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The False Summit Penguins · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to a very, I don't know, Churchillan episode of Pittsburgh Sports Memories.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm your co-host, Steve Wirt.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: As usual, I'm joined by I'm Tim Hannon.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, in this episode, Tim, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, sweat, and tears, okay?
0:20
SPEAKER_00: So you're just gonna have to deal with it.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, that was obviously a quote by uh Sir Winston Churchill on May 13th, 1940, when England was standing alone against the Nazi scourge.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: There was obviously no United States, no nobody, no anybody, and a bunch of Nazis on the other side of the channel waiting to invade.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, in climbing, because you know, I do a lot of mountaineering, Tim, just just like you, right?
1:01
SPEAKER_00: You've been up there.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: I've been up to Everest like two or three times, you know.
1:05
SPEAKER_05: It's always been a big uh passion of ours for sure.
1:07
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: Outside of the fact that I'm terrified of heights.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: I love climbing.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: So in climbing, a false summit is described as a peak that when reached is thought to be the summit, but the true summit is much higher and farther away.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: You've been there, you've completed something that's really tough, and like, oh, this is the end, and then you look and like, oh my goodness, there's like 10 more steps.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of disheartening.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: So in this episode, um, this is where the sports thing comes in, huh?
1:36
SPEAKER_00: This is a sports, you know, podcast, not politics or mountaineering.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, we're going to explore the 1988-89 season of the Penguins.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: And um, they reached the second round of the playoffs only to lose in a game seven that would set the team back for another season.
1:54
SPEAKER_05: And I I I I do want to say that my um probably my my most common experience of reaching the false summit has come from video games.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, I didn't.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: I remember I meant you know, speaking of that, I remember playing Mario Brothers the Original with my friend, and we're like, World 4 has gotta be the end.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's it.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: What?
2:18
SPEAKER_00: She's in another castle.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: Come on, I thought World Four was the end.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: We finally beat Bowser.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: But it was like eight worlds on that bad boy there.
2:28
SPEAKER_05: Especially in that era, because you you didn't have big long video games like that.
2:34
SPEAKER_05: Video games were always short and and yeah, so it was shocking to see that that actually wasn't the end.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: That the Princess Peach was still in another castle.
2:43
SPEAKER_05: Eight more castles.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Well, four more at least at that point.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:48
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
2:49
SPEAKER_05: Oh yeah.
2:49
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
2:49
SPEAKER_05: I guess if you're already on road four, yes.
2:51
SPEAKER_05: Good point.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I didn't mean to drop some math on you.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: Um so uh getting back to the penguins.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh the penguins um had been, you know, around for a while, and in the 80s, in 1982, they lost a playoff series to the North New York Islanders, and they and these were these five-game short series, and they had actually won, uh, they actually led three to one late in the game, but the uh Islanders being the Islanders of that era and the Penguins being the Penguins just of all time, because the Islanders always seemed to have the Penguins number, no matter what, um, they came back and they actually lost in overtime, and the uh Islanders went on to win the cup, and uh Penguins uh got eliminated from the first round, as they were often one to do in that era.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: So two years later, after tanking the following year, they draft some guy named Mario Lemieux.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Um pretty good player.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: But even after that, they still had not seen success as a team, even with uh arguably one of the greatest players in hockey.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: So in 1988, the and the Debartal's own the team, Eddie Debartalo Jr.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: and Debartolo Jr., who was running the 49ers and the Penguins at that point, um, decided that it was time for a change.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: Eddie Johnson had been building the team over the last three or four years, they still hadn't made the playoffs.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, so they decide to fire him, and um they fire him.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Well, they don't fire him.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: Actually, what they do is they hire a guy named Tony Esposito.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: And um, this is an interesting thing because Tony, so you go out and you hire a GM with lots of experience, right?
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Well, um, not so much the case at this point.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: So Tony Esposito at the time had no coaching, scouting, or general manager experience.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: So he was um definitely completely qualified to run the Penguins as much as uh you were Tim at that point while we were six years old.
4:54
SPEAKER_05: I didn't realize that he was because uh he he was kind of like a hockey he had played, his brother was part of the league.
5:03
SPEAKER_05: Like I didn't know.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: That'll come into play later in the podcast, yes.
5:07
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but I didn't realize I didn't realize he had no experience prior to that.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think Phil was a GM.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Well, Phil was definitely a GM at that point, so I think Phil had the more of the experience.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Um Tony was the goalie, Phil was a forward, so they take two different positions.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: Um Paul Martha was involved as usual.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: He always seems to be when the Debartlow is involved.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: He kind of was the right-hand man in Pittsburgh or the Bartlow.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: He moves over to Civic Arena Management, so I guess he was involved maybe more with the general manager stuff with Eddie Johnston.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: So and it's kind of uncomfortable because they're in the press conference, they're like, well, you know, uh, you know, Eddie Johnston and Pierre Kramer, who was the coach, they haven't been fired yet, but um they were both fired by Tony Esposito.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: And uh Tony Esposito, um, for his credit, DeBartolo says he he eats, sleeps, and breathes hockey.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: So that's all the qualifications you need to be general manager of the Penguins at this point in time.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: Um they had actually met through the Italian Sports Hall of Fame, which Tim, are you a member of the Italian Sports Hall of Fame?
