1991 Patrick Final Game 3: Pens 3, Caps 1

With three of their regular defensemen out of the lineup – Paul Coffey with a broken jaw, Ulf Samuelsson with a broken hand and away in Sweden to visit his ailing father, and Peter Taglianetti hobbled with a bruised ankle – the Penguins turned to a trio of backup blueliners to hold down the fort. 

Gordie Roberts, Paul Stanton and Jim Paek, making his career playoff debut, played a simple yet solid game and allowed the club to come out with a 3-1 win and a 2-1 lead in their Patrick Division Final series against the Washington Capitals. 

Tom Barrasso returned to the Penguin net, and goals from Mario Lemieux, Kevin Stevens and Bryan Trottier gave Pittsburgh a well-earned playoff road victory.

“Losing three players like that, we needed good goaltending and we needed good backchecking. I think the team rallied around that,” said coach Bob Johnson.

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.

Pat Boutette's first hat trick nets Pens first win

Pat Boutette

Pat Boutette broke in with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1975 and after four seasons was traded to Hartford. It was with the Whalers that the classy forward began making his mark as a highly dependable, if not somewhat under-the-radar, point-getter.

Boutette averaged nearly a point a game in a season and a half for the Whale. In the summer of 1981 he went to Pittsburgh with Kevin McClelland as compensation for the Whalers' signing of goalie Greg Millen.

He didn't miss a beat after joining the Penguins, scoring 74 points in 1981-82 and adding a goal and three assists in the Pens' thrilling five-game near upset of the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs. 

Boutette then suffered through the two leanest seasons in Penguins history as the team tumbled to the bottom of the NHL standings in 1983 and 1984. There were still some shining moments for Boutette, however, including his first career hat trick on October 12, 1982. 

With the Pens trailing the Vancouver Canucks by a goal with less than two minutes to play, Doug Shedden tied it with a slap shot. With the crowd of 6,566 going delirious, the Penguins kept coming. With 1:04 left, Boutette, who had scored two goals in the second period, deflected a Greg Hotham slap shot past goalie Richard Brodeur. He had his first hat trick and the Penguins had their first win of the season.

Early in the 1984-85 season, with his production tailing off, the Pens dealt Boutette back to Hartford for the rights to defenseman Ville Siren, who became a regular on the Pittsburgh blue line in the 80s. Unlike the Leafs, the Pens seemed to know when to part ways with Boutette; he had but 33 games left in him with the Whalers and a few more with their farm team before calling it a career.

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 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."

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.

The Captain looks back

The Pens captain for the 1977-78 season was Jean Pronovost, as classy a hockey player as you'd ever meet. "Prony" was the shining beacon of dignity and respect for a franchise that had, to this point in its history, mostly been lost in the dark.

In this November 23, 1977 article, the typically straight-shooting Pronovost looks back on his time in Pittsburgh. He suggests why the team had never moved up to the NHL's elite level and also names names as to who he thought was responsible for the team's lack of progress.

Ted Nolan, Pittsburgh Penguin

I was perusing some of the Penguins old media guides (all available on the Pens website, BTW) when I came across none other than current Sabres coach Ted Nolan in the 1985-86 publication. I had no idea Nolan had once skated for the Pens.

Before he went on to fame as the inspirational Buffalo bench boss during some of the team's most successful years in the late nineties, Nolan played a handful of games with Pittsburgh - 19 to be exact - totaling one goal, one assist and 34 penalty minutes.

Nolan's lone lamp-lighter came on December 2, 1985 during a Penguins 6-0 whitewashing of the Rangers in New York. This game report is unfortunately a grainy one, but does give a good description of Nolan's tally:

"Ranger defenseman James Patrick blocked Terry Ruskowski's shot, leaving a loose puck in the slot. Nolan rushed the net and pushed the puck by Scott."

This more recent piece has some nice reflections from Ted on his time in Pittsburgh.

Cherry in fine form ahead of tilt with Pens - Oct. 29/77

Don Cherry brought his Big Bad Boston Bruins to the Igloo in late October 1977 and the coach was in fine verbal form when talking to reporters before the game. Meanwhile his Pittsburgh counterpart Johnny Wilson complains about his need to "draw plays" for his offense. (Uh, isn't that what a coach is supposed to do, Johnny? Just sayin'...)

