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.”

Pronovost: “It’s all gone bad”

Rick Kehoe

After some promising signs that November’s trades were marking a turnaround in the Pens’ 1977-78 fortunes, the team’s scoring, defense and goaltending problems had all resurfaced by mid-December. “It’s all gone bad,” said captain Jean Pronovost in this article that nicely dissects the problems contributing to the Pens’ sorry plight.

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.

Fastest Penguin Goal - 1976

Evgeni Malkin scored a mere seven seconds into the Penguins' 8-1 romp over Tampa Bay last night. Had he bulged the twine one second earlier, he would have tied the team record for fastest goal from the start of a game, set by Jean Pronovost on March 25, 1976 against the St. Louis Blues.

Any boost the Pens might have got from that quick tally didn't seem the help them on that night, though, as they went down to a dispirited 5-2 loss at the St. Louis Arena. Here a report of the game from the Post-Gazette.

Michel Briere and Co. battle the Leafs, 1969

I had the pleasure of watching a game between the Penguins and Maple Leafs from Dec. 6, 1969, which was aired here in the Toronto area on Leafs TV. It was easily the oldest game I had ever seen the Pens play, and was a great glimpse into what the team was like in these early expansion years of the franchise. The only negative was that the good guys got trounced, 5-0!

Read the pre-game article that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the day of the game.

Despite some impressive goaltending from Al Smith, the Penguins found themselves in a 2-0 hole after one, thanks to some slow-footed defence play that allowed the Leafs to break in on a number of odd-man rushes. As noted by the legendary Foster Hewitt after the game, one of the strongest performances from the Penguins was turned in by rookie Michel Briere. It was easy to see why Pittsburgh hockey fans were excited about the future of this potential star player - he was often whizzing around the ice and seemed to be in the middle of most of the team's scoring chances. Playing with Jean Pronovost on his right side didn't hurt his game either.

Despite the result, this DVD will sit proudly amongst my collection, seeing as how rare a chance it was to see Briere playing in his lone NHL season, before his car accident in May 1970 and his death the following year after being in a coma.

This game was the first of a home-and-home weekend series against the Leafs. Apparently the loss didn't sit well with the young Briere - he tallied two goals the next night in Pittsburgh, the difference in a 3-2 Penguin triumph. Here's the report on that game from the Post-Gazette.