6:20
SPEAKER_05: Uh I'm on the ballot.
6:22
SPEAKER_05: Oh uh so far I've not been elected.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: You keep losing out to Sylvester Stallone.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:28
SPEAKER_05: Yep.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: Um so uh or Francisco Cervelli, he's not Italian, no, he's he's another person.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: But um the uh he was actually hired in April of 88.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: He played goalie for the Blackhawks.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: Um he did pick Mark Recci in the 88 draft, so there's there's something, right?
6:48
SPEAKER_05: So so so Steve, was was this the Bartlow senior or Eddie?
6:53
SPEAKER_00: No, this is junior.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: This is junior.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so so at this point, because he's running the 49ers, they've won a bunch of super rolls, he thinks he knows what he's doing.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't realize that uh Bill Walsh knows what he's doing.
7:08
unknown: Yeah.
7:09
SPEAKER_05: Well, and and he was very brash.
7:11
SPEAKER_05: I mean, uh people people that that's one of the reasons he's not in the NFL Hall of Fame is because a lot of people did not like him.
7:19
SPEAKER_05: Uh although, again, like you said, he obviously had a lot of success.
7:23
SPEAKER_05: Well, the 49ers had a lot of success while he owned them.
7:27
SPEAKER_05: We'll we'll just say that.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: But but he did spare no expense to his credit, he did spend money.
7:32
SPEAKER_05: Right.
7:32
SPEAKER_05: And and and but for a while, the the the Bartlow family bought the penguins in the late 70s, and then they were like absentee ownership for like the first half of the 80s.
7:43
SPEAKER_05: And I think when Eddie Jr.
7:45
SPEAKER_05: got involved around that time that they drafted Mario, then he became a little bit more hands-on.
7:51
SPEAKER_05: Is that an accurate statement?
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: He started to definitely try to mold the penguins.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: It it wasn't, and it was kind of like his second business.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Like obviously, the NFL and the 49ers were his main concern.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: They're all from Youngstown of Ohio, if I've left that out.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: But um, they're the ownership at this point, and the son, the father was more into building malls, and the son was more into building sports teams.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: So um, so Tony Esposito, for his credit, goes on a 10-week search for a the new coach of the penguins.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: And that sounds like a good thing, right, Tim?
8:29
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like very thorough and you know, we're gonna look and turn over every rock.
8:34
SPEAKER_05: And I bet they'll do what the penguins always do when they hire a new coach.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, the other candidates were Mike Keenan, who I think had just been high fired from the Flyers.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: That probably would have been really bad.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Um do you know much about Mike Keenan, Tim?
8:53
SPEAKER_00: He's like a very he's like Michelle Terrion with less class in grace.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: Well, I shouldn't say Michelle Terry doesn't have class.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: I'd say Michelle Terrier with less grace.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: A more brash, Michelle Terry, if that's humanly.
9:11
SPEAKER_05: I always remember the 92 cup finals and him complaining about Mario taking dives and all that kind of stuff.
9:18
SPEAKER_05: I mean, he he just was kind of one of those old school below hard coaches that you found in a lot of sports back then, not just hockey.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, and they also, ironically enough, at this point, they considered Scottie Bowman, who sound who would be, I would think, extremely qualified.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: He did win five Stanley Cups at that point in his career.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: But the Canadians, which I realize are like coaching like you know, a stacked dream team, but still somebody's gotta coach him.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, so they what they do hire is they hire a gentleman named Geneako, which I would be able to pronounce if I wasn't such a Pittsburger.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, and they hire him in June.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, he actually had coached the minor league Baltimore Skipjack.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: So, like you said, in the rich tradition of Dan Belsmo and Mike Sullivan, they hire their AHL coach.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: And so he had this great season with Baltimore, right, Tim?
10:15
SPEAKER_00: That's why he's you know gunning for no, no, he was coming off his worst season in the minors.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, they were 1358-9, and they actually had the longest losing streak in minor league history.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: So uh this is a great hire.
10:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, let's go, Penns.
10:31
SPEAKER_05: And and it's just it's amazing no matter who owns the team, that's always their default.
10:37
SPEAKER_05: Because uh Lou Angotti, several years before that, he was the Baltimore coach when they made him the head coach.
10:43
SPEAKER_05: Terrion was the minor league coach.
10:45
SPEAKER_05: Like it's always the minor league coach gets promoted.
10:49
SPEAKER_05: It's it just seems like there's no other imagination.
10:52
SPEAKER_05: And then there's there's these very rare cases, like that guy in between Bosma and um Yeah, he but he was a minor league coach for not the but not the penguins minor league coach, so at least they went outside the organization.
11:06
SPEAKER_05: But yeah, most of the there's very few exceptions.
11:09
SPEAKER_05: It's usually always just promote from within, no matter who's the owner, which is kind of odd.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: So uh with keeping with that, um let's talk about the team.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: So who do we got as players?
