What are the top 5 moments in Pens history?

ColePens

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This spawns from the other thread stating Kunitz OT goal was the best moment, but a lot of individuals disagreed. So figured to start the thread off on the right track. What are your top 5 moments in Pens history.

BTW - I do not count specifically raising the Cup as a "moment" in this discussion, I count it as a result. So something in those Cup runs could be the moment that changed everything (tic-tac-toe goal, Marios insane goals, Talbot's shush moment, etc.). Maybe you think it's simply landing the #1 draft pick for Mario/Sid. Maybe it was "the save" by Frankie? Maybe it was something bad that happened that led to gold (I could argue Sully's hiring was perfect).

You tell me. What are your top 5 moments in Pens history.
 

Empoleon8771

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Aug 25, 2015
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1. Lemieux goal vs North Stars in 1991 finals
2. Lemieux goal vs Hawks in 1992 finals
3. Fleury save vs Wings in 2009 finals
4. Fleury save vs Ovechkin in 2009 conference semifinals
5. Lemieux comeback goal in 2000

Honorable mention: Lemieux's announcement that the Penguins will stay in Pittsburgh (probably should be in the top-5 but I'm not sure which one to bump out), Jagr's goal vs the Hawks in 1992, Letang's goal against the Capitals in 2009, Bonino's goal against the Capitals in 2016, Kunitz's goal against the Senators in 2017 and Lemieux's last home goal before his first retirement.
 

EightyOne

My posts are jokes. And hockey is just a game.
Nov 23, 2016
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Even though it was a loss, the 5OT game against Philly was awesome.

Ditching the Vegas Gold.

Sid's first shootout goal.

Trading for Hedberg and the fun false playoff hope it provided.

Lemieux buying the team.
 
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ColePens

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1. Lemieux goal vs North Stars in 1991 finals
2. Lemieux goal vs Hawks in 1992 finals
3. Fleury save vs Wings in 2009 finals
4. Fleury save vs Ovechkin in 2009 conference semifinals
5. Lemieux comeback goal in 2000

Honorable mention: Lemieux's announcement that the Penguins will stay in Pittsburgh (probably should be in the top-5 but I'm not sure which one to bump out), Jagr's goal vs the Hawks in 1992, Letang's goal against the Capitals in 2009, Bonino's goal against the Capitals in 2016, Kunitz's goal against the Senators in 2017 and Lemieux's last home goal before his first retirement.

Reallllllly love this list. Really love it. 1 and 2 are definitely my top 2 as well.

I would have Sids game 5 SCF 2017 opening shift as an honorable mention. He took over the entire game from the first shift.
 

CanadianPensFan1

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While not a specific moment .. geno's series against the Canes a few years back. He completely demolished them that series. The game with that behind the back no look top shelf back hand after coming around the net? Yeah. That was just dirty.
 

SouthGeorge

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May 2, 2018
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Maybe it was something bad that happened that led to gold (I could argue Sully's hiring was perfect).

Letang being out the 2017 playoffs which allowed this team to go back to back. There's no doubt in my mind if he's playing they don't do it. Very few fans get to see a Championship, let alone a back to back. It was amazing. I'm not going to wish injury or be happy somebody is injured. But I got to actually see this team without Letang since nobody in the front office has the balls to get rid of him. The outcome was exactly what I expected. Glory and one of the toughest feats in professional sports.
 

ColePens

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Maybe it was something bad that happened that led to gold (I could argue Sully's hiring was perfect).

Letang being out the 2017 playoffs which allowed this team to go back to back. There's no doubt in my mind if he's playing they don't do it. Very few fans get to see a Championship, let alone a back to back. It was amazing. I'm not going to wish injury or be happy somebody is injured. But I got to actually see this team without Letang since nobody in the front office has the balls to get rid of him. The outcome was exactly what I expected. Glory and one of the toughest feats in professional sports.

