Latest / Pittsburgh Sports Memories / REWIND: Greatest Penguins Playoff Moments

Transcript

REWIND: Greatest Penguins Playoff Moments · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hi everybody, welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: In this episode, we are going to be talking about the top moments in Penguins playoff history.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Tim Hannon and with me as always I'm Steve Wirt.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so for my money, uh, you know, there's not a whole lot in sports that tops playoff hockey.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's captivating, it's exciting, it's filled with drama.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I don't know.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: I I just if I was if uh if I was picking my top sporting events, I mean playoff hockey's up there, um, you know, the Olympics, the World Cup of Soccer, I guess the Super Bowl has to be up there, Steve.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: But I I don't know.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Playoff hockey to me is right up there with anything else.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_04: Uh it's definitely exciting.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_04: It's a long it's like its own season.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_04: It's like you have the regular season, then you have like the playoffs, and they're two different, very different things.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's the NHL is kind of weird like that.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_04: So it's the only sport maybe basketball, but like where the playoffs are just so different than the regular season.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_04: That's the only thing I can think of.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a very good point.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh hockey is unique in that way where where it's like the regular season kind of almost means nothing once you get to the playoffs.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously, yeah.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and here in Pittsburgh, we've certainly been blessed over the years uh to have a lot of um playoff moments.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in fact, in the past thirty years, there's only been one little stretch of four seasons where the Penguins did not make the playoffs.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: That was in the early two thousands.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: And other than that, they've been in the playoffs pretty much every year since 91.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, they've won five championships during that time and made a lot of other deep runs.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So lots of moments to pick from.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um I wanted to do a top ten.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't limit it to ten, so I'm gonna do a top fifteen.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And even with that, I have some honorable mentions.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't make the list.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So some honorable mentions before we start.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um Peter Socorro calling a shot in game five of the 2008 Stanley Cup finals.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins were down three to one in that series to Detroit, and if the Red Wings score the next goal, that's it.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: They win the Stanley Cup.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: But Peter Socorro tells NBC he's gonna save the season, and he ends up doing that with a goal in the third overtime.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that was that was memorable.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, the Penguins went on to lose the next game and and lose the cup anyway, so maybe that's why that didn't quite make the cut, but that was a cool moment.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Luke Robotie in 95 against the Capitals.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: That was another case where the Penguins were down three games to one.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and if the Capitals score the next goal, the series is over, it's an overtime.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: But Robotai scores an overtime, and this time the Penguins actually come back and win the series in seven games.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that was kind of a pivotal moment.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Michelle Briere beating the Oakland Seals for the series clincher in 1970, that was significant because it was the first time the Penguins had ever won a playoff series, and it was an overtime goal.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, I I doubt very many people remember the the the big series with the Oakland Seals.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, the Oakland Seals.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_04: Who can forget them?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Classic team.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh one last honorable mental I had to throw in here was Brooks Orpick beating the Islanders with an overtime goal in Game Six in 2013 to end that series.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Significant because it's the one and only time I ever got the best of the New York freaking Islanders.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: They will not be on this list anywhere because they've never gotten the best of them.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, that one time in 2013.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so those are some honorable mentions.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Let's jump right into the list and um let's start with number 15.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's Dino.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_07: And it's a white shot game.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_07: Malkin Burling is out line by Word! And Getty Malkin! Spectacular for the hat trip!
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_08: I don't want to go to him anymore.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And uh in 2009, the Penguins make that run to the Stanley Cup, and and Malkin really carries the team on his back during that run.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: He ends up winning the Conn Smythe Trophy.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: And in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes, I mean Malkin almost single-handedly just wins that whole series.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and the Hurricanes, you know, that I think it's it's hard to remember now.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: They came into that series on quite a roll.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: They had this goaltender named Cam Ward who was shutting down everybody.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that was that goal that you just heard there, that was game two.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um Malkin had a hat trick in that game, and that goal was his third goal, and it was just unbelievable.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: He skated around the net, and he basically like flips the puck over his shoulder and over Cam Ward's shoulder, like backwards.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you kind of heard the announcer react there.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was just like at that point, they had no answer.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was only game two, but but really that was the end of the series.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Cam Ward was not going to recover from that, and the Penguins end up sweeping the hurricanes and advancing to the Stanley Cup finals.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_04: I remember I they like that was like just such a blowout series.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_04: It was they really wasn't much of a series except for the Penguins like totally killing the hurricanes.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_04: Wasn't Bill and Bill Cower was like on the Carolina side of things for that, wasn't he?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they had some they had some thing where like it was you'd sound a horn or ring a bell or something, and everybody's like, oh, Cower's a traitor because he's ringing the bell or whatever the thing they did.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: It was like that was one of those things, like, who really cares?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Malkin showed him.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: He did.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Take that, Bill Cower.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: So number 14 on the list is the time that our general manager completely lost his mark on the Louis goes at the point.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_10: He tilts it hard.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_10: Oh, what a play again by Lemieux.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_10: You ain't nothing but a hound dog.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_10: Robbie Brown.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_10: Another point seven points.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_10: And they're chasing Robbie Brown around the ice right now because he celebrated the goal.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_10: I guess he's not allowed to do that.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_10: And now Hexdall comes out and takes a shot at Coffee after that goal was gone.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_10: Robbie Brown really did not react to uh too much if Hexcall chased him all over the ice.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: So this is 1989, the Patrick Division Finals, aka the second round of the playoffs.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Penguins are playing the Philadelphia Flyers.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: The series is tied two to two, and the Penguins just explode in game five.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Mario Lemieux, who was questionable would he even play in this game because he had gotten injured in game four, he has a hat-trick, Steve, seven minutes into the game.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: He has a hat-trick.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Midway through the second period, the Penguins have an eight to three lead.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Penguins right winger Robbie Brown then buries his second goal of the game past goaltender Ron Hexall of the Flyers.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And when Brown scored a goal back then, he used to do this like celebration with his arm.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Steve, I don't know if you can sort of like describe it it was like a windmill.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_04: You have it right there.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's just like he would like swing his arm around like like he was strumming a guitar, I guess, is the best way he could describe it.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good that's a good description, yeah.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and Ron Hextahl kind of took exception to that.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_04: So Yeah.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Heckstall kind of already a pretty ornery guy, even when he hasn't given up nine goals.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: I he just sort of decides he's had enough of of the penguins being happy about beating the crap out of him.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: And he he literally cases down Robbie Brown.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it wasn't a taunting thing.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was this Brown's little goal celebration that he always did, and he didn't even get into his wind up, and Hexdall is like after him.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: He's right on his back.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a surreal scene watching the the goaltender chase Robbie Brown around the ice.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Hexall's thrown out of the game, and he's replaced by future penguin Kenny Reggett, who eventually uh shuts down the Penguins' offense in game seven of that series and wins the series for the Flyers.