11:22
SPEAKER_00: Well, we got Mary Lemieux, who's an all-time great.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: And this season he goes on to score 85 goals.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: He led the league in goals, and he actually tied some guy named Wayne Gretzky with 114 assists.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, they have Robbie Brown, he's a right winger, and he scores 49 goals just because he's on Mario's line.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: He's a good player, but quite honestly, I probably could have scored 10 goals and I can't ice skate.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: I would just stand in front of the net and let Mario bounce it off me.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: But that was always the kind of joke you could put a fire hydrant with a stick out there, and Mario would bounce it off the fire hydrant and it would go in the net.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: So Mario was really good these seasons.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, they had John Cullen, who was a second-line center.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: He did have 12 goals and 49 assists.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh they have Kevin Stevens, a very young Kevin Stevens.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: He only played 24 games, but he did have 12 goals.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: They had Dave Hannon, who is not your brother, Tim.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: Um he was a left winger that was picked up via waiver.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: So your brother would not have been as old as this guy.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: Um uh Jay Cawfield was kind of their default tough guy, I guess.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: He was their he led the team in penalty minutes, he was the Penn's enforcer.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: He was supposed to be the um he was the guy for Edmonton who protected uh Marty McSorley, who used to play for the Penguins.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's I supposedly nobody touched Kretzky.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: Right.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: Right.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: That was, I guess, that was the role of Jay Caulfield.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: I think there was like one or two other people that kind of tried to fill in, but it never worked, so whatever.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: Um Zarley Zalapsky, which is just a great name to say, he was a pupp puck moving defenseman, and he scored 12 goals.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: And the you know, really another guy, a puck moving defense in Paul Coffee, a Hall of Famer.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: He won Cups with Edmonton.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: The Edmonton dynasty was kind of breaking apart.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about that at this point.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: They were kind of spinning off people from there.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: So um so next up, we'll talk about the alignment of the NHL.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, the NHL had 21 teams, and I did look back, they were more geographic than they were in the 70s, but because they had such an odd smattering of teams, they didn't have a lot of teams in the west or the east or oh, they didn't have any teams, I think, south of what was the furthest team?
13:48
SPEAKER_00: Washington?
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess LA.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: I I don't think they had LA would have been the furthest team south, and that I don't does that count?
13:56
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
13:57
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I guess they didn't have any teams in Texas, they didn't have any teams in Florida, Carolinas.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so in the east, the furthest team south would have been Washington.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they had Atlanta.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: Atlanta they had occasionally on and off, but they had a lot of different things.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:12
SPEAKER_05: That's interesting.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: So you they really couldn't do it like they do it now geographically.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: So they had two conferences, which I wish they would bring back these names.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: I love the the old names.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: The Prince of Wales in the Clarence Campbell Conference, who was a famous you know, hockey legend.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, the Prince of Wales, I guess his I guess they couldn't find another hockey legend, the name of Conference, so they named it after um, I don't know, Prince Charles.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: It would have been Prince Charles at this point in 1998.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he would have been the Prince of Wales.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Because yeah.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Um there were also four divisions in at this time.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: All right, Tim, uh, did you look at the notes?
14:51
SPEAKER_00: Can you name the four divisions?
14:53
SPEAKER_05: Uh Patrick, the Patrick Division in the East was what the penguins were in, and then there was also the Adams division in the East, correct?
15:00
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
15:01
SPEAKER_05: And then in the Well, I'm sorry, in the Wales Conference, in the Campbell Conference, it was the Norris and the Smythe.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: Smythe.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: That's a very English name, isn't it?
15:11
SPEAKER_00: Smythe.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: So here's how it works.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: So four teams from each division qualified for the playoffs, and then they played within that division for the first two rounds of the playoffs.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: So you think about it, the penguins have not made the playoffs.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: So 16 teams out of the 21 make the playoffs, and the penguins don't make the playoffs.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, in their defense, I think the Patrick Division had an extra team in it.
15:34
SPEAKER_05: It did, it had six, and everything everybody else had to be.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: So two teams from the Patrick Division did not make the playoffs, as opposed to, I guess, one just from every other one.
15:46
SPEAKER_05: But still, you literally have to be one of the five worst teams in the league to not make the playoffs.
15:52
SPEAKER_05: I mean, if you think about like like the NFL today, think about who drafts in the top five, and then look at look at whoever whatever team drafts number six is here, it'll probably be like, I don't know, the Tennessee Titans or somebody.
16:03
SPEAKER_05: They would make the playoffs.
16:04
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they make the playoffs.
16:06
SPEAKER_05: That's the way the NHL was back then.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: Well, the joke would be to get an N NHL playoffs just wear like a white rose on your lapel, you know, and they got it.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: So um random NHL stuff, 1988.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, Edmonton was the dominant team of this year.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: The Islanders were dominant.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: They won four cups, I think, from 80 to 83, 84, 83.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: They won four in a row, and then Gretzky and the Oilers go on a roll.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: And in 88, Gretzky, after his last after a Stanley Cup in, I guess 87, goes from Edmondon, LA.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: It's there's a whole documentary on it.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: There's much wailing and gnashing of teeth over it.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: It might be the biggest fix ever because you know they wanted to put him in a big United States market, so he was obviously not going to go to Minnesota.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: You know, he was going to go to either New York or LA.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: So it in my key point, and two, they've gotten, like I said, they got rid of Coffee.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: But Edmonton's still a pretty decent team, but it's kind of an open year, and you kind of get the feeling that anybody can win.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: Maybe a new team, like a team that hasn't made the playoffs in four years, could could maybe go all the way, right?
17:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: So that sets up the season.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, so uh, you know, the season the penguins have a pretty good season.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: They ended up finishing second.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, they have 40 wins and 87 points, which is second in the Patrick division behind the Capitals, which have 92 points.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: The Rangers finish third with 82 points.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: I say 92 points for the Capitals, 82 points for the Rangers, and the Flyers sneak into the playoffs with 80 points.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, the two highlights of this season, I'm not going to go over the regular season that hard, are Mario did this amazing thing where he scored five goals in five different ways.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: We'll play some uh audio.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: They need a big game from Lemieux because what's a team?
18:10
SPEAKER_02: Lemieux centering score! Mario Lemieux centering pass tip for tap.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: Hope check away.
18:18
SPEAKER_02: Lemieux out in front on the right.
18:19
SPEAKER_02: Broughton trying to cut the angle off Lemieux and Broughton.
18:22
SPEAKER_02: Lemieux in stars a Mario Lemieux goal.
18:27
SPEAKER_02: His seventh short-handed goal of the year.
18:30
SPEAKER_02: And Pittsburgh leads it two to one.
18:33
SPEAKER_02: Five on three power play for the Pittsburgh Penguins here.
18:37
SPEAKER_02: They've got the full two minutes.
18:39
SPEAKER_02: Star Mario Lemieux, the perfect trick.
18:44
SPEAKER_02: LEMieux is a perfect hat trick.
18:47
SPEAKER_02: Three in the first period, and we're only halfway through his fourth hat trick of the year.
18:53
SPEAKER_02: LEMieux.
18:56
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
18:58
SPEAKER_02: He has equaled his high in points in a game.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: Four goals from Mario Lemieux.
19:04
SPEAKER_02: A penalty shot.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: Six for Pittsburgh.
19:09
SPEAKER_02: Caulfield has Lemieux.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: He got it to him.
19:11
SPEAKER_02: Two seconds.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: He shoots, he scores, and will count.
19:15
SPEAKER_02: That's what Lemieux out there for.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: He did what he gets paid for.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: First time, Mario Lemieux.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: So that's five different goals, five different ways.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: Let's count them down, huh?
19:27
SPEAKER_00: What Tim?
19:28
SPEAKER_00: We had a regular strength goal, a power play goal, a short-handed goal, a empty net goal.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: Did I miss one?
19:36
SPEAKER_05: Penalty shot.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: It's a penalty shot, yeah.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: So I don't has that been done since I don't think.
19:42
SPEAKER_05: No, it and it won't and it won't ever be done again.
19:45
SPEAKER_05: Like that's one of those sports things.
19:47
SPEAKER_05: It just can't happen ever again.
19:48
SPEAKER_05: It really can't like to score five goals, period, for any player is next to impossible.
19:55
SPEAKER_05: To score all those different ways, it's just penalty shots.
19:59
SPEAKER_05: How often is there a penalty shot in a game?
20:02
SPEAKER_05: And and how often these days do you have your your scorers out there on a penalty kill?
20:09
SPEAKER_05: Right?
20:10
SPEAKER_05: And to be able to get a short-handed goal.
20:11
SPEAKER_05: It just it just there are some things in sports.
20:14
SPEAKER_05: I know, I know we've seen the case.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's the genius of Eugene Yubiraco.
20:18
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well, and like I know we've seen everything at this point.
20:22
SPEAKER_05: We've seen the number 16 seed win a game in the NCAA tournament.
20:25
SPEAKER_05: We've seen the Cubs win the World Series, like like we've seen almost everything.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: I love how you the Cubs went the World Series.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: We haven't seen Cleveland win the Super Bowl, and that would be Okay, fair, fair.
20:37
SPEAKER_05: But but there but that could conceivably happen.
20:39
SPEAKER_05: Probably not.
20:40
SPEAKER_05: But that could conceivably happen.
20:42
SPEAKER_05: But there are some things, like no one's ever gonna win 511 games like Cy Young did, right?
20:47
SPEAKER_00: There's just some things that literally Nobody's gonna lose as many games.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Cy Young, I think, lost over 300 or 400 games.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's gonna lose that many games.
20:56
SPEAKER_05: So there's just some things that can't ever you just it's not possible for them to happen again.
21:01
SPEAKER_05: And and the five goals five different ways, literally that'll stand for the rest of the time as a unique feat.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Well, Mario is definitely one of a kind.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then on February 2nd, 1989, the Penguins win five three in Philadelphia and say, who cares about that game?
21:20
SPEAKER_00: But the penguins had not won in Philadelphia after a 42-game winless streak.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: It was a big monkey off their back.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: And um remember they had the we did a whole podcast on this.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, they had the the DJs out there doing the witch jock their thing, you know, to get the jinx off.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: And Wendell Young had to start.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: And it's just a great thing that the Penguins did because they knew going into the playoffs, like because of the Patrick Division setup, you're probably gonna have to win at least one game in Philadelphia.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: And you don't want to be going into the playoffs with that, you know, hanging over your head, right?
