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.

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?

1979: George Ferguson wins it in OT

What a thriller that was last night, with the Penguins beating the Caps with an overtime marker by Kris Letang. Add it to the list of great Penguin overtime moments.

One of the best came 30 years ago last month, in the third and deciding game of the Pens' preliminary round series against the Sabres. The hero that night was George Ferguson, who came streaking down the left side of the ice in the Buffalo's old "Aud" and beat Bob Sauve early in the first OT frame.

Buffalo, only four years removed from a Finals appearance and still sporting a wealth of speed and talent, were favoured to take out the Pens with relative ease. But a combination of grit and spectacular goaltending from Dennis Herron enabled Pittsburgh to move on and send the Sabres golfing.

This Associated Press story from April 15, 1979 tells all about it.

And if you want to see the goal, check out these 13 seconds of pure Pittsburgh Penguin glory!