Is this an ongoing gimmick or something? Out of all the amazing times as a Penguins fan, you are choosing to play a character to hate Letang so much that the best moment was seeing hockey without him? If that is a gimmick, it won't last long. ;)

Firing Shero and Bylsma

I don't get this post at all? Without Shero/Bylsma we don't win in 2009. Not defending what they did after, but they brought us one. And firing Shero/Bylsma was an inevitable scenario, it wasn't even in the top 500 moments of Penguins hockey, let alone 5. MAYBE one could argue the Kessel trade, but still wouldn't even be in the top 5.

So I just don't understand that choice. Wouldn't even make a top 500, IMO.
 
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ColePens

RIP Fugu Buffaloed & parabola
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My official top 5:

1) Mario's North Stars SCF goal. Insanity. One of the defining moments in hockey and the best Penguins moment.

2) Mario's GWG against the Hawks in the comeback game. I think this moment in Penguins history is the absolute loudest a Pens arena has ever been. I think it will go down as one of the wildest craziest Penguins moments and it broke the Hawks spirit/chances of being competitive in the series. No way they should have blown the lead.

3) (tied) Drafting Mario/Sid: I think this one goes down as top moments because it didn't just bring a generational talent, it brought generational human beings. Mario has done so much for Pittsburgh that the entire city couldn't repay him. From children's hospital, saving the team, bringing championships, charity, etc. It's not repayable. Sid is on the same path.

4) Mario announcing the team will stay in Pittsbrugh. Another scenario where we just don't realize how close we were to leaving. If i could jump in a time machine and take you guys back to those days, I think we would remember just how close we were to losing the team.

5) MAF's save in the final seconds of Game 7's SCF. Every day that passes I think how that could have rewritten history in a horrible way if he doesn't make that heroic save. On first glance, I said the buzzer would have sound. On every watch after that - I realize just how close we were to possibly having the worst SCF loss of all time.
 

Shaffer

GuentzGoal
May 20, 2017
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Imo, Guentzel’s Game 1 goal from last year could be argued, but clearly behind Lemieux’s Goal and Fleury’s Save.

Mine:

Lemieux’s Goal vs North Stars (link)
Fleury’s Save vs Red Wings (link)
Sid scores OT winner vs Flyers in Rookie Year (link)
Guentzel breaks tie vs Predators (link)
Fleury Save vs Ovi 2017 (link)

3 and 5 have always stuck with me for some reason :)
 

Pens x

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Is this an ongoing gimmick or something? Out of all the amazing times as a Penguins fan, you are choosing to play a character to hate Letang so much that the best moment was seeing hockey without him? If that is a gimmick, it won't last long. ;)



I don't get this post at all? Without Shero/Bylsma we don't win in 2009. Not defending what they did after, but they brought us one. And firing Shero/Bylsma was an inevitable scenario, it wasn't even in the top 500 moments of Penguins hockey, let alone 5. MAYBE one could argue the Kessel trade, but still wouldn't even be in the top 5.

So I just don't understand that choice. Wouldn't even make a top 500, IMO.
Because this allowed us to win 2 more cups once someone came in and cleaned up their mess. Firing these two incompetent fools saved the Crosby and Malkin era.

I think we’d easily have one more cup if we hadn’t hired these schmucks.

Crosby would be playing with Milan Lucic and Chris Kunitz this last season if that dumb shit Shero was still here.
 
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Coach Travis

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5 of my favourite moments:

-Brent Johnson one-punches a smirking Rick DiPietro

-Pascal Dupuis pulling out his tooth

-Crosby taking Spezza on a wild ride before setting up Letang for a goal

-Malkin's goal vs Carolina 2009

-This goal (see video). Super Cerebral Sid. Protects the puck but baits Shattenkirk into touching the puck otherwise it'd be a hand pass then banks it in off Lundqvist. Just a genius play.
 

Tweed

Registered User
Jun 25, 2006
4,025
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1) Lemieux on Casey
-It's the only time in my life where I've witnessed something and was left absolutely dumbfounded. I remember watching the deke and the goal, and my exact words were "What... what just happened?" I didn't even cheer, or get to blow-up like a maniac... I was seriously confused by what I had just seen.