21:57
SPEAKER_05: Right.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: So that was that was a Bigger thing.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: I remember that was a really big game.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: I remember that.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, you know, if you want to know more, all the ugly details about that streak and how the Penguins ended it, uh, tune into our podcast that was posted just not too long ago.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, so we're moving on.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, they finished second in Patrick Division.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: They actually, the Penguins beat the Flyers 6'5 in overtime.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: And the Flyers would have been in third place if they would have won the game, I think in regulation.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: But um the Flyers lose, so they ended up in fourth.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, the Flyers kind of get hot at the end of the season, and they they kind of find themselves.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: They they fire, I think they changed coach.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: Well, no, they had changed coaches before the season.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: So, but they definitely, you know, came to life and you know, they they got hot and they they make the playoffs.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: But for the Patrick division, it is now you play within your division.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: The Capitals are going to play the Flyers in the first series, and the Penguins are gonna play the Rangers.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: So a little bit about the playoff series against the Rangers.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: It's the Battle Brothers, GMs, Tony, and Phil.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, Phil Esposito is the general manager for the Rangers.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Like I said earlier, he had played hockey, he was a forward.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, they had actually played against each other way back when when they were both playing.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, the Rangers are the exact opposite of the Flyers.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, they are slumping coming into this game.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: They are they have lost 13 of their last 16 games.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: And um key players, um Bob Freeze, I guess.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: He was a goalie, and he had a success against the Penguins actually up to that point.
23:42
SPEAKER_00: He was 19-2-3 at that point in his career against the Penguins.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and that was mainly because I guess he had played for the Flyers a lot.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: So before, you know, they have their other goalie that plays.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: And Tim, I best you can't guess another player, you'll never guess who played for the Rangers in this series.
24:03
SPEAKER_05: Uh Mike Gardner, um, Adam Graves.
24:07
SPEAKER_05: I'm trying to think who played for the Rangers back then.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: A guy named Guy LaFleur.
24:13
SPEAKER_05: Oh, you're kidding.
24:14
SPEAKER_05: I really played in that series.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: I am not making this up, Tim.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: It happened.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Look it up.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: He came out of retirement and played this series against Guy LaFleur, the great Canadian from the 70s who won all those Steele Cups was he had actually, when he was thinking of coming back, he actually called the Penguins to see if they were interested in having him on the team.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: And they decided, uh, no thanks, but no thanks.
24:46
SPEAKER_05: Wow, I that's that's a weird fun fact.
24:50
SPEAKER_05: That'd be like the the like we did that episode on like the 89 Stewart Oilers playoff game.
24:56
SPEAKER_05: That'd be like if you know Roger Staubach was a backup quarterback in that game and we never knew it.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: So Guy LaFleur is playing, Bob Freeze is the goalie.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is this is gonna be interesting.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: Um the Penguins have not won a playoff series, I think, ever at this point, or maybe one.
25:15
SPEAKER_05: They had won one.
25:17
SPEAKER_05: They had won a couple, they had won like they'd beaten Oakland in the 70s, they had beaten Buffalo in a first-round series, like in I think '79.
25:27
SPEAKER_05: But it it it it had been at least since the 70s.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it was since 79.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: I think you're right.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: 79 is yeah.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: So the Penguins have a lot of history working against them.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: There's a first time the playoffs.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: I think 15 out of the 18 skaters that didn't have playoff experience.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Paul Coffey has playoff experience.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm not sure who the other two people were.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: They weren't Guy LaFleur, who has plenty of playoff experience.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, game one, um, the Penguins uh they they win.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: They score first on Paul Coffey uh's goal, and then New York ties it.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: But then uh Coffey scores the game winner, and they win the and uh Dan Quinn adds an insurance goal.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Um goal uh goalie Tom Barrasso plays well.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: He's the second star, and it was a tight game into the third where they had to actually pull away from the Rangers.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: So the Rangers, you know, this is in Pittsburgh, obviously, and the Rangers are just looking to win one to you know, break the home ice advantage and you know go back tied.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: So that's all they're looking for.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: So game one, they play it pretty tight.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Game two is a blowout.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, Kevin Steen, Kevin Stevens, Phil Bork, Zarley Zelabsky all score goals to give an early 3-0 lead.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: They Bob Freeze is officially figured out.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: He is not going to stone the Penguins.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: He isn't playing against the minor league penguins that he was playing about with Philadelphia.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: They actually have real talent.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: He actually gets pulled for, get this, Tim, John Van Biesbrook.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: Who, wow, who would actually play against the Penguins, what, in the Florida series, if I remember correctly?
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Right.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: So uh they roll seven to four.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: They score a bunch more on Van Biesbrook, too.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: And um the guys are scoring more than just Lemieux.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: It's the secondary scoring that's really carrying the Penguins.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, because the Rangers are just so focused on Lemieux that they are forgetting to play defense on anyone else.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: So um uh believe it or not, in the 7-4 loss, Gy LaFleur does score.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: So um then I think he went out and fouled for Social Security after.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: He said, get off my ice, young whippersnappers.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: Um game three, uh, more of the same.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: The Penguins win five to three.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Rangers switch goalies to Van Beesbrook.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, it doesn't help.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Mario scores.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: They're really dominating the series at this point.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, the Rangers are obviously being outclassed.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: This was as the series switched to New York, maybe they thought it would make a difference.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the Penguins wouldn't know how to win in Madison Square Garden.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, all that was for naught.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: It's a three games the none series lead.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the Penguins are one of the few teams at that point that had blown this lead, but this isn't the Penguins of the 70s.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: They're going to put this team away in game four.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: And it's a much tighter game, the Penguins for the Rangers three.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Um they put the Rangers out of their misery.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: Phil Bork and Rob Brown score, and uh, it's just a total domination of the series.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: The Rangers were never in it.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: It just, you know, they they just really looked great.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: The Penguins look great, they look like they're on their way.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: The sky's the limit.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this team's gonna, you know, be able to compete with Montreal, who is really good this year, and it's kind of the team from the Wales conference that you're gonna have to get by.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: Montreal has Patrick Waugh, uh, who else did the I mean they have everybody else?