Read the latest article from the Pittsburgh Press as the in-depth season review for 1977-78 continues...

The 1977-78 Penguins: An in-depth review

Penguins News Archive begins an in-depth review of the 1977-78 Penguins. It was a season of more downs than ups and resulted in yet another spring out of the playoffs. Nevertheless, a cast of colourful characters and exciting games makes it a season worth documenting. There's a personal interest for me, too, with this season being the one where I started following the game and the Penguins. So, here goes...

The Penguins get off to a winning, if not pretty, start to the season with a 4-2 win over the Blues at the Igloo, thanks to some clutch goaltending from Dennis Herron. This win gave the Penguins their seventh straight season-opening victory - one of the few NHL records the 10-year-old club held.

In this Post-Gazette article, Herron talks about how his teammates helped him get through a difficult preseason.

And the Beaver County Times game review briefly mentions the Penguins' new uniforms for 1977-78, which this blog author still thinks are the nicest unis the team has ever donned! Do you agree?

Aside: 10 Greatest Games video

Let's be clear: the 10 games chosen for the DVD package, Pittsburgh Penguins Greatest Games, are NOT the best in franchise history. Perhaps they're the best of the games that were captured with presentable audio and video, but not of the whole franchise.

I got to thinking recently about what games should truly be on there if the techincal end of things was not a factor. Here are a few:

- Pens defeat Oakland in Game Four of 1970 playoff series on Michele Briere's OT goal, giving Pittsburgh its first-ever playoff series win
- George Ferguson scores series-clinching OT goal vs. Buffalo in 1979 playoffs
- Pens OT victory over Montreal in April 1993 to set new NHL record for longest winning streak
- Game 4 of 1982 preliminary round vs. Islanders in which surprising Pens force defending Stanley Cup champs to the brink of elimination
- 12-0 win vs. Washington in 1976, Pens' biggest margin of victory
- Penguins first win

Any others?

Game 4: "It was a long game"

The worst period in Penguins playoff history deflates the "pumped up" Pittsburghers and contributes to an 8-3 Bruin whitewashing.

Youngsters Ray Bourque and "Greg" MacTavish lead the assault and help force a deciding fifth game back in the Hub. Here are all the gorey details in an AP wire story.

Penguins-Bruins 1980: Game 1

In Game One, the Penguins shocked the Bruins and the mere 9,725 Boston spectators who came out to see what was supposed to be a ho-hum drubbing of the visitors. The rejuvinated Pens, coming off a disappointing end to a disappointing regular season, withstood a 38-shot Bruin barrage to claim a 4-2 victory.

Goalie Greg Millen, in his first-ever playoff action, stood on his head, stopping enough of Boston's 20 third-period howitzers to give the underdog Pens an inconceivable 1-0 series lead.

This article from the April 9, 1980 Post-Gazette summarizes the tilt, while the others around it contain some nice quotes from the victors' locker room deep in the bowels of the old Boston Garden.

This game was also the playoff debut of Raymond Bourque, the future Hall of Famer. He fired an incredible nine shots on Millen - who stopped them all.

1980 Playoffs: Penguins-Bruins

Over the next few posts I'm going to look at the Penguins 1980 Preliminary Round battle with the Boston Bruins, which turned out to be anything but what most fans expected it to be: a quick Bruin whitewashing.

This article from the April 7, 1980 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, written on the eve of the series opener, looks at the state of the Igloo-dwellers at the end of a disappointing regular season that saw them finish seven games below the .500 mark. The team could hardly have felt great about itself after finishing the campaign with a 9-1 abomination at home against the Buffalo Sabres.

Add in the fact that the Big Bad Bruins had: a) finished a whopping 32 points better than the Pens; b) swept Pittsburgh four-straight in the playoffs the year before; and c) had gone deep into the playoffs the previous two seasons (Finals and Semi-Finals), and the Penguins' fate seemed sealed.

But, as all sports fans know, anything can happen. And something close to "anything" was about to...

First Game Series: Anaheim Ducks

Today officially begins a series that will look at the first game the Penguins ever played against their game-day opponents, beginning with the Anaheim Ducks, who flapped into the league in 1993-94.