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: But just a memorable, unbelievable scene from the guy who's now running our franchise.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_04: And uh I think Hexdall, is Hexdall still the first goalie to score a goal in the NHL?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: He was, yeah.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_04: So he was a pretty good goalie back in the day.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_04: But Kenny Reggett was for some reason had the Penguins number that year.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_04: I remember that series because the Penguins would not beat the Flyers in the playoffs till what 2009?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_04: Eight, nine?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_04: So, but yeah, I mean whatever reason, uh Ron Hexdall, he he just had enough.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: He had enough.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: He was kind of like, like you said, like an ordinary goal.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_04: Like if people would try and screen him in front of the net, he would take his stick and like hack on their ankles and the back of their legs and stuff.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_04: Like he he was kind of like a Billy.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_04: He was that guy was a Billy Smith for the Islanders, used to do that too.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_04: So he was kind of of that uh kind of ilk.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he he I mean the Flyers have had a lot of you know thugs over the years.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of them, like like Scottie Hartnell, guys like that are more in like the vein of like a Biff Tannen kind of thug.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like hey foothead.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hexdall, I always said Hextaw was more like the uh like long kinks from Braveheart.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like like that scene where they're like where where he's like telling them to fire the arrows, and they're like, but sir, we'll hit our own men.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: And he looks at Oh well, we'll hit theirs too.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: We'll hit theirs too.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: That that to me, that was Hexdall.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: He was he was that guy, and now he's our general manager, so um, it is what it is.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Moving on to number 13 on the list.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_11: Around the board for Francis.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_11: Party tries to knock it down.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_11: Stevens reaching for the puck.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_11: Messier is there, he's got it.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_11: He's tied up by Murphy.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_11: A shot score.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: This is 1992.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins are looking to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, but they have to face the team with the best record in the league that year.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's the President's trophy winning New York Rangers.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And in game two of that series, Adam Graves of the Rangers takes a baseball bat-like swing at Mario Lemieux and he breaks his hand.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's the most unfair BS ever.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: The Rangers say it was an accident.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: The league says it was an accident.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, it just wasn't.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's there's no reason to swing at a guy's wrist.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're hacking at the puck, the puck's on the ice, not at waist level.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a huge controversy.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Even a weekend update on Saturday Night Live dives into the controversy.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_05: Well, the verdict is in, and the Rangers Adam Graves did not deliberately slash Pittsburgh Penguins at Marielle Lemute, causing a broken hand for Lemieux.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_05: The jurors are said to be flying back to Simi Valley today.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_04: OJ joke! That was Coven Nealand.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was Kevin Nealand.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually a Rodney King joke, but oh no, yeah, that's right.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but but close to the.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right, two years before OJ, but uh but yes, that was the that was the joke Du Jordan in the early 90s was Rodney King.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's it's it's a huge controversy.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: The league actually eventually does give in to the pressure, and they do suspend Graves after like a a game or two, then they then they decide all of a sudden that he needs to be suspended.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean who cares?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because the Penguins are down the best player in hockey, and the Rangers can easily win without Adam Graves.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: So New York takes the next two games in the series, and it really feels like all hope is going to be lost.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be so unfair, they're gonna win because they took out Mario.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: But Ron Francis steps into that number one center spot and saves the series and the season for the Penguins.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: In game four, Francis scores two late goals to force overtime, and then he wins it in overtime with that goal you just heard.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that was at the Civic Arena.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Phil Bork said that was literally the loudest he had ever heard the crowd at the Civic Arena after Francis scored that goal.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's the spark that the Penguins need, and the Penguins do not lose a game for the rest of that season.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: They go on to win their next ten games and they capture their second Stanley Cup.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever heard you don't have the audio to the end of that game, do you?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_04: Which one?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_04: Of of this of of the elimination game For the Rangers?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_04: No, they're they're chanting it.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_04: They chanted at the end.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, no, 1940.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_04: They said it's as loud as even when they because the Islanders always did it to the Rangers, and they said it's louder than yeah, it was as loud as the Islanders.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_04: Evertier people were just going 1940.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: It just yeah.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I missed that.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I really missed that chant.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: That was a good one.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we can 1994.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_04: 1994.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't get into it.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: Uh hey, we're almost 30 years.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, we're getting there.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so the Penguins going to win the Stanley Cup that year, uh, in large part thanks to that that series saving kind of play there from Francis.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of winning the Stanley Cup, here is moment number twelve on our list.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_09: Goodness to the outside, got it back to Schultz with a shot by wide, rebound off the barge, they score! The penguins have scored it is hard quest.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_09: A bounce off the of the Pinkers was shaken in, and Hornquest, who has not played a lot in the game, made the most of the time that time, and it's won nothing.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_04: I miss Doc.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I guess once NBC lost the uh NHL, that was the end of Doc's career.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_04: Although I think he retired a year before.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: He retired anyway, yeah.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so what you just heard there, that was the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins are in Nashville for game six, and they have a chance to win the cup.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: But the Predators are really tough at their arena.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they they've won both games at their arena in this series.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: And their goaltender, Pegarine, does not give up goals very easily when he's playing it at home.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: And in fact, the game is scoreless.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's 0-0 with only 95 seconds left in regulation.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Patrick Hornquist, who was so good at being that kind of like that net front net front presence that the Penguins had lacked for so many years.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: He puts in a rebound, it gives the Penguins a one to nothing lead, and with it, they're a fifth Stanley Cup.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_04: Is that the one that like kind of bounces off his back?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Off of Renee's back?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_04: It's like a weird goal.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_04: It's not yeah.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_04: And like I never thought much of I know, like, I don't know.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think I never thought Pekka Renee was all that good, but hey, that's just me.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: He was alright, but I mean it was Against the Penguins, he wasn't good.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_04: They always seemed to score a ton of goals against him.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_04: I know this game he he they didn't he didn't give up too many, but wasn't the other game like he was giving up like five or six goals?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: The game five game five was in Pittsburgh, and he actually got pulled out of that game because I think it was like five-nothing.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: But when they played in Nashville, they were just really hard to beat.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and the Penguins won all the games in Pittsburgh and and the Predators won all the games in Nashville, and I think everyone thought game six is in Nashville, this is gonna go to a game seven.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, I think to to Matt Murray's credit, you know, he kept them off the board the whole game, and you just kind of needed a bounce.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: They had that that weird goal that got accidentally disallowed.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but Hornquist is the hero, and the Penguins end up winning the Stanley Cup.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that was number 12.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Number 11 on the list is this moment.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_10: Rosby, Kunitz and Guerin on here.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_10: Penguins win the draw.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_10: Center point of the tank.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_10: Shut go!