2) Crosby Lottery
-Having followed the Ovechkin hype for two years prior to losing the lottery, I put my faith in the Hockey Gods that Malkin was the right guy for us, and that they had something bigger and better in store for us. The following year, it was agonizing watching them open each envelope. When the final one had our logo on it, I jumped up, ran down the hallway and put my fist through the door. Blood everywhere. So happy.

3) Lemieux on Belfour
-Huge GWG on a comeback, in the big opening game of the biggest stage, between two streaking giants. I jumped and slammed my feet so hard into the floor that I sprained both my ankles. IIRC, this was the moment that gave me the confidence that we are never out of a game, that I've carried with me through all these years, and it's the reason I always believe.

4) Lemieux on Snow
-This moment was the moment that made me fully appreciate Mario for what he was... an author of the most beautiful of fairytales. When he took that stretch pass, I stood up, and when he buried it... I cried. His whole career was encapsulated in that tally, and it was a glorious bittersweet moment.

5) Lemieux unretires & Jagr goal
-The news of Mario's return and the Jagr goal 33 seconds into the Leafs game was some combination of what it must feel like to having a loved one return to your life, after years of thinking they were dead... and what it's like to be vindicated after years of being told you are wrong. And with Jagr burying Mario's feed 33 seconds into the game, it was an affirmation that Mario is, was, and always will be the greatest player of all-time.

HM: Lemieux announces team stays
-I can't not mention this because it was the by far the greatest moment of "relief" I've ever felt. As I'm sure many of you did, I also spent a lot of time really worrying about the worst-case scenario. Towards the end of it, I had come to realize that for as much as I loved hockey, and for how important it was in my life, I loved the Penguins even more, and if they had moved, it would probably be the end of hockey for me. It would have been worse than that time Bo & Luke Duke left the Dukes of Hazzard. The Kansas City Penguins would have been Cousin's Vance and Coy.


Here's my Top 5 Worst Moments, because I've always believed we're equal parts great fortune and hard luck. The epitomy of "take the good with the bad", and the franchise with the most luck, both kinds, of any pro-sports team to ever exist:

1) Volek on Barrasso
-This moment put an end to my dream that we'd string a bunch of Cups together, and that Lemieux would do what Gretzky never could. I don't think there's ever been a moment in a hockey game that has absolutely torn my heart out, the way this one did. I remember balling uncontrollably on the floor, I'm sure I sounded like a mortally wounded animal. My family were compassionate enough to leave the room and stay away until I was done grieving. It was horrible.

2) Lemieux leaves Rangers game
-46 straight games with a point, and Mario couldn't finish. I was devastated. So much of my early years involved being the lone guy in Lemieux vs Gretzky debates, and I felt like I was in Plato's Allegory of the Cave. I wanted Mario to take this from Wayne more than most people can understand.

3) Lemieux announces Hodgkin Disease
-Very similar to #2WM, Lemieux was absolutely beasting on the league, and I was confident he was going to wreck Gretzky's 215 point season. This press conference was so cruel to me as a fan, and it was also scary as hell knowing that there might be dire consequences for my hero and idol.

4) Steckel blindsides Crosby
-There's not much to elaborate on here. And as much as I wasn't surprised by the result, and the ramifications, because it's very much in-keeping with the Hockey Gods way of taking "personal accolades" away from my heroes, in favour of "stacking Cups"... it still was one of the darkest moments for me as a Pens fan. Sid was supposed to be the Penguin's Anti-Mario, and have a long, hard-working, healthy and prolific career.

