1991 Patrick Final Game 2: Pens 7, Caps 6

The Pens came out on the winning side of a good old-fashioned early 90s shootout, thanks to Kevin Stevens’ bullet-like wrist shot that bulged the twine behind Mike Liut at 8:10 of overtime.

 

Stevens had received a perfect tape-to-tape pass from Ron Francis before firing home the winner. “I was just going to the net,” said the power forward. “I knew Ronnie was coming to me. I just banged it in.”

The Penguins had blown a 5-3 lead in the third period and needed a tying goal from Randy Gilhen with just over five minutes left on a delayed Washington penalty to send it to OT. Ulf Samuelsson left the game after two periods after apparently reinjuring his broken right hand. Frank Pietrangelo was again in the Penguins net in place of injured starter Tom Barrasso.

1991 Patrick Division Final tied 1-1

1991 Patrick Final, Game 1: Caps 4, Pens 2

Mario Lemieux and Ulf Samuelsson return to the lineup but it isn’t enough to stop the hard-working Capitals from grabbing a 1-0 series lead and home ice advantage.

“I thought momentum from [the Game 7 win over New Jersey] would carry over,” said a disappointed coach Bob Johnson, “but they’re a well-rested team and they won a lot of loose pucks.”

The Capitals had knocked off the New York Rangers in six games to reach the Patrick Division Final, overcoming a 2-1 deficit.

The Pens led 2-1 heading into the third but allowed Kevin Hatcher to tie it 1:37 and another defenseman, Al Iafrate, to pot the winner at 15:31. An empty-netter sealed it.

“They outworked us. They wanted it more than us,” said winger Bob Errey.

(Interesting piece of Pens trivia: the official scorer for the game was Bernie Boileau, brother of former Penguins coach Marc Boileau. He was part of the Montreal off-ice officiating crew that was working the game.)

1991 Patrick Semi-Final, Game 6: Pens 4, Devils 3

With starting goalie Tom Barrasso unable to go after injuring his shoulder in Game 5 of their 1991 Patrick Division semi-final series, the Penguins turned to backup Frank Pietrangelo in a game that saw their season on the brink. Down three games to two, Pittsburgh would have to win in enemy territory to send it back to the Steel City for a decisive Game 7…or get their golf clubs shined up for a long summer.

 

Pietrangelo’s first NHL playoff game got off to a shaky start when a pass from behind his net by Devils winger John MacLean caromed off defenseman Larry Murphy’s skate and into his net at 3:29 of the first. Fortunately for the Pens, Mario Lemieux was clearly on his game this night, controlling the play whenever he stepped on to the ice. The Penguins kept their composure and tied the game on a Kevin Stevens snap shot at 10:49. Stevens then added a power play marker to give the Penguins the lead.

 

And then…it happened: “The Save.”

 

With the Devils pressing, Peter Stastny was ready to fire home what surely looked liked the tying goal, with the puck on his stick and half an empty net at which to shoot. Well, almost empty. There was Pietrangelo’s glove stretched out to cover a minute part of the gaping cage, and that’s just where Stastny put it.

 

The Devils had their sticks in the air. The Meadowlands crowd was already cheering. But there was no goal to celebrate, thanks to the backup’s incredible grab, still widely recognized as the greatest save in Penguins history.

 

“He hit my glove. It’s not a matter of a skill save, it’s a lucky save,” said a humble Pietrangelo later. He added, though, that “lucky or not, a save like that is a big lift for the team.”

 

From there, the Penguins built a 4-1 lead and held on for a gutsy 4-3 win. The Devils looked to have tied it late when Laurie Boschman directed the puck into the Pens net. The replay showed it went off his skate and then his stick, which would have been a legal goal. However, referee Bill McCreary had ruled it was directed in by Boschman’s skate and waved it off.

 

It was back to Pittsburgh for a winner-take-all Game 7.