• 16:19
  unknown: It was the Plink in it!
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_10: Chris Lattague! Shut the pup! The Penguins have won it overtime! And ladies and gentlemen, Alvin has left the building.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_10: Chris Lattag!
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: I I think this one could have been higher on the list.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that it's one that people kind of tend to to forget about.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, 2009, the Penguins are trying to return to the Stanley Cup Finals, they're trying to avenge that loss to Detroit from the previous year.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: But in the second round, they run into a powerhouse Washington Capitals team led by Alexander Ovechkin.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: The Caps take the first two games of the series at Washington, and those are hard fought games.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think Crosby even had a hat-trick in the second game, but the Capitals just have more offense than the Penguins do.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And now game three in Pittsburgh is in overtime, and if the Capitals score the next goal here, that that's it for that 2009 team.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I it wouldn't have eliminated them, but they they go down three games to nothing.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that that's I I don't know what the exact stats are, but it's pretty much like 99.9% chance that the series is over.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think the the the numbers are uh when a team's down three games to nothing, I think four NHL teams have come back, one major league baseball team and no NBA teams.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, you know who one of the uh NHL teams that came back from three games to nothing against the case.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I yes, we're not gonna we're not gonna mention them because we said we weren't gonna mention them the rest of the episode.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: But but but I mean but that was a huge deal because um again, the uh capitals go up three games to nothing, and this whole 2009 run is over right there in the second round.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: But the penguins they win an offensive zone face-off, and Chris Latang takes a slap shot from the blue line.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: It beats goaltender Simeon Varlamoff, and the Penguins go on to win that series in seven and ultimately win the Stanley Cup later that spring.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_04: Is Varlamoff the one?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_04: No, that was it.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_04: Was that was that another Capitals goalie who's like, oh, I'm only I'm not afraid of the Penguins, I'm afraid of a bear in the woods or something.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember if that was I can't remember if that was him or the or the fires goalie.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_04: I think it yeah, it was he's like, are you afraid of the no, I'm afraid of a he's like a Russian goaltender, too.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_04: He's like, oh, I'm afraid of a bear in the woods.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, okay.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's a Russian thing to say.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, okay.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number 10 uh is a is a memorable one for sure.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_10: Here are the fans.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_10: Mario's on the ice now.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_10: Back to the point, Desjardin.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_10: Mario blocked it.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_10: Lemieux heading up ice.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_10: Here he comes.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_10: Here he comes.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_10: Mario Lemieux.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_07: Hang on.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_07: He's gone.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_07: You're gonna love it.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: In in 1997, Mario Lemieux announces he's retiring when the season ends.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's kind of similar to Ben Rothlisberger's impending retirement for the Steelers last year, because the 1997 Penguins, just like the 2021 Steelers, are not a very good team, but they still manage to kind of squeeze their way into the playoffs.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then just like the Steelers, they get boat raced in the in the first round of the playoffs.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the Flyers, they're looking to sweep them here in game four at the Civic Arena.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: So everyone knows, okay, this is Mario's last ever home game.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: So so very dramatic kind of scene heading in.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the Penguins end up playing really their only good game of that series, and they have a three-to-one lead late in the game, and now everyone wants Mario to score a goal.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: People are canning his name, they're going crazy every time he comes onto the ice for a shift.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then finally, at 1856 of the third period, Mario gets a pass from the legendary Ian Moran, and he's one-on-one with goaltender Gar Snow, another future penguin, and he beats Gar Snow for the goal.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's such a dramatic moment.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's people crying, there's just a flood of emotion for all the great years that Mario gave the city.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And and when you watch the replay of this, they there's a there's a long pause um after that goal, uh, and and they're panning through the crowd on the TV broadcast.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing that you see are a lot of people holding babies.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, that was a that was like a weeknight game.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And why you know, why would you bring a baby to the arena for a game that's probably gonna end at at ten ten o'clock at night, you know, way past the that's it.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_04: Because you want to pay thirty dollars for a seat for an extra.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why would you do that?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I I really think it's because people wanted to be able to tell those kids someday that you saw Mario Lamieux play.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: You well, you don't remember it, but you were there and you saw Mario Lemieux play hockey.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've never really seen that before at a sporting event where they're panning around the crowd and people are not only have babies, but they're like holding them up to so they can see like the play.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I think that was why.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's just a unique moment in Pittsburgh sports history where again, uh the only thing I can even remotely compare it to is that uh Cleveland Browns game where Ben you know, Ben had his last home game last year.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Just the drama of that and the emotion of that, uh a Pittsburgh legend playing his last game.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: So um very cool moment, and he and he just it was like it was his tip of the cap to the crowd scoring that goal.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_04: And the babies were there to see it.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_04: What year, what year?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you're 97, so all those people are like what twenty some years old now.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: But they were there, they saw it.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so okay, let's go to Hockey Night Punjabi for the next call.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: Phil Kessel, Bosbore, Slaughter's a shot! Brandon! But they're gonna get on Pittsburgh Penguins! Tech the game, T, Jeff again! Bonito by go! Bonito by goal! Bonito the goal! Bonito the goal! Bonito! Overtime! Just the ball goal! Pittsburgh Penguins to Linnae Eastern Conference Finals!
