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 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.

Pens trailed 2-0 in 1991 - and won!

The Pens return to the Igloo down 2-0 to the Washington Capitals tonight. They lost two close games in which it would be patently wrong to say they were outplayed to any large degree. In fact, these young Pittsburghers come home filled with as much optimism about their chances as any team down 2-0 ever has.

The situation is quite similar to that of the 1991 Pens, who came back to the Civic Arena down 2-0 to the Boston Bruins in their Wales Conference Final series. Despite the losses, including a hard-fought overtime affair in Game 2, the Penguins felt they had been anything but dominated by the Bruins and liked their chances quite well, thank you very much. In fact, winger Kevin Stevens predicted they would come back and win the series...which they did, rhyming off four straight victories and moving on to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance.

This article from the May 5, 1991 New York Times presents a nice summary of the management changes in Pittsburgh that started the ball rolling on the team's resurgence, as well as a nice quote from coach Badger Bob Johnson about some whistle-happy referees in Game 2.

And for all of us Pens fans hoping for a turnaround in 2009 like we saw in '91, check out this small piece in the May 14, 1991 Post-Gazette about one of the many nice things that can happen when your team wins!