1991 Patrick Final Game 5: Pens 4, Caps 1

The Pens jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Joey Mullen goal at 15:38 of the first period but had to kill off a Washington 5-on-3 advantage for 1:34 at the beginning of the second. That they did, and shortly after it had ended, Ron Francis put the Pens up 2-0 – a hard blow for the Caps to take.

 

Dave Tippett got one back for the Capitals before the second period ended, but Jaromir Jagr provided some much-needed insurance at 7:53 when he scored on a highlight-reel rush from centre ice. Mark Recchi added an empty-netter and the party was on.

 

The Penguins had won two playoff series for the first time in their history and would now advance to the Wales Conference Final.

 

“We’ve really put things together and made a tremendous turnaround from last year. And we’ve got a chance to go far,” said goalie Tom Barrasso, who turned in another brick-wall performance, stopping 33 of 34 Washington shots.

 

The Penguins were half-way to the Stanley Cup.

 

“We’ve climbed two mountains already,” said coach Bob Johnson. “But we’ve got two more mountains to climb.”

1991 Patrick Final Game 4: Pens 3, Caps 1

Through the first five months of the Penguins’ 1990-91 regular season, the “Option Line” of John Cullen, Kevin Stevens and Mark Recchi provided a huge offensive spark that helped the team win its first division championship. The line had clearly clicked, but when Cullen was traded to the Hartford Whalers in March, it had lost its centreman.

 

Fortunately for the Penguins, they had a pretty fair replacement as they finished the season and moved into the playoffs: a guy named Mario Lemieux.

 

The Pens superstar captain returned at the end of January after sitting out the entire season to that point with back problems. After the Hartford trade, Number 66 frequently moved into the spot vacated by Cullen, often with magical results.

 

Case in point: Game 4 of the Patrick Division Final against the Washington Capitals, in which the three linemates combined for seven points in a 3-1 victory that gave the Pens a 3-1 stranglehold on the series.

 

Tom Barrasso turned in a superlative performance, stopping 38 of the 39 Capital shots. Washington outshot the Pens overall, 39-19.

 

“Barrasso played extremely well. He was the difference,” said Caps defenseman Rod Langway. “They kept the puck on the outside and let Barrasso see it.”

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.

Coffey suffers broken jaw, April 17 1991

The Penguins' 1991 playoff run took a big hit when Paul Coffey suffered a broken jaw in Game 1 of the Patrick Division Final vs. the Washington Capitals. He joined two other starting Pens D-men on the sidelines:

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 7: Pens 4, Devils 0

Paul Coffey's return provided an emotional lift
for the Penguins in game 7.

The Penguins finally put it all together against New Jersey in Game 7 of their Patrick Division semi-final series and dominate the Devils from the opening faceoff to the final whistle. Paul Coffey is a surprise starter after getting clearance from the doctors on his injured eye, which had been high-sticked earlier in the series. 

The Pens led 2-0 after one and rode another fine performance from backup goalie Frank Pietrangelo to move on to the second round and a date with the Washington Capitals. And they did it without captain Mario Lemieux for the final 40 minutes, who had to leave with back spasms.

 

“It shows a lot of heart, a lot of character, the way we came back,” winger Phil Bourque told the Pittsburgh Press in the post-game locker room. “It’s probably uncharacteristic of the Penguins in the past, but this is a whole different team.”