1991 Patrick Semi-Final Game 3: Pens 4, Devils 3

Mark Recchi notches a goal in the final minute that surprises everyone and gives the Penguins a 4-3 win and a 2-1 series lead over the New Jersey Devils in their first round Patrick Division Semi-Final series. Winger Phil Bourque flipped the puck high into the corner of the Devils zone, where defenseman Eric Weinrich tried to grab it. Weinrich would have made a terrible outfielder because he muffed the grab and instead sent the puck to the slot, where Recchi was waiting.

"Larry Murphy did that once earlier this year and Johnny Cullen scored a goal on the play the same way, so we just call it the 'Murph Flip,'" Bourque told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "You never know what can happen on a play like that."

The Pens got a nice boost when sniper Joey Mullen returned to the lineup after neck surgery in January. Wearing a somewhat comical collar, he wasted no time doing what he did best, potting the Pens' third goal in the final frame. "I'm definitely rusty, but the goal gave me a big lift," he said.

“Other” Cam Newton tended goal for the Penguins

Cam Newton, Pittsburgh Penguin

The Penguins had their own Cam Newton back in the early 70s, and although he wasn’t a superstar in his sport like the Carolina Panther quarterback of the same name, he also wasn’t known for his poutiness after losing a big game.

And, being a Penguin netminder in the early 70s, he did lose a few.

Newton tended goal for the Toronto Marlboros in 1967 when they won the Memorial Cup, symbol of junior hockey supremacy in Canada. He was drafted by the Pens in 1970 and made his NHL debut on March 23, 1971.

Facing him that night was none other than Gordie Howe, then in his final season with the Detroit Red Wings. Newton kept Mr. Hockey off the scoresheet while his teammates exploded for eight goals, making his night a happy one. On the strength of a Duane Rupp hat trick, the Pens halted an eight-game winless streak with an 8-2 rout.

Newton had a shutout going until, with less than five minutes to go, he got tangled up with a teammate and left his net wide open, into which Detroit’s Tom Webster depositing the rubber. “Things were going my way and I got a little anxious,” he said about the play after the game, adding somewhat cockily, “Don’t forget, I haven’t been around this league for 25 years.”

Newton would play here and there for the Pens the rest of the year and the following season, usually getting the call from the minors to fill in when starters Les Binkley or Jim Rutherford were hurt. His performances were often more shaky than Penguin management would have liked. In his first game of the 1971-72 season in Los Angeles, he gave up four first-period goals in a six and-a-half minute stretch, sinking the Pens' hopes and sending them to a 5-2 loss.

The rival World Hockey Association was snapping up NHL players at the time and Newton made the jump before the 1973-74 season, signing with the Chicago Cougars. He retired from pro hockey in 1977.

Since then, it seems Cam Newton has all but disappeared. Toronto hockey writer Howard Berger recently tried to track him down but no one knew where he was. Read Howard’s fascinating account of his elusive search for the “other” Cam Newton – Pittsburgh Penguin netminder.

Mike Meeker

Mike Meeker, Pittsburgh Penguin

The Penguins’ penchant for trading away draft choices in the late 70s hit its nadir in 1978, when the team was left with only three picks. To make matters worse for the franchise, those three picks ended up being busts, playing in only a total of five NHL games.

Mike Meeker accounted for four of them. Things looked promising enough for the nephew of Maple Leafs legend Howie Meeker, the 1947 winner of the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year.

The Penguins drafted Meeker following an impressive 69-point junior year with the OHL's Peterborough Petes. Mike took home his own Rookie award in his first year of pro, when the right winger scored 65 points for the Binghamton Dusters of the American Hockey League.

That season, Meeker was called up to the Penguins for his four career NHL games, going pointless in them and earning five penalty minutes in a fight with the Flyers’ Rick MacLeish in his first game.

By early November of the next season, however, Meeker was put on the shelf for the remainder of the year with chronic back problems. That was it for Meeker in the NHL. He surfaced in Sweden for two years, scoring 52 points in 37 games for Karlskrona AIK.

This article details Meeker’s career in aquaculture in northern Ontario after his playing days came to an end.

