Why Was Pittsburgh's 1999 Game 6 Win Against The Devils So Important?

[Jimmy Firecracker]

I watched that game on YouTube given all the festivities around Jagr and this was his return to the lineup those playoffs and he came up huge for the Penguins, scoring two goals including the OT winner. A lot of the comments on that video talk about how this win basically saved the Penguins from financial ruin and I'm curious why that was? There wasn't a guarantee of more gate revenue from home playoff games because they still had to go to New Jersey and win Game 7 to guarantee that (which they did). Did the owner have some ultimatum that if they lost that game the team would move? Just looking for context given how pivotal that game was and how storybook it was to have Jagr return and be the one to win the game.

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[MadLuke]

Jagr: Game 6 goal in 1999 saved Penguins

Was it really the goal that saved the Pittsburgh Penguins’ franchise? Jaromir Jagr thinks so. In 1999 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, the Penguins faced a 3-2 series deficit against the Devils.

www.espn.com

It was winning the round apparently, not that exact game but that game needed to be won to make that possible according to Jagr:

“I remember that like it happened yesterday,” Jagr said. “I pulled my groin in the first game. We were losing 3-2 in the series and if we would lose the first round I think the team would move to Kansas City because they had no money. We had to make the second round to get the (money) for the payments.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Yeah, it was the series. That was just enough to keep the team alive. It was a hell of an effort. The best of Jagr and it was on one leg. This was talked about extensively during the retirement ceremony. This may or may not have been the moment of the ceremony where I teared up.

(I just made it to this thing too...4:17 pm start to the ceremony, I got in at 4:19 pm...luckily had only 58 minutes of wheels up/wheels down from NYC that afternoon...really, really glad I got to be there. Provided a lot of closure.)

 

[Crosby2010]

They were in financial ruins, but I do have to wonder if they really did lose if they'd have left. It is hard to say. I remember they were begging Mario to come back at this time. There was that play in overtime where Straka manages to just squeak by the Devils defenseman (not sure which one) and you know as a hockey fan there are those moments when you know a goal is going to be scored, and I can remember just knowing that the puck was going in, because Straka is dead set on feeding that puck over to Jagr. Bang, game over. And let's not forget, two assists in Game 7 for Jagr. I think we tend to take for granted and forget just how good he was in these years. He was awesome, so very good.

 

[Michael Farkas]

It might have been a couple years after this, I'm not 100% sure. But Bettman did start asking around the league owners if they'd approve a move to Portland. Bettman - famously against teams moving - canvassing opinions and votes like that is pretty far down the line for something like that based on my, admittedly, very peripheral knowledge of this process...