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: In 2016, the Penguins are again locked in a tough second-round matchup with the Washington Capitals.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: And this is you know, 2016, that was the year that the Capitals are finally going to break through.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: They had the best record in the league.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Ovetchin's finally gonna win a Stanley Cup, but it's not going well for the Capitals because the Penguins have a 3-2 series lead heading into Game Six, and they have a 3-0 lead in Game Six.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: However, the Penguins blow that three goal lead in part due to a really bizarre series of delay game penalties, which we talked about in our top 20 mistakes episode.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so now the game goes into overtime, but that HBK line is done so many times that year saves the day.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Nick Benino, who the Punjabi guys love to say his name, he scores a goal, he sends the Penguins to the Eastern Conference Finals.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and we played the the hockey night Punjabi call, but uh Mike Ling actually had another uh had a really classic line at the end of the series.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: He said all the president's men couldn't put Humpty together again, referring to the fact that the the Capitals had won the president's trophy and and couldn't get past the second round like they they never could back then.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a great moment for sure.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_04: That's where I get all my pen uh my penguins in hockey news is you know you know, Punjabi hockey night or whatever.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well those guys kind of became like celebrities.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think they even played under the parade that year.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Remember that?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: So they were they were kind of local heroes.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_04: It's yeah, that was a weird one.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, who knew hockey had such an international flavor?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_04: And it was so big in India, I don't know.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it I guess so.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, obviously somebody's watching it there.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: So okay, number eight on our list.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_10: Over to Nedbat.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_10: Final rush here.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_10: Nedbed going to Zubon.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_10: Here we come.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_10: Flat shot.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_10: Where is it?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_10: Let's block.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_10: Gets it back.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_10: Goes to Nedvet.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_10: Taking shot.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_10: Now the man went down.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_10: Shoots it to the net.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_10: The Penguins winning overtime! The Penguins winning overtime! And ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_10: Peter Nedvan and the Penguins tie the series.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_10: In the greatest game, maybe in the history of the Penguins.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a pretty big statement there.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe the greatest game in the history of the Penguins.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: So this is 1996.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: And guess who the Penguins are playing in the playoffs?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's the Washington Capitals.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: And the Capitals have a two games to one lead headed into Game 4 in Washington.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: They have a really good chance to take control of the series here if they can win Game Four.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it turns into just a really bizarre kind of game.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Mario Lemieux, in the second period, he instigates a fight and he's thrown out of the game.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know when before or after that you ever saw Mario not only get into a fight, but instigate a fight and get ejected for it.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Penguins head coach Eddie Johnston, he gets hit by a flying puck and he's on the bench with like a towel on his head with blood coming out the whole rest of the game.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: But most strange of all, the game goes into four overtimes.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: No one can score.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: The game heads into the wee hours of the morning.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Penguin's goaltender Kenny Reggett, the guy who had beaten the Penguins back in 89 with Philly, he's just magnificent in this game.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: He stops 53 shots, including a penalty shot in one of the overtimes.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: They actually awarded the Capitals a penalty shot because I think it was Chris Tamer for the Penguins had like knocked the net off of its moorings while one of the Capitals guys was kind of charging in, so that was like an uh an automatic penalty shot.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: And Reggett stops that.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Finally, Peter Nedved ends the game with a goal in the fourth overtime, six hours and thirty-seven minutes after the game has started.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: And the Pens kind of use that momentum to go on to win the series in six.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: And to this day, it's still the fourth longest game of the modern era.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_04: I forgot about Eddie Johnson getting hit in the hit in the head in this game.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_04: He stayed in there though, like a like the tough trooper he is.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_04: How did how did did Mario come off the bench or something?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_04: Is that why he got instigating?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: Or just like how do you get kicked like that's the only reason you really get kicked out, right?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_04: Is if you come off the bench to to fight.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I think I think it's it's one of those things where if both guys don't drop the gloves kind of thing, too.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think you can get instigating for that.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: So like if you're just if you're just laying on top of a guy pounding him on the ice.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh geez.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: And and and that it may have been that kind of a situation.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_04: 'Cause I yeah, 'cause like remember people used to come off the bench and fight and like then that's when they brought in like that that's an automatic game misconduct.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_04: And I think they actually like suspend you for a couple more games after that.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_04: But uh wow.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_04: It so they're still well, it's not as long as that other game, but yeah, that one didn't make the list, the Penguins Flyers five over ten minutes.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, weird that in the span of four years, the Penguins were literally involved in two of the four longest games of the modern era.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but that one that one, like I said, had a happy ending.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: He waits, he throws the pass, and it's intercepted!
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_07: Good throw him out on the 40! 35-30!
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Steelers vs.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Ravens is the best rivalry in all of Pro Sports, and now that series has been chronicled in Pittsburgh vs.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Baltimore, the unofficial history, an all-new book from the Pittsburgh Sports Memories podcast.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Relive all the fierce battles and exciting moments from this amazing rivalry.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: There were legendary plays like Troy Polomalu's Pick Six and the Immaculate Extension, and there were crazy incidents like Joey Porter chasing Ray Lewis into the parking lot, or the Ravens putting a bounty on Heinz Ward.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: We cover all of it, including some stories you may never have heard.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Buy a copy for yourself, or get one as a gift for the Steelers fan in your life.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Find it on Amazon, or see the link in the show description of this episode, and thanks for supporting the podcast.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number seven on the list uh is also a dramatic moment in Penguin's history.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_10: Stevens! Stevens fired it back off the board! Ready big plays on this ship by Stevens.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_10: Three.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_10: Stracken trying to get right.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_10: He now plays it across the go.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we actually did an entire episode about this goal.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we'll link it for you on our website.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but here's the short version.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins, they've declared bankruptcy, the team's in a complete financial mess.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: No one's really sure of what the future holds, and there's a very real chance that the playoff game on May 2nd, 1999, between the Penguins and the New Jersey Devils, could be the final ever game in the history of the franchise.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: That was literally a plausible scenario heading into this game.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Penguins are way overmatched in this series.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: They're the number eight seeded in the playoffs.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: The Devils are the the number one seed.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Jersey is trying to eliminate the Penguins here in game six.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: A Yarmair Yager, who had who had not played much in that series, he had a bad groin injury.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: He wills the Penguins to victory, he scores a late goal to send the game in overtime, and then he wins the game in overtime, as you heard there in the audio.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's significant not just because it saved that series, which the Penguins shockingly win in game seven.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: But there are many people, Yager included, who believe that the Penguins would not exist today had he not scored that goal.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it's too long of a story to go into here, so again, go back and find that episode we did on that.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a pretty fascinating story and an interesting argument.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: That goal literally saved the Penguins.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_04: Just blame Howard Baldwin.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_04: That's the easiest.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_04: That's how you sum that up in one sentence.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_04: It it is weird that like rarely does something that happens on the field or during a game actually saves like a team financially.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's normally really doesn't work that way.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_04: So it is kind of unique in that that respect, I guess.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and I think you could argue that that didn't really um happen here, but again, it's it's it's it's an argument that can be made, and and we we we talked that talked about that in detail.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: So again, if you haven't heard that episode, go back and listen.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: I I would highly recommend that one.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, number six, we're going to once again go back to the 2009 playoffs.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_07: Scramble clock comes to the point.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_07: Rafalski shoots.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_07: Not getting the middle stable.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_07: lifts and shoots and a tremendous save by Furry.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_07: He's done it! The Penguins have done it! Sydney Coffee and the Penguins have won a Stanley Cup!