29:08
SPEAKER_05: Oh, yes.
29:10
SPEAKER_05: They had just won the Stanley Cup uh two years before that.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Montreal is really good.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, and in uh in attendance, is something to keep in the back of your mind here, and this was in the notes from one of the newspapers.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: Craig Patrick is in the stand scouting this team for Team USA.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: Huh.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Interesting, Tim.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Interesting little tidbit.
29:35
SPEAKER_05: That is interesting.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: It is in New York.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: Craig Patrick has ties to the Rangers, so you know, maybe he's just hanging out, thinking, you know, what a great job the general manager and coach are doing here for the Penguins.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he was, you know, trying to get a job with the Rangers.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: It's the first series win since 1979.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: It's the first team in this format, first time in the division finals, and I guess this format for this team.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: So they've they're they're in new territory.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: They've never been this far in the playoffs, at least in this era.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, they're moving on.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: So the Washington Capitals number one seed take care of business against the Flyers, right, Tim?
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Because the Capitals are so great in the playoffs.
30:20
SPEAKER_05: They never do.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the Capitals do what they always do in the playoffs.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: They choke.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: I think the game, I think that series went six or seven games because the Penguins end up having a week off between the series because they swept, and the Flyers Capitals series went like six or seven games.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: The Flyers do win.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: They upset the Capitals.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: It's a complete choke job.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: The Capitals probably should have beaten them.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, some key Philadelphia Flyers.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: This should give you very much PTSD, Tim, huh?
30:52
SPEAKER_00: Pim Kerr.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: He's a big physical guy in front of the net.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: He's definitely, I wouldn't call him a goon because he's too talented for that, but he plays a rough physical brand of hockey.
31:04
SPEAKER_05: He he was John LeClaire before they had John LeClair, basically.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: And he could skate too.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't, you know, he wasn't just out there for punching people.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: So uh they also had a goalie, Ron Hextahl, who's actually from Pittsburgh.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: Um he it was the uh season, he was the first goalie that year.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: In that year he scored a goal.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: It was the first goalie to score a goal, and it was actually in that 1988 season.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, he's obviously been pretty good.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, they've really gelled, like I said, on the end of the season.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: They're on a run.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: They've beaten the number one seed in the Patrick division.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: They're a pretty good team.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, so and then there's this backup guy, Ken Reggett.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't sound like who cares about the backup goalie, he was acquired in the middle of the season.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: But as the series goes on, we're gonna find out that Ken Reggett plays a very key role in this series.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: Rick Tocket, Tim, do you remember who doesn't remember Rick Tockett?
32:03
SPEAKER_00: End up coming to the Penguins later, tough, skilled player, kind of like another Tim Kerr, tough guy.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: Um Scott Mellonby, another right winger tough guy jerk.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: This is like, you know, a team of jerks.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh but that's the Flyers, and that's how they play.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's who they are.
32:23
SPEAKER_05: That's who they are.
32:23
SPEAKER_05: That's who they always they always wanted to build teams like that.
32:25
SPEAKER_05: They always wanted to build teams that were, you know, that were more interested in winning fights and pushing you around than they were anything else.
32:34
SPEAKER_05: And it and to be fair, you know, they were in the Stanley Cup finals in 85 and 87, so it wasn't like it wasn't working for them.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: So game one, this is in Pittsburgh.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: The Penguins were actually down this game three goals to one.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: And then Dan Quinn and John Cullen scored 33 seconds apart to tie the score.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: Rob Brown scores the game winner.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: John Cullen's goal was big because they were down and it tied the game, so it kind of reset the game.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: And Paul Coffey thought that was the key goal more than Rob, obviously Rob Brown's winner.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: But I trust Paul Coffey's opinion.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: He's been there, done that.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's not a lot of this team.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: This team doesn't have a lot of experience.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: And I will say this this team doesn't have a physical net front presence.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: They don't have a very physical defense either.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: And so if the penguins are going to win this series, I think they need to win it quickly.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: Because I think the longer this series goes, the more that flavors the Flyers.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: Because the more you know you get pounded, that slows you down, and that's not a negate the s the Penguins' obvious advantage in skill and speed.
33:55
SPEAKER_00: So game two.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: The Flyers win four to two.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: Barrasso gets pulled in the first period after letting in three goals.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: Um the the Penguins actually claimed that Barraso had the flu.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, Tim Kerr, who had uh scored three goals on Barraso, he actually had a natural hat trick in this play and scored on two power plays.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: You know what Tim Kerr called it?
34:22
SPEAKER_00: He called it the Philly flu.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: So we're getting some good trash talk here doing the flyers.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: And um the game, interesting side note, the game was delayed an hour and 15 minutes due to a faulty transformer.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: So Optimus Prime.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Optimus Prime wasn't able to get the game started.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that affected Barrasso or what.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: Um Mario is actually averaging 1.2 points per game in this series, but um, you know, Gene Collier says it's not enough.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: He needs the averages 2.6 of the regular season.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: So the media is still criticizing Mario after a loss, even though he's scoring goals every game.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, he he he has a supporting cast, but maybe they're not the right fit at this point.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, before this point, Barrasso had not lost a postseason game.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, he won all four against the Rangers, won the first game against the Flyers.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, Dan Quinn and Mario do score goals.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: And another thing that's happening, remember how I said um the Flyers scored on two of their power plays?