5) Primeau on Tugnutt
-This wasn't a "devestating" moment for me, as much as it was a bunch of smaller losses all at once. First of all, going into the 3rd OT, I knew that the game was going to cost us any hope of winning the Cup. I've always felt like once you get into a deep OT game, you're pretty much going all-in and cashing out. You just can't recover physically from a 120 minute long game, and expect to have strength and health to succeed in the 2 or 3 playoff rounds after. I knew both the Flyers and Penguins were basically eliminating each other from the playoffs regardless of who won the game, as it dragged on. By the start of the 3rd OT, I honestly, seriously, wanted to forfeit, in my mind, it would have been the smart thing to do. And the longer the game went on and I watched our cup hopes evaporate, the more I wanted to "at least" win this game. Losing a "historic" game (longest modern game, IIRC) sucked. Losing it to the Flyers sucked. Losing a shot at the Cup by playing that game sucked. Losing after having watched 7 or 8 straight hours of so many close-calls and near-misses, which were all just so emotionally taxing, sucked hard.

HM: Robopenguin unveiled
-I was so upset. Not only was it messing with the very reason I chose the Penguins as my team (our awesome logo), but it also kicked-off a series of terrible design decisions culminating in the silver-gold gradient pukefest we called jerseys.
 
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Rossi Rat

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1) Ric Jackman scores on an assist from Dick Tarnstrom in OT against the Phoenix Coyotes to break an 18 game losing streak in the ‘03-04 season
 
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PenguinSpeed

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This spawns from the other thread stating Kunitz OT goal was the best moment, but a lot of individuals disagreed. So figured to start the thread off on the right track. What are your top 5 moments in Pens history.

BTW - I do not count specifically raising the Cup as a "moment" in this discussion, I count it as a result. So something in those Cup runs could be the moment that changed everything (tic-tac-toe goal, Marios insane goals, Talbot's shush moment, etc.). Maybe you think it's simply landing the #1 draft pick for Mario/Sid. Maybe it was "the save" by Frankie? Maybe it was something bad that happened that led to gold (I could argue Sully's hiring was perfect).

You tell me. What are your top 5 moments in Pens history.


-This thread should be separated. 1 for Top 5 Moments, 1 for Top 10 goals / saves in Penguins history


Top 5 Moments

1) Drafting Mario- Hands down the best moment. Arguably the best player of all time and has brought the Penguins 5 Cups as a player / Owner and saved the Penguins from moving

2) Drafting Sidney Crosby- The team was dying with low attendance and rumors circling it would move to maybe Kansas City. Crosby enters, and we are 3 Cups and Counting and the overall league powerhouse


3) Drafting Evgeni Malkin- Almost as important as Sid, as big of a big time player as Sid, Malkin had every chance to leave the Penguins and become the main "star" for another team and #1 player for another team. He chose to stay with the Penguins and take the role as backup best player. Without Malkin we dont win in 2016 or 2017 and not in 2009 either

4) Getting Jim Rutherford and Mike Sullivan- Has put the Penguins back on track as a powerhouse

5) Drafting Jaromir Jagr. He is one of the most decorated players of all time and played on the powerhouse Penguins with Lemieux. He told 4 other teams he wasnt / couldnt leave Czech Republic early to play, but told Craig Patrick if he fell to 5th he would play immediately with Lemieux and the Penguins. And it worked beautifully since the day he arrived.
 

ColePens

RIP Fugu Buffaloed & parabola
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Because this allowed us to win 2 more cups once someone came in and cleaned up their mess. Firing these two incompetent fools saved the Crosby and Malkin era.

I think we’d easily have one more cup if we hadn’t hired these schmucks.

Crosby would be playing with Milan Lucic and Chris Kunitz this last season if that dumb **** Shero was still here.

That's not how it works. Firing Bylsma/Shero led to JR learning some mistakes to correct them down the road and an AWFUL coach in MJ. You can say the hiring of Sully. You can say the hiring of Bob Johnson. Those are legit top 25s, IMO. But honestly the firing of Bylsma actually left the team at it's low point of the Johnston era.

And too many people quickly forget about some awesome things Shero did for us. His final call was all due to sticking w/ DB too long.
 
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CanadianPensFan1

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Coach travis already mentioned it but I realized it while o was out today.

Mario coming back against the leafs was amazing. Him scoring 30 seconds in? I literally looked at my friends and one of them said "of course he did that. It could not possibly have been any other way."
 