1991 Boxing Day Blowout: Pens crumple Leafs 12-1

On the day he became engaged, Mario Lemieux decided to celebrate by going on one of his finest offensive rampages ever. It was Boxing Day 1991 when the Pens welcomed the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Igloo. 

It was not a warm welcome. 

Having slipped a ring on the finger of his longtime girlfriend Nathalie Asselin earlier in the day, Lemieux slipped two goals by Toronto goalie Grant Fuhr and also tallied a whopping five assists en route to a 12-1 demolition of the shell-shocked Leafs. Overshadowed by Mario's feat were two other incredible offensive displays: Joey Mullen's four goals - his second four-goal game in a row - and a six-point night for left wing Kevin Stevens. 

"It was crazy out there," said Stevens in this game report from the Pittsburgh Press (article on previous page). "One of those nights where everything went into the net."

"It was embarrassing to say the least," commented Toronto GM Cliff Fletcher.

1979 Playoffs: Ferguson wins it for the Pens in OT

The Penguins headed into the third period of the decisive third game of their 1979 Preliminary Round series against the Buffalo Sabres trailing 3-2. The hometown Sabres threw everything they had at Pens goalie Denis Herron in the third, piling up a whopping 18 shots, but couldn't get anything behind the Pittsburgh goalie. The only rubber that hit any twine during the frame was at the other end, when George Ferguson knocked in a Jacques Cossette rebound at the 4:17 mark to tie things up.

But Ferguson's heroics hardly ended there.

The puck had barely dropped on the first overtime period when Fergy corraled it near center ice. "I noticed the left side of the rink was open," he told the Pittsburgh Press in this report, "so I just took off and when I thought I could score I just let it fly."

The puck flew right into the back of the net, giving the Penguins their first playoff series win in four years and only the third in franchise history. You can view a video of Ferguson's winner here.

It should be noted that Ferguson would not have had a chance to be the hero if it weren't for the impressive display by rookie defenseman Jim Hamilton, who scored two goals. Drafted by the Pens in 1977, Hamilton would spend his career shuttling between the big club and the minors, totalling 95 NHL games and 32 points. He played in six playoff games, too, but a finer moment than this one in an NHL rink he never had.

Ferguson would play three more full seasons with the Pens, never scoring less than 21 goals, before being traded to the Minnesota North Stars early in the 1982-83 season.

Greg Malone: Doing New Brunswick proud

One bright light for the Penguins in the 1977-78 campaign was center Greg Malone, who by December had quietly established himself as one of the team’s leaders in goals, points and plus-minus. This profile piece reveals a feisty forward who didn’t mind playing it rough or toiling in relative obscurity (at least outside of his home province of New Brunswick.)

Porous Penguin D

With apologies to Jack Black, the Penguins D in 1977-78 could not exactly be described as “tenacious.” More like porous, unfortunately. And it didn’t help that their steadiest blueliners kept getting hit with injuries. This article details the carnage facing the Penguins’ defense corps.

“Do you have a buyer?”

Al Savill

That’s a quote from the Penguins’ principal owner, Al Savill, in December 1977. Down at least $5 million since buying the team, he and his two partners were not happy with the paltry attendance figures so far in the 1977-78 campaign and were openly admitting that if the right offer came along to buy the floundering franchise, they’d be all ears.

This analysis piece by Pens beat reporter Bob Whitley looks at just how thin the ice was beneath the Penguins feet at this point in their history. Stated Savill bluntly: “It’s no secret we need more people in the seats.”

Pens slap Caps as Baz’s moves impress

The flurry of November trades by Pens’ GM Baz Bastien looked to be paying off handsomely in early December, 1977. Heading into a game at the Capital Centre in Landover, Md, the Pens faced a team they had only beaten once in their last eight meetings. 

But new recruits Pete Mahovlich, Dave Schultz and Peter Lee, with his first NHL goal, lit the lamp for the boys in blue en route to a 4-2 win. It was left to the longest-serving Pen, Jean Pronovost, to net the game-winner in the third. Check out the game report from the next day.

Would the positive early returns keep coming?