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins and the Red Wings, they're battling for the Stanley Cup for the second straight year, and it all comes down to game seven in Detroit.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Max Talbot ends up being the hero, he scores twice.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: Penguins have a two to nothing lead heading into the third period.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, Detroit, they were just way too good of a team to get shot out.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just I remember between that second and third period just thinking, okay, if we could just keep them at bay for twenty minutes, right?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna score a goal, and they did, because because again, they were just they were that good.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: You weren't gonna just keep them off the board, but if we could just kind of put some space between the first goal and the end of the game.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: So sure enough, it's two to one, it's in the final seconds, and uh the Red Wings win an offensive zone face-off, and now they have a chance to send the game into overtime.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Darren Rafolski takes the shot from the point.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: Marc-Andre Flurry makes the save, but the puck rebounds to some open ice to his right, and here comes the captain of the Red Wings, Nicholas Listrom, arguably the greatest defenseman of all time, with a wide open shot at the net.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Fleury makes a diving save and the horn sounds, and the penguins win the Stanley Cup.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's really become an iconic moment, Fleury making that save.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, you you can't like argue that I it's just like I knew going into that third period when we had a 2-0 lead, I was like, please don't make this into a 20-minute power play for the Red Wings.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_04: And sure enough, the Penguins did.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it was literally I mean, did Chris Osgood see more than two shots that whole period?
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that was that was crazy.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_04: And like, remember there used to be a building in like Pittsburgh where they had like a mural of all like the iconic sports moments of like the 70s and like Matsurovsky in a home run, Mean Joe, like Mario.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_04: You know, if they were to redo a mural like that with the more modern moments, wouldn't you think this would be one of like Flurry making that save?
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_04: I think that would be one of the one of the things you would put on that mural, wouldn't you?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: I I you're right.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's like become that iconic now that like you would have that, like the San Antonio catch.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, you know, obviously, you know, maybe maybe Johnny Cueto dropping the ball or let's go with Russell Martin hitting a home run, you know.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I don't know.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_04: So something like that, you know.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_04: Kenny Pickett throwing touchdowns.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_04: Some fake Kenny Pickett fake slotting.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_04: Fake slotting.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_04: That would be the mural.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_04: We should we should commission an artist to redo that.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_04: Tragically, the lady who did that died on uh what, flight 800.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_04: And then they tore, I think either they tore it down.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they tore it down.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_04: Like, why?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_04: Like we keep everything around here except for that.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: That was that was yeah, that's too bad.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you're right, that it would be fun to redo that with, like you said, kind of an updated version of that.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_04: Well, when I get my millions, I'll I'll commission an artist.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_04: And I'll have to find a building, I guess, too.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_04: But well, if you have millions, you can just buy whatever building you want and put it on there.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_04: I'll get it declared a historical landmark.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you won't be able to do anything about it.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: Good plan.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: Good plan.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, number five is the single most improbable moment, I think, in Pittsburgh sports history.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_10: Looking back for Gilmore.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_10: Taking over on the play is Robert Lang.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_10: He's gonna train.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_10: Here's Casparitas twisting one.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_10: Hey! The Pittsburgh Penguins have won the series in overtime.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_10: There he is, Casparitas.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_10: And ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: This is another one that we did a whole episode on.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: Not really this goal per se, but that kind of magical run in the 2001 playoffs where Mario had come out of retirement.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins are playing the Buffalo Sabres in the second round.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: They're in game seven at Buffalo, and they're in overtime.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: So the next goal wins the series, and one of these two teams is going to go to the Eastern Conference Finals, the other team is going to go home.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you have Hall of Fame players all over the ice.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: You have these brilliant goal scorers like Mario Lemieux and Yarmir Yager and Dave Anderchuk, and then you have Penguins defenseman Darius Casparetis, a guy who played 443 games in a penguins uniform and only scored 17 goals during.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: You also, in net for Buffalo, have arguably the greatest goaltender of all time, a guy named Dominic Hawschick.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: But in overtime, Casparitas somehow beats Hawkick to win the series.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: As I said, I I I really do think, Steve, it's it's the most unlikely, improbable.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if if if you had to bet on anybody if you were if you were doing odds at the beginning of that overtime on who was going to score the goal to win the series, Darius Casparitas is on the bottom of that list for sure.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_04: Well, yeah.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_04: I love Dominic Classic, too.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_04: He's one of my favorite goalies of all time.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_04: And it's just it's just funny.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_04: Funny that like it's but hockey's like that, though.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_04: It's like it's all in the playoffs, sometimes it's like like Max Talbot.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_04: Like, who would have picked Max Talbot to score two goals in game seven?
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_04: Like, you know, in game seven, sometimes it's like a very unlikely person that scores your game-winning goal.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: So Yep, that's the beauty of of not only sports, but like you said, hockey and playoff hockey.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: You just see that, you know, the unlikely hero, the the person, the thing you didn't expect.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: And again, going back to what we said at the beginning of the episode, that's that's why we love playoff hockey and stuff like that.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um when we did that episode, we played this next clip.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it it it you know, we talked about Darius Caspar, I just was just beloved here in Pittsburgh.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh this was him about two minutes after he scores the biggest goal of his life being interviewed on the ice.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_06: Is is this the the best moment of your hockey career so far?
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_06: You know what?