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xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Sep 5, 2008
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Yeah, Mario's first game back in 2001 (?) was surreal. Blizzard outside, "Welcome back 66" projected on the outside of the Mellon arena. Jagr pushes the defense back off the rush, pulls up and hits a trailing Mario with a perfect cross-ice feed for the goal. One of the coolest moments in all of sports.
 

K Fleur

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Some great ones mentioned. I’ll throw in one of my personal favorites.



Doc gets a lot of deserved shit from fans but his call on this goal is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
 
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Pancakes

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Reallllllly love this list. Really love it. 1 and 2 are definitely my top 2 as well.

I would have Sids game 5 SCF 2017 opening shift as an honorable mention. He took over the entire game from the first shift.

I was at that game 5 vs Preds and that first shift by Sid was totally electric.

I've never heard a buzz like there was that night. I think our crowd was tired of hearing how great Nashville's crowd was. That building was absolutely rocking that night and I'll never forget it. Best game I've ever been to.
 

FunkySeeFunkyDo

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Aug 3, 2014
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-This thread should be separated. 1 for Top 5 Moments, 1 for Top 10 goals / saves in Penguins history


Top 5 Moments

1) Drafting Mario- Hands down the best moment. Arguably the best player of all time and has brought the Penguins 5 Cups as a player / Owner and saved the Penguins from moving

2) Drafting Sidney Crosby- The team was dying with low attendance and rumors circling it would move to maybe Kansas City. Crosby enters, and we are 3 Cups and Counting and the overall league powerhouse


3) Drafting Evgeni Malkin- Almost as important as Sid, as big of a big time player as Sid, Malkin had every chance to leave the Penguins and become the main "star" for another team and #1 player for another team. He chose to stay with the Penguins and take the role as backup best player. Without Malkin we dont win in 2016 or 2017 and not in 2009 either

4) Getting Jim Rutherford and Mike Sullivan- Has put the Penguins back on track as a powerhouse

5) Drafting Jaromir Jagr. He is one of the most decorated players of all time and played on the powerhouse Penguins with Lemieux. He told 4 other teams he wasnt / couldnt leave Czech Republic early to play, but told Craig Patrick if he fell to 5th he would play immediately with Lemieux and the Penguins. And it worked beautifully since the day he arrived.
My initial thoughts are close to the quoted list.
1. Awarded franchise
2. Draft Mario
3 Draft Sid
4 .Draft Jags
5. Draft Geno

You are probably right that drafting Geno was more important than drafting Jagr.
 

KIRK

Registered User
Aug 2, 2005
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My official top 5:

1) Mario's North Stars SCF goal. Insanity. One of the defining moments in hockey and the best Penguins moment.

2) Mario's GWG against the Hawks in the comeback game. I think this moment in Penguins history is the absolute loudest a Pens arena has ever been. I think it will go down as one of the wildest craziest Penguins moments and it broke the Hawks spirit/chances of being competitive in the series. No way they should have blown the lead.

3) (tied) Drafting Mario/Sid: I think this one goes down as top moments because it didn't just bring a generational talent, it brought generational human beings. Mario has done so much for Pittsburgh that the entire city couldn't repay him. From children's hospital, saving the team, bringing championships, charity, etc. It's not repayable. Sid is on the same path.

4) Mario announcing the team will stay in Pittsbrugh. Another scenario where we just don't realize how close we were to leaving. If i could jump in a time machine and take you guys back to those days, I think we would remember just how close we were to losing the team.

5) MAF's save in the final seconds of Game 7's SCF. Every day that passes I think how that could have rewritten history in a horrible way if he doesn't make that heroic save. On first glance, I said the buzzer would have sound. On every watch after that - I realize just how close we were to possibly having the worst SCF loss of all time.

Great list. Going to add this . . . Mario capped game 1 of the 1992 finals with the GWG, but down 4-1, this is the play that got the Hawks on their heels for the rest of that game . . .

 

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