Penguins play last game in blue against black & gold Bruins - Jan. 27 1980

The Penguins' last game wearing blue uniforms as their primary color scheme took place on January 27, 1980 in Boston against the Bruins. Since entering the NHL in 1967, the Pens had worn various combinations of dark blue, baby blue and white. But thanks to the success of the black-and-gold-clad Steelers and Pirates, champions in football and baseball, respectively, Penguin ownership decided it was time the Pens followed suit.

“Our fans practically demand it,” team vice-president Paul Martha told a local newspaper. “Anything we can do to make going to a hockey game more entertaining, we’ll try.”

The idea took definite shape when the Penguins sent formal notice to the league in January 1980. The NHL quickly approved the move, but the sartorial switch hit a snag when the Bruins protested, claiming they had sole NHL rights to the black and gold colors. 

The hissy fit from the Hub was doomed to failure, though, what with no legal basis to support it. NHL President John Ziegler formally denied the challenge when he ruled that the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Steel City's first NHL team that played from 1925 to 1930, had worn black and gold eight years before the Bruins switched to the scheme in 1933.

So it was with some irony that the Pens played their final game in blue against the team that had opposed their move to black and gold. What's even more incredible is that the Penguins came out of the Boston Garden victorious - a feat they had accomplished only three other times in their entire existence (3-27-2). Center Greg Malone led the way with two goals and an assist. The win snapped a five-game losing streak.

"Things weren't going too good for us," Gregg Sheppard told the Boston Globe. "So we were trying anything. Maybe we took more chances."

Three nights later, the Penguins wore black and gold for the first time at home against the St. Louis Blues. The jerseys had just arrived from the place the Penguins had ordered them from - where else? - the  Bruins Pro Shop in Boston Garden.

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The Penguins of Christmas past

In the early days of the Penguins franchise, the team often played games on Christmas Day. Unlike today’s NHLers who enjoy a nice three-day break, players back in the day had to work on December 25^th. In the late sixties and early seventies, team owners still called the majority of the shots and if they wanted their products on the ice on December 25 there was no players union powerful enough to say different.

The Pens played four Christmas games in their first five years – and did quite well. Here’s a recap of their holiday hockey playing:

Jean Pronovost chases Gordie Howe,
Christmas Day 1968.

• In the Penguins’ first season, 1967-68, they met the Los Angeles Kings at the Civic Arena and came out on top 4-3 thanks to a pair of goals each from Andy Bathgate and Gene Ubriaco. It was their first win in five tries against their expansion brethren from Southern California.
• The following year, before the smallest home crowd to that date to see a Pens game (2,420), the home team stormed back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Gordie Howe and the Red Wings 6-3. Keith McCreary was the hero, scoring both the tying and winning goals.
• Two years later, the Penguins ran into the most powerful line in hockey when they visited Boston Garden. Wayne Cashman, Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge accounted for four goals en route to an 8-4 pasting of the Pens. Esposito alone had 13 shots. “That’s more shots than my whole team gets sometimes,” quipped Pittsburgh coach Red Kelly afterward. The Penguins did exact some revenge the next night when they beat the Bruins 4-2 back at the Igloo.
• In 1971, with the Pens struggling through an eight-game winless streak, the high-flying Montreal Canadiens came to town. Mercifully for the Penguins, the Habs opted to start backup goalie Denis DeJordy over Ken Dryden. Pittsburgh burned him for four goals and the Penguins had their first win since December 4, coming out on top 4-2.

That day marked the end of Christmas hockey in the NHL. The league stopped the practice, and a year later phased out Christmas Eve games as well. The Penguins finished with a 3-1 mark, including two wins against established teams – not too bad for a fledgling expansion club.

The three biggest keys to the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup

There are a number of big things that should ideally happen if the Pens are to drink from Lord Stanley’s mug this spring, like the power play consistently clicking, Crosby and  Malkin scoring more, avoiding dumb penalties and getting a bit more luck than their opponents. But if they take care of the main three below, these other ones should eventually fall into place, and we could very well see another Cup coming to Pittsburgh as a result.

Ferocious Forecheck: Coming in with speed and power will get you the puck more often than not and a key to the Pens' success all spring has been their ability to do this consistently. The Crosbys, Kessels and Malkins will bury enough of the pucks they get. Keep getting them the pucks and the goals will come. Do not let up. 

No Matt Mulligans: Matt Murray must keep playing his technically sound, even-keeled game. It's the only kind of goaltending that wins Stanley Cups. And the brutal reality is that we're at a point in the playoffs where Mulligans are not permitted. The reassuring thing here is that the Pens have a former Stanley Cup winner as a backup. 