35:30
SPEAKER_00: The Penguins' power play goes one for eight.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: So the Flyers' game plan is obviously to be physical and to kind of you know intimidate the Penguins.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: If you're not gonna make the Flyers play pay for that physical play, then they're just gonna keep doing it.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: The way to win is to score goals on that power play.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, obviously they have a pretty good one.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: They have Mario and Coffee and some other guys, you know, Rob Brown, but it's just not they're not getting it done on the power play, and that that's becoming a problem.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Gene Collier writes that Mario is playing well, but not great.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: It's not good enough.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Not good enough for Gene Collier, Mario.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: You're not good enough.
36:17
SPEAKER_05: That is a sting.
36:19
SPEAKER_05: Sure, sure, sir Mario very much cared about that.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, what what is wrong with it's nice to see that even now in the age of six like people are still being silly way back when I guess maybe this would have like remember you couldn't really respond to Gene Collier back then.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: He could write whatever he wanted in the paper, and the most you could do is write a letter to the editor.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it gets published, maybe now.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: Gene Collier writes that nowadays and posts this on YouTube.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: Boy, he gets fried, doesn't he?
36:47
SPEAKER_00: Huh?
36:47
SPEAKER_05: He he he would, but now people do that on purpose so that it gets a bunch of buzz on Twitter or you know what I mean?
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Like now it's even worse because you know attention seeking behavior is what it's called in the mental health business.
37:02
SPEAKER_05: Uh and then and then there could be a bunch of clickbait headlines that everybody could piggyback.
37:06
SPEAKER_05: You know, Mario not doing his apart his part, comma, per analyst, you know.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: Why are the secondary players carrying the penguins?
37:16
SPEAKER_00: Right, exactly.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: So it's nice to see that the more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?
37:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: So game three, it's tied one-to-one.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: The penguins have lost the you know advantage, the home ice advantage, and now they have to go and play in Philadelphia where they've won, what, twice in 17 years?
37:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: So this is this is a key game.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: They gotta win one in the spectrum somewhere along the way, right?
37:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I guess they don't have to because they have home.
37:48
SPEAKER_05: Well, they did at that point after they lost game two.
37:50
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they did.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: They gotta win one somewhere.
37:54
SPEAKER_00: Game three.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: This is a classic here.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: The uh the penguins do win.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: They win in overtime on a Phil Bork goal.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember him, Tim?
38:05
SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's a huge goal in this series.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, Mario, Dan Quinn, and the immortal jock calendar score for the Penguins.
38:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Mario has three points, and um, I don't think Gene Collier was still not satisfied.
38:20
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't enough for him.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: He's a tough man to satisfy.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: He's that disapproving father that you just can't live up to.
38:30
SPEAKER_05: It's never good enough for you, Gene.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: I just wanted you to love me.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: So um the the uh they the penguins now lead the series two games to one.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: Um the Flyers actually had a big opportunity to to uh take the lead.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: Brian Propp missed a tap into a wide open net when the score was tied.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: Um Phil Bork and Craig Baruby fight eight seconds into the game.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is obviously a huge game.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: It's now their, I think their third win in 17 years.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: So it's back to even, right?
39:07
SPEAKER_00: So game four, um, the penguins lose four to one.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: Tim Kerr scores two more power play goals.
39:15
SPEAKER_00: Goodness gracious.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: Um the penguins go oh for eight on the power play, Tim.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: This is not good.
39:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know what the stats are, but they've got to be like, what, two for thirty at this point?
39:28
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're just not getting it done on the power play.
39:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, the Flyer fans start yelling at Coach Yubiraco that it looks like your skip jack days.
39:38
SPEAKER_00: It looks like your skipjack days.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: They're of course referencing the losing streak in the minor leagues.
39:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, John Cullen was the only one to score a goal in this one.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: And the worst part is Mario hurts his neck.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: And I it wasn't a dirty play.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: He ran into another penguin.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: I think it might have been Cullen.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: And he he he falls back, and they call it like a whiplash injury.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: He falls backwards onto the ice.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: So um now we're back to two games apiece, and they always say game five in any seven-game series is the pivotal one, right, Tim?
40:12
SPEAKER_00: Right.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: So the Penguins are up against it.
40:15
SPEAKER_00: They've lost four to one.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: At least they're coming back to the Civic Arena for game five.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: Larry's hurt, you know, who cares because Gene Collier knew he wasn't doing anything anyway.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the the Penguins are kind of up against it.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: The the Flyers feel like they have the momentum back in their court or ice, I guess, because we're not playing basketball.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I I don't know.
40:39
SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
40:40
SPEAKER_00: What's gonna happen?
40:41
SPEAKER_00: What happens when Mario, like, I don't know, gets cancer or gets hurt, or he's kind of like the Hulk.
40:47
SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't like Mario when he's hangry, would you?
