penguins and Islanders were in different hockey universes, what with the three-time reigning Stanley Cup Champion Isles once again sitting near the top and the Pens languishing near the basement, nine games below .500. But for some reason Pittsburgh always played New York tough at this time in their history. Heading into a contest that day at the Civic Arena, the Pens had won the last four meetings between the two teams at the Igloo. And, of course, Pittsburgh had pushed the Isles to the brink in the first round of the playoffs the year before, losing in overtime of the fifth and deciding game.

One of the biggest reasons for the Penguins success was goalie Michel Dion's appetite for playing against New York. "I feel pretty comfortable against the Islanders," he told the Pittsburgh Press in this article. "I just like to play against them."

Dion foiled four breakaways from the star-studded Islanders while Andre St. Laurent and Mike Bullard, with the winner, provided the scoring. "It was nice to get two points now to start the year off right," said St. Laurent.