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_06: I I I don't realize I scored a goal.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_06: I honestly I don't know what happened.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_06: I just I just put it in, but it just kinda I'm still in uh fog, you know.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_06: And I just joined a Russian uh thing I didn't even know who passed to me.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_06: I just put a puck on the net and uh I own Domini Hashik because I scored one against him before.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_06: You own him.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_04: That's just great.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_04: Stan Savron.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_04: I love the Stan Savron Avery.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well soon, Stan.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and that, you know, and and that wasn't that wasn't Caspar just being cocky.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: That was him being facetious.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, like he knowing like full well that he was not supposed to score a goal against Dominic Hawkshick in game seven overtime.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, and just having fun with it in the moment.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: So again, that's why we love Casper that and many other reasons.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number four on the list is another unlikely hero.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_10: Left point though to Batisop back to John McLean.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_10: McLean left point.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_10: Batisop shoots it deflected right in.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_10: Peter Mantle save rebound.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_10: He's stopped by Peter Anzimo.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_10: I don't believe that save.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_10: Even as Peter Stasney.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_10: He can't believe the save that Peter Angelo just made on him.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_10: As Frankie sparked by now that one over there to stop and rob Peter Stanney should get five to ten for that.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is 1991.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: And in 1991, the Penguins are a franchise who, in 24 years of playing hockey, they've never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: But this is finally their year.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: They win the Patrick Division for the first time ever.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of hype and expectations as they enter the first round of the playoffs against really what should have been an inferior New Jersey Devils team.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: But the Devils really outplay the Penguins for the first part of that series, and they have the Penguins on the brink of elimination in game six in Jersey.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and so now not only are the Pens down to their final game, they're also, without their starting goaltender, Tom Barrasso, who had been injured uh earlier in that series, and their backup is a guy named Frank Peter Angelo.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think people forget because of this play, but back then Peter Angelo was not a goaltender you ever really wanted to see come into the game.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: He wasn't really that great.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um a lot of fans really didn't like him.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if he came into the game and gave up a goal, people were just all over him.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he he was he was just a guy that you you definitely did not want out there to try to save the hopes of the season.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and in this game, the Penguins they have a two-to-one lead, the Devils have a power play, and Hall of Famer Peter Statson gets a rebound and has just an absolute wide open net.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: He shoots the puck, somehow Peter Angelo dives over to make the save.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: I Steve, I've seen that play a hundred times, and every time I watch it, even though I know it's gonna happen, like my brain instantly thinks it's gonna be a goal.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's just gonna be a goal.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it I don't understand how it wasn't a goal.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's unbelievable that he made that save.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Penguins go on to win the game, they go on to win the series, and they go on to win their first ever Stanley Cup.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and Peter Angelo for sure is a one-hit wonder, but man, what a hit that was.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that play is so iconic in Pittsburgh that it it's just it has a name.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's called the Save.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you say the save, you know, that's Frank Peter Angelo.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows what you're talking about, so that was a huge moment.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I I don't I can't watch that replay and not think it's gonna be a goal, even though I know it's not.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_04: He literally had the whole net to shoot at.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_04: And it wasn't like he didn't like just shuffle it along the ice, he actually lifted the puck a little bit.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_04: Like like Stasney didn't just like softly try to tap it in.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_04: He he really put like a little wrist shot on it, and it it was a nice say, it was just it's it was like really a mistake, too.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_04: I think he screwed, didn't he turn out turn over the puck?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_04: He actually created his own like problem, if I remember correctly, from Peter.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_04: Didn't he like turned it over or something?
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, another another like oh yeah, there's Peter Angelo giving up another big goal.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: Had he not made that say like I said, he his reputation in Pittsburgh, everybody remembers him fondly, and it's just funny how time does that, and and that one play does that, because the the the game before this, you go up and ask penguin fans, Frank Peter Angelo, you're not gonna get a positive response.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_04: He he uh he becomes like, yeah, it's weird how he he like transforms just over diving and but they sometimes if he the right play at the right time, you know.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_04: Just uh he's like so beloved, and Barrasso's so not so beloved.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_04: So that's a good point.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know what the funny how that worked out, huh?
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Barraso's the better talent, but maybe personality played into it too.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_04: So for sure.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number three on the list.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_10: They'll drop the puck.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_10: It's free.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_10: Outright side Murphy shooting I mean, rebound all of you!
• 42:48
  unknown: Hey!
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_08: should have scores.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_08: Mary O'Lemieux and the Pling Wesley.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_08: Five to four, and you'd have to be here to believe it.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: You really would have had to be there to believe it.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: Game one of the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's I I really think you could argue it's it's the greatest game in NHL history.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins and the Blackhawks both come into that game.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: Neither team has lost for literally a month.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, literally, neither team had lost for a month.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: They they both had just run through the conference finals uh with a sweep.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: They were both on a on a roll, and this game is an amazing back and forth battle.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: The Blackhawks Blackhawks go up three to nothing, the Penguins battle back.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yarmare Jagger has just an unbelievable highlight rail goal to tie the game in the third period, and now the game ticks down to the final seconds, and it looks like we're just destined for overtime in this back and forth battle between these two great teams.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: But hold everything with seventeen seconds left.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: Mario Lemie blows past defenseman Steve Smith, who was a very good defenseman, Steve Smith.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: Smith takes him down, they call him for hooking.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: So now the Penguins get a five on four face.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: Ron Francis wins the faceoff, drops it back to Larry Murphy, he shoots the puck towards goaltender Eddie Belfour.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: Belfour makes a save, but Mario's right there, scoops up the puck, buries it, buries it into the net, and that's it.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: The game's over.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and Steve, I what I remember about this game, I I remember where I remember I was watching it in my kitchen, and I remember the feeling I felt when Mario scored the goal was disappointment.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that sounds weird, but uh I'll try to explain.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: So imagine you were watching like an epic movie or an epic series of movies, like like maybe like a Star Wars trilogy or something, and the whole thing's building up and building up and building up, and and it's all coming down to this final showdown, right, between the good guy and bad guy.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then imagine like the good guy just I don't know, takes out a gun and just kills the bad guy and they roll credits.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: It was like super anticlimactic, and it was kind of like, oh, oh, okay, uh, he's just better than everybody.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like that like all the suspense was gone, and then the penguins ended up winning the series in a four-game sweep because all the suspense was gone.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, this is okay.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine Tiger Woods in his prime playing golf against like a bunch of fifth graders who are just learning to golf.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and Tigers maybe just kind of letting them, you know, oh you guys are keeping it close, but then if he wanted to just play his game, he would just he would just crush them, right?
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's I feel like that's where Mario was at this point in his career.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, he just it's like there's 17 seconds left.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, we're gonna have this overtime now.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_01: And Mario's just like, no, I don't I don't think I'm gonna I don't think I want to play overtime tonight here.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: Penalty face-off goal game.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Just because he wanted to.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I think it was more like, okay, let's you let's look back here just for a moment.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so they have a face-off in the Chicago zone on a power play.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_04: So they have Ron Francis taking the draw, right?
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_04: Ron Francis has how many goals and is in the Hall of Fame, correct?