Penguin Pete lights up the Igloo

A day after the Penguins headed home from Montreal with Pete Mahovlich and the pain of another drubbing from the Canadiens in tow, they hit the Igloo ice against the Detroit Red Wings. Mahovlich helped everyone who came out forget about the recently departed Pierre Larouche by scoring a hat trick and leading his new team to a 6-4 victory. 

This game report from December 1, 1977 gives a nice description of Pete’s first three Penguin tallies, the last of which was the game-winner. “[He] was a real inspiration,” said coach Johnny Wilson of his new star after the game.

This piece from the Pittsburgh Press looks at the potential positive impact the big centerman might have on the team. 

The colorful Dunc Wilson

He may not have been the greatest goaltender in Penguins history, but he definitely had one of the best names: Dunc Wilson was one of the two main guardians of the Pittsburgh cage during the 1977-78 campaign, often starting a number of games in a row and then riding the bench for an equally long stretch while colleague Dennis Herron took the helm.

In this profile of Dunc from the November 16, 1977 Post-Gazette, we see a veteran goalie resigned to his fate as a journeyman puckstopper "in the twilight of a mediocre career." Definitely one of the most colorful characters to don a Pens uniform.

Pens bounce back against Barons

Future Pens goalie Gilles Meloche
 in action with the Cleveland Barons,
sporting one of the coolest masks
in NHL history.

Nothing like a visit from the Cleveland Barons to bring a five-game losing streak to an end. Newly acquired forward Gene Carr nets a pair in his home debut as the Penguins get back on track, beating the Barons 5-3 on November 9, 1977. Read the next day's game report.

The Barons were in their second year on the shores of Lake Erie, after moving from Oakland where they had been known as the Golden Seals (and just Seals) since entering the league in 1967. This would be their last year in the NHL before merging with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978.

Owchar loses it on fans during loss to Wings - Oct. 26/77

Penguins D-man Dennis Owchar made no bones about it: he didn't like the fans in Pittsburgh and "hates playing here." The hard words came after Owchar was booed by the hometown fans every time he touched the puck during a 4-3 loss to Detroit. Read the report of his horrible night.

Pens best Barons in Cleveland - Oct. 23/77

Before less than 6,000 fans in Cleveland, the Penguins make it two in a row (after beating another soon-to-be-gone team, the Atlanta Flames, the night before) by taking out the Barons 3-2. (Check out the nice pic on the interior page of Dunc Wilson sporting his cool X-star mask.)

One of the Pens' most embarrassing losses ever - Oct. 20/77

October 20, 1977 - The Penguins give up a goal nine seconds in and are lambasted 21-4 in shots on goal in the first period alone on their way to perhaps the most embarrassing loss in franchise history, an 11-0 massacre against the Flyers in Philadelphia.

Herron saves the day vs. Rangers - Oct 19/77

October 19 , 1977 - Goalie Denis Herron stands on his head to help the Pens take a point out of the Big Apple. GM Baz Bastien compares putting and goaltending after the performance.

Andy Brown, the last "Maskless Man"

Andy Brown makes a nice pad save.

On November 1, 1959, Jacques Plante first wore his famous goalie mask and ushered in the era of regular use of protective facial equipment for netminders. But the transition didn't happen overnight. It would take another 15 years before all goalies saw the merits of protecting their mugs from flying pieces of hard rubber coming at them each night.

In an interesting piece of trivia, it just so happens that the final member of the old guard was a guardian of the Penguins cage - Andy Brown. Acquired from the Red Wings in February 1973, Brown would play 45 games in a Pittsburgh uniform before moving to the WHA following the 1973-74 season.

Fourteen years less a day after Plante made history, the Penguins came to Montreal and left with a 1-1 tie behind Brown's solid performance. This story from the Montreal Gazette the following day features some nice action shots of Brown stopping Hall of Famer Henri Richard on a breakaway (along with some funny verbal swipes between the two after the game). And this report from the Pittsburgh Press includes another nice shot of the Last Maskless Man in action.