“Our fans practically demand it,” team vice-president Paul Martha told a local newspaper. “Anything we can do to make going to a hockey game more entertaining, we’ll try.”
The idea took definite shape when the Penguins sent formal notice to the league in January 1980. The NHL quickly approved the move, but the sartorial switch hit a snag when the Bruins protested, claiming they had sole NHL rights to the black and gold colors.
The hissy fit from the Hub was doomed to failure, though, what with no legal basis to support it. NHL President John Ziegler formally denied the challenge when he ruled that the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Steel City's first NHL team that played from 1925 to 1930, had worn black and gold eight years before the Bruins switched to the scheme in 1933.
So it was with some irony that the Pens played their final game in blue against the team that had opposed their move to black and gold. What's even more incredible is that the Penguins came out of the Boston Garden victorious - a feat they had accomplished only three other times in their entire existence (3-27-2). Center Greg Malone led the way with two goals and an assist. The win snapped a five-game losing streak.
"Things weren't going too good for us," Gregg Sheppard told the Boston Globe. "So we were trying anything. Maybe we took more chances."
Three nights later, the Penguins wore black and gold for the first time at home against the St. Louis Blues. The jerseys had just arrived from the place the Penguins had ordered them from - where else? - the Bruins Pro Shop in Boston Garden.