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_04: He wins the face-off back to Larry Murphy, who I believe is what, top five scoring defenseman of all time.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_04: And in the Hall of Fame, too, who takes a shot.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_04: Eddie Belfort, I is Eddie Belfort in the Hall of Fame.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_04: I I know he's a pretty good goalie.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_04: He was a really good goalie.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_04: He was a really good goalie, but Eddie Belfort's problem was he didn't like stop the puck from he gave up a rebound, and he gives it up to Mario, who's like one of the best players ever.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_04: So I I mean, it wasn't all Mario, but um yeah, it was just like you said, it's just like Mario's just like pulled like a Michael Jordan or something, like, I'm really good and I'm kind of better than everybody.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_04: Here you go.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, okay, let's go home.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_01: And the only reason the only reason they had that power play face off is because he he blew it, yeah.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: Another really good player, Steve Smith, and and created that whole situation.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and and Mario said uh um on that goal, he he felt like he was kind of fortunate because him charging towards the net, the the the defenseman that was playing at the point, or not the defenseman, but the guy that was playing the point for Chicago, like he was just by himself at the point.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if Belfour gets that puck and can kind of like shuffle it out to the guy, he has a short-handed breakaway.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: But again, Mario, he knew what he was doing, obviously.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, it just like here I'm gonna win the game.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, I just felt like, oh, okay.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's cool.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm glad we're gonna win the cup again.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I kind of was hoping for more of like a like a fair competition, and it's just like okay, I guess it's better than everybody.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_04: I'm happy when it's unfair to our advantage.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_04: It doesn't happen that often, so you just gotta enjoy it sometimes when you have like the best player on the ice or the field or whatever, you know.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_04: Sometimes you just gotta enjoy it, enjoy the show.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_04: I've always like been on the other end of that.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_04: Like, oh, Tom Brady's just like really better than our defense all the time.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_04: It's just and there's nothing you can do about it.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's the same kind of thing.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_04: It's like yeah, Mary Lemie's just better than you.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_04: Sorry, you know, it's like no offense, you know.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_04: Kind of like how Malkin was in that Carolina series.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, uh, sorry, Carolina, you're pretty good, but Malkin's just that much better than you guys.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a good comparison to Brady like killing us in in AFC championship games.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I think there, it's like you knew from you know the first quarter that like okay, he's he's just gonna kill us.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: Here, it's like, man, this is this is really like even like back and forth.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: Blackhawks had a three to nothing lead in that game.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be an amazing series.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then like when he scored that goal, it's like, oh no, it's not.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna be an amazing series.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be over in four games, and it's not even gonna be close because he's better than everybody.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know who the backup, you know the backup goalie was in this series was Hossick.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_04: And if you watch game four, Hausick, like that game could have been like a 7-0 blowout if Keenan doesn't make the change to Hausick in that game, but even Hossick ended up giving up a late goal.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it it just the penguins were too good that year.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_04: They were like, they were just really better.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_04: The Blackhawks were really good, but the Penguins were one that much better.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_04: That 92 team is probably like arguably one of the best penguin teams of all time.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_04: For sure.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_04: For sure.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number two on our list.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_09: Now it's here, eh?
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_09: That one came off the gold.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_09: It's Schultz working it back in deep.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_09: Fresh from the bench, it's Crosby.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_09: Crosby on Kunitz and Shot.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_09: And they go to the final.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: So back to 2017, the Penguins are looking to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: They've made it all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, where they're taking on the Ottawa Senators, a team who no one really expected to get this far, but has done so on the back of a veteran goaltender named Craig Anderson.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a it's just a classic Game 7.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's back and forth, it's really tight, the game goes into overtime, no one scores, and now it goes into a second overtime.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you want to talk about the high drama of playoff hockey.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: Here you have 20 minutes of whoever scores the next goal plays for the Stanley Cup, and then no one scores.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: So now you have another twenty minutes of whoever scores the next goal plays for the Stanley Cup.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: In the second overtime, it's another unlikely Penn Zero, it's Chris Kunitz, who beats Anderson to send the Penguins to the finals where they ultimately win their fifth cup.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I had remarked on social media earlier in that game that I had forgotten that Kuhnitz still played for us, and I was being like half like jokey, but I literally did kind of forget that he played for us because at that point in his career he really didn't log a ton of ice time, and when he did, he was just totally invisible.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so for him to get that goal and it wasn't even a clean shot.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: Crosby fed him the puck and he did not get a clean shot, and the puck kind of like fluttered, and I think that's why it caught Anderson by surprise and went over his shoulder.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it ends up being the goal that wins the series, and it wins the uh Prince of Wales trophy for the Penguins.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_01: Just a just an amazing dramatic game seven overtime.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it you don't get much better than that, Chris Koonitz.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's kind of like another one of those you know, unsung hero kind of people.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_04: And Chris Koonitz's job like throughout his career, I mean he scored some goals like when he was more in his prime, but he was always on like Crosby's line to go in the corner and dig the pug out for Crosby so that you know Crosby could kind of do his thing around the net.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_04: So it really Chris Koonitz like really wasn't a goal scorer per se.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_04: He was more of like a four-checker and you know, dirt dirty work kind of guy.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_04: But I liked him.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean he he did it well.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, especially especially by that point in his career, right?
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, and when he was playing on Crosby's line, you know, back in like the early 2010s, you would have expected him to be out there and potentially score that goal, but by 2017 he barely even played.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_04: Well, he didn't really fit in.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_04: This is uh what's his name?
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because he's the new coach, and yeah, he didn't really hear Sullivan's system.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_04: He's not necessarily a speed guy, but especially at this point in his career.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_04: So Right, right.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_01: So so my memory of that game, um I I that one I I distinctly remember being in my backyard between the first and second overtime.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: I went to take my dog outside during that intermission, and it was all dark, and I was so on edge, I remember that I literally had trouble opening the door.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like my hand was shaking.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: And as I stood out there, it was all dark, it was all quiet, and a reality kind of hit me.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like and this was a this was a weird thing to think in the moment, and a hard thing to think in the moment.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna as soon as I went back inside, I was either gonna witness one of the greatest moments in the history of my favorite team, or I was gonna witness one of the worst moments in the history of my favorite team, and there's literally no way around that.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then a second thought hit me, like, why am I so invested in this?
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, why do I care so much a about the outcome of a sporting event that I have no control over?
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I but I do, and I did, and there's no way around that either.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think when Kuhn had scored that goal, and I just I kind of erupted in like pure evolution and at that moment I think that's you know, that kind of answered my question.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I care so much, because even though the the the terrible moments are really tough, man, the the the moments like that that you'll remember forever, I I guess that's what makes it worth it.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and when your teams give you those moments like the Penguins have for so many years now with five Stanley Cups and all these great moments we're talking about, that's that's what makes it worthwhile.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, it's kind of the antithesis to maybe one of the other teams in town that are let's say considered professional.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_04: But I mean, imagine trying to make this moment of the last 40 years with the Pirates.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_04: You couldn't do it.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_04: I mean you would be hard pressed, you know.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_04: You'd be like, remember that time Johnny Cueto dropped the ball?