No 'D'-fects: Some of the younger D-men like Olli Maata and Brian Dumoulin have to avoid sloppy clearances in their own zone that land on opponents' sticks. They haven't always succeeded at that in these playoffs. It is the single biggest cause for concern for the Penguins and their fans. Overall, though, they've played beyond their years, but they must play about a year older the rest of the way. Let Letang score from the back end. Let the superstars be super up front. Just get that puck out of your zone, boys - again and again. 

1991 Wales Final Game 3: Pens 4, Bruins 1

The Penguins channeled their frustration stemming from a Game Two overtime loss into a passionate but focused effort that resulted in a 4-1 win, bringing them back into the Wales Conference Final and cutting Boston’s series lead to two games to one.

Ulfamania was a Penguin Pest all night long.

With the Pens leading 2-0 halfway through the second period, Boston’s Ray Bourque got one back when he converted a Cam Neely pass, firing a hard shot behind Tom Barrasso. Their celebration didn’t last long, though, as low-scoring defenseman Grant Jennings answered right back 16 seconds later, putting a Mario Lemieux rebound in the back of the Boston net, sending the sellout Igloo crowd into delirium. Lemieux added one himself before the period was out, and Tom Barrasso stopped all 12 Bruins shots in the third to ice the victory.

“We’re back in the series,” said Boston native Kevin Stevens, the Pens left winger who had boldly predicted a Penguins series win after the Game Two loss. “And we’re confident we can win the series. The other night was frustrating because we played well enough to win. But I know this team believes in itself.”

Aside from the result, a hot topic of conversation after the game was Ulf Samuelsson’s knee-on-knee hit on Neely in the second period. The collision left the Bruins steaming. “I thought it was a real cheap shot on Cam,” said Boston defenseman Garry Galley, “the way he stepped up and really went for that (knee) area.”

Ultimately, though, Bruins coach Mike Milbury had to admit that his team had been outmatched on this night. “Tonight they were too much for us and we didn’t have the answers.”

Check out highlights of this game here

• Samuelsson hit on Neely is at very beginning 
• Spectacular Mario Lemieux goal at 0:52
• Interviews follow later.

1991 Wales Final Game 2: Bruins 5, Pens 4 (OT)

The Penguins entered the third period trailing 3-2 but goals less than two minutes apart midway through the period by Mark Recchi and Mario Lemieux gave Pittsburgh their first lead of the night. With only 3:11 left, however, Craig Janney converted a pass from Vladimir Ruzicka during a 5-on-3 man advantage to send it to overtime.

It was Ruzicka’s fourth assist of the night. But “Rosie” wasn’t done yet. At 8:14 of the extra period he found himself alone with the puck in the Penguins crease and fired it over a fallen Tom Barrasso to give the Bruins the win and a 2-0 series lead.

"I'll say it right now, we'll beat them."

In the dressing room, the Penguins weren’t disheartened. If anything, the loss hardened their resolve to take the series back.

“We all have our highs and our lows, and right now the Bruins are living a high,” defenseman Gordie Roberts told Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Press. “But hopefully we’ll bring them back down to earth the next game.”

Left wing Kevin Stevens went even further, issuing his famous guarantee.

“We’re confident we can beat this team,” he said. “And we will beat this team...We’ll beat this team. I’ll say it right now, we’ll beat them.”

Stevens and the rest of the Penguins would have to start making that promise a reality in Game 3 back in Pittsburgh two nights later.

You can see highlights of this game here.

1991 Wales Final Game 1: Bruins 6, Pens 3

Sloppy turnovers cost the Penguins in Game One at Boston Garden, their first semi-final game since 1970. The Pens were as close as 4-3 in the third period but goals by Dave Christian and Ray Bourque put the game out of reach.

Defenseman Gordie Roberts sounded a note of optimism after the game, however.

“You can’t give Boston’s key players a chance to make big plays. But we’ll get better as the series goes on. We’ll get used to this building.”

It was a building that had not been kind to the Penguins historically. Heading into the game, they sported a woeful 7-42-6 record, regular season and playoff games combined.

What would develop into an rather intense coaches war throughout the series got rolling right off the bat. Pens bench boss Badger Bob Johnson was none too pleased with the Bruins’ delay tactics aimed at – in Johnson’s view – allowing star defenseman Bourque to get sufficient rest between whistles.

“They want Bourque out there all the time,” he said. “They’re talking to the referee, sending six guys out all the time. Watch ‘em. When Bourque gets tired they have a delay. The job of the referee is to keep the game moving.” 

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.”