Although the Pens came away with a win from this game out at the Pond in Disneyland, it was anything but a great showing, as described in this game report from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Trivia question: Who was the first captain in Mighty Ducks' history? Answer tomorrow!

Blueline blues: 1974

We got the news today about Sergei Gonchar being out for 4-6 weeks - certainly a blow to the Pens, even if the team is playing spectacularly in the early going of this season. Thirty-five years ago, the Penguins were facing a similar situation on their blueline, with two regulars on the sidelines. Here's a P-G article describing the predicament. There's a good picture of a young Colin Campbell, now the NHL's head disciplinarian, who was brought up to fill in.

The main tidbit that really jumped out at me in this article, though, was the reference to a pre-season game the Penguins had played against the WHA's Cleveland Crusaders. I did not know that there was any kind of inter-league play between these two circuits, and perhaps illustrates that their leaders weren't quite at each others' throats as we might suspect.

My first game: Penguins-Canadiens, 1977

This is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's report from the first live hockey game I ever saw, which was played on Nov. 29, 1977 at the Montreal Forum between the Canadiens and Penguins. I was all of 8 years old and already a huge Penguins fan. One of my uncles had some connections and often got tickets to Habs games - highly prized commodities for any Montrealer, but even moreso for a young boy who lived, breathed and dreamed nothing but hockey and his favourite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

A few hours before game time the tickets arrived via courier and my mother informed me of what was going on. I still remember seeing the grey delivery truck pulling up outside our house while I played street hockey in the light of overhead street lamps, and thinking it was strange that such a truck was stopping here. My uncle remembered that I was a Penguins fan, and when he realized he couldn't go that night, decided to give them to me. I would head to the Forum with my older brother.

I hurriedly gulped down my dinner, bursting with energy and elation at this immense stroke of good fortune that had just befallen me. Not only was I going to see my first game ever, but I was going to see the PENGUINS!! Unfathomable, and it was all happening so quickly.

I remember having pretty decent seats, about halfway up, on one of the bluelines. The things I remember most about the game included marvelling at the Pens' great blue uniforms while the starters stood on the blueline during the anthems; buying a Penguins pennant at the souvenir stand (one I'm happy to say I still own and which is in pretty decent shape); Guy Lafleur's hair blowing behind him as he skated in the warmup; and the electric excitement in the air. The Forum was the epicentre of Montreal in those days, and seeing any game - even one in November that turned out to be a mismatch - was cause for excitement for anyone in attendance.

I always seemed to think that the Penguins had lost 7-1, until I looked up a Montreal Gazette article from the day after on microfiche years later and discovered that it was even worse - 9-1! I don't remember being bothered in the least that they got shellacked, though. I was just so excited to be there and to see them live. You have to remember, back then, we only got one game a week, so it was an event if you got to see the Penguins at all, let alone in person.

Another interesting note about this game is that it took place the day the Penguins traded Pierre Larouche to the Habs for Pete Mahovlich and Peter Lee, among others. Larouche had a big game, and I don't believe Mahovlich played that night - but I'm still looking for confirmation of that. Here's another P-G piece that discusses Larouche's happiness with the deal.

Beers with the enemy

There was a great story in yesterday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review summarizing the Penguins' previous Game 7s. The first one came in 1975 - the infamous loss to the Islanders that capped a collapse after being up 3 games to none. The article describes an almost unbelieveable anecdote about what happened after the game:

Ed Westfall scored the only goal — a backhander that beat goaltender Gary Inness — with 5:18 left in regulation to complete the visiting New York Islanders' comeback from a 3-0 deficit, a hole no other team has escaped from since — only one team, the 1942 Maple Leafs, against Detroit in the Cup final, had done it previously. The Penguins had their chances; Pierre Larouche hit the post twice. Westfall was late leaving the dressing room after the game and ran into Penguins center Syl Apps, who wondered why Westfall was all by himself. "I told him, 'Everybody left. Where are you guys going?' " Westfall later recalled. "He said, 'The Pleasure Bar.' So I went with the Penguins players and their wives to the Pleasure Bar and sat there drinking until sunrise."

I wonder what was said around that table.... It would have been impossible for Westfall to gloat, especially with the wives there. Maybe one day we'll find out.