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know.
• 54:36
  unknown: Yeah.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_04: E even pit football up to last year was kind of like well, I mean, I guess they had 13-9 and they beat Clemson.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_04: Even pit football had more than the Pirates have had, so that's saying something.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_04: But uh good for the Penguins.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: But you make a good point there um about the Pirates, Steve, because again, I think it's a good it's a good reminder how fortunate we are to have teams like the Penguins and even the Steelers who've had so much success.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh because there's a lot of sports fan bases who you know they've had nothing but heartbreak.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: Look at like Buffalo fans, for example.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, with with the Sabres and the Bills, all the you know, they they just had another one this last year with the playoff game in Kansas City.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: Just they they've they've had all the tough moments and they haven't had a lot of the great moments to to fall back on.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a good reminder that we're very fortunate and very blessed in some of the teams we root for here in Pittsburgh.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_04: Even like Kansas City or like you said Kansas City, it took 50 years finally for them to get one Super Bowl, and then you know they've lost yeah, they lost in another one and then didn't even make it, and then Cincinnati finally makes a Super Bowl after all these years and can't pull it off.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_04: And the Reds haven't been I Reds haven't won a World Series since the 90s.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_04: So if you look like teams that are kind of comparable, like you can't care compare Pittsburgh to like you know, New York or LA or even Chicago, probably, because those are much bigger cities, but you know, when you compare them to you know cities like you know, like I said, Cincinnati and Kansas City and Buffalo, it's like we definitely have had more than our fair share.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_04: This will be tough to do, like, you know, a Buffalo sports memories podcast.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we run out of material a little a little quicker, unfortunately.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we love you, Buffalo fans.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I I really I literally always root for your teams when our teams are out of it because I'd love to see you guys win a championship in in at some point, especially in football.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: So all right.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that brings us all the way to the number one item on the list, and who else could it be but number 66?
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_10: Here's Lemieux, the center penalty coming up.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_10: Look at Le Mieux! Oh my gods! What a goal! What a move!
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_07: Le Mieux! Oh baby!
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_01: We we talked earlier about that 91 season.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Pens get past the Devils thanks to that Frank Peterangelo save.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: They have win the next two rounds as well, and now they find themselves in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time ever against a plucky Minnesota North Stars club, a team that had actually finished the regular season under 500.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, like Steve said earlier, playoffs are a different animal.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_01: They get hot in the playoffs, right?
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's no better example of that than the 91 Minnesota North Stars.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and they come into the finals with a lot of momentum, and in fact, they take game one.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so now the Penguins really need something to get them back into the series in game two.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_01: And they get that from Mario Lemieux.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_01: He takes a pass from Phil Bork and he's one on two against both Minnesota defensemen.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's a play that no one should ever, ever attempt.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you showed that if you were coaching kids hockey and you showed that play, you would want to burn it into their brains.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_01: Never, ever, ever, ever, under any circumstances, try to take on both defensemen and the goalie because you know something bad's gonna happen.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_01: Just dump the puck in so your guys can make a line change or whatever.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_01: But again, we talked about Mario was kind of superhuman and he decides to go in and and take on both defensemen and he darts between the two guys.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_01: He puts the puck between one of their legs, and then he beats goaltender John Casey as he's going down to score maybe the greatest goal of his career.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_01: I had to put it at number one.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not uh it's not a moment that won a series or or, you know, uh was in overtime or anything like that.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I feel like it's kind of the moment in Penguins' history that turned a Morabound franchise into really one of the most successful sports teams in North America over the past thirty years.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you think about it, before this play, the Penguins are a team that just has bad luck, they have tragedies, they have um financial difficulties, they they have all kinds of just nothing goes right in the first 24 years.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then the 30 years after this play, they win five Stanley Cups, they're they're hugely popular in Pittsburgh, they have all kinds of success.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I just kind of felt like that was an appropriate moment to put it number one for that reason.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it whenever they show Mario like career highlights, this is always like top one or top two.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_04: That and the five goals five different ways, and you know, it's just it it's definitely his like main highlight.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_04: And I mean it wasn't all smooth sailing after this, but it definitely started the penguins on their winning ways.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_04: Like what they did you I remember at the beginning you said that since this time they've only missed the playoffs, what, four times?
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh it was that little stretch, it was 2002 to 2006, yeah, those seasons, and then they've made the playoffs every other year.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_01: They from 91 to present, they've made the playoffs every other year.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so I mean, and it and like they had that rough patch with the um you know in '99 with almost going bankrupt again, but it's just the stability of the franchise has really improved so much and become such a fabric of the community.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_04: And that's that's good for Pittsburgh, and it's good for the Penguins, and good for us fans, gives us something to watch between, you know, till Steelers training camp when the you know, since the pirates don't ever do anything anymore.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, I mean it's Mario's uh you know a legend.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_04: And like I said, like if when I commission my mural, when I make my millions and whatever I'm going to make my millions in, so I you know, and I commission my mural for uh this will that Mario will be on there.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, he was on the original mural mural too, so but you gotta have maybe he'll be an owner this time, like holding a Stanley Cup with Crosby and you know Malkin and Flurry and all them.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_01: So there you go.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that that that place should have been the statue, not Richie Pelon, but that's another story altogether.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and I always confuse John Casey and Edgar Casey.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_04: Edgar Casey was a psychic from the fifties.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_04: Too bad John Casey wasn't psychic.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe he could have seen that coming.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_01: He uh he did not have a good series, and that was really I mean, the North Stars, that was a big reason they were in the finals was because of Casey.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_01: And he just he had no answer for Mario.
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_01: He he ended up playing for the St.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_01: Louis Blues like five years later, and Mario scored five goals in a game against him when he played for St.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_01: Louis.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that guy couldn't wait to get out of the league, so he wouldn't have to ever play against Mario Lemieux ever again.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_01: So that's our list.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_01: I hope it gets you pumped up.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know the playoffs are starting this week, so hopefully that that gets you all primed and excited for the upcoming playoff season.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, thank you so much for listening.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_01: Please check us out on the web, check us out on Facebook or Twitter.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh please um tell your friends about the show, give us a rating on whatever podcast service you listen to, all that stuff helps people find us.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_01: We'll catch you next time.