40:50
SPEAKER_05: Jump back him into a corner.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: So I guess we'll just we'll we won't we're we're I'm just gonna play this little highlight.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: This is some highlights of game five Mario.
41:03
SPEAKER_00: Mario does play in in and there's no transformer delay.
41:07
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: Mario does this.
41:10
SPEAKER_04: Catcher Lemieux behind the defense walks in, makes a move.
41:13
SPEAKER_04: He shoots and scores.
41:15
SPEAKER_04: Mario Lemieux just beat Hexfall.
41:18
SPEAKER_04: And so it goes go to Mary.
41:19
SPEAKER_04: Walks right in.
41:19
SPEAKER_04: Aries from front.
41:20
SPEAKER_04: Lemieux scores.
41:21
SPEAKER_04: Mario Lemieux gets a second.
41:23
SPEAKER_04: The Penguins re turn outly.
41:25
SPEAKER_04: Lemieux back into the fires in by himself.
41:27
SPEAKER_04: Cuts in.
41:27
SPEAKER_04: Suits.
41:28
SPEAKER_01: He scores.
41:29
SPEAKER_01: The hat trick for Miriel Lemieux.
41:31
SPEAKER_04: Challenge by Howell.
41:32
SPEAKER_04: Gave it right behind the net.
41:33
SPEAKER_04: Here's Lemieux putting it up.
41:36
SPEAKER_04: He picked Hexfall's pocket.
41:38
SPEAKER_04: That would have tied an NHL record and a gone in.
41:40
SPEAKER_04: It comes free now.
41:40
SPEAKER_04: Here's Lemieux there.
41:41
SPEAKER_04: He does get the record and tie it.
41:43
SPEAKER_04: And ties the record for the most goals.
41:45
SPEAKER_04: And also the most points in one game.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely Unbelievable.
41:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's kind of unbelievable.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: As you can guess, the penguins win uh by a football score.
42:01
SPEAKER_00: They beat the Eagles ten to seven.
42:04
SPEAKER_05: Uh I I I think I feel like the the the further you get away from players like him or Michael Jordan, or you know, and then you start having these like who's the greatest of all time kind of conversations, the the further you get away from it, the more people will cite statistics or or numbers or things like that.
42:26
SPEAKER_05: But like that game, he just five goals, he just just steamrolled everybody.
42:33
SPEAKER_05: Just because he wanted to.
42:34
SPEAKER_05: Like, no one could stop him.
42:36
SPEAKER_05: Like, like I I I don't know.
42:38
SPEAKER_05: You just you just you can't quantify somebody's greatness, I think, unless you were there to see it.
42:45
SPEAKER_05: And and even watching those highlights, you know, 35 years later, it's it's still you just you can't describe how great he was unless you saw him do it.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's unbelievable.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: Five goals and eight points.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: Um the penguins win 10 to 7.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: They led 9-3 after two periods, so it was pretty much over.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean they they they score four in the late periods.
43:14
SPEAKER_00: Who cares?
43:15
SPEAKER_00: Flyers, you know.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: Um Textile now, this is kind of what the game is more.
43:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm I know this is what you and me probably more remember.
43:23
SPEAKER_00: It's something else memorable happens, and it's kind of a shame because that should be the memorable thing.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: Mario just actually smoking the Flyers in the playoffs to take the lead three games to two.
43:37
SPEAKER_00: And um, there's an incident.
43:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously Ron Hexdahl, the goalie for the Flyers, is getting tortured by one of the greatest players ever.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: He gets frustrated in the second period after one of the Lemieux goals, and he actually takes a swing at Gord Rexer, who's the lineman for the um for you know uh the NHL, you know, the referees for the game.
43:59
SPEAKER_00: He's one of the linemen.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: And then he tries to fight Robbie Brown in an incident.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: We'll play right now.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Lemieux looks goes and put the play on he took the charge.
44:10
SPEAKER_03: Oh, what a play again by LeMieux! You ain't nothing but a hound dog.
44:14
SPEAKER_03: Robbie Brown.
44:15
SPEAKER_03: Another power play goal on Lemieux at seven points on the night.
44:19
SPEAKER_02: And they're chasing Robbie Brown around the ice right now because he celebrated the goal.
44:23
SPEAKER_02: I guess he's not allowed to do that.
44:24
SPEAKER_02: Now Hexdall comes out, takes a shot at Coffee.
44:27
SPEAKER_04: After that goal was scored, Robbie Brown really did not react to uh too much.
44:31
SPEAKER_04: Hexdall chased him all over the ice.
44:35
SPEAKER_05: I I I I've been watching sports for, you know, all I don't know, forty plus years at this point.
44:43
SPEAKER_05: That That's gotta be in the top three most like jaw-dropping things I've ever watched.
44:48
SPEAKER_05: I couldn't believe it when it happened.
44:50
SPEAKER_05: I can't believe it now.
44:51
SPEAKER_05: Like he literally like Robbie Brown had the celebration where he did like this windmill thing with his arm.
44:58
SPEAKER_05: But he didn't even do that.
44:59
SPEAKER_05: He like scored the goal.
45:00
SPEAKER_05: He kind of like started to raise his arm up like just like happy he scored a goal.
45:05
SPEAKER_05: And Hextahl started and like chased him like around the ice.
45:09
SPEAKER_05: Like other people had to intervene.
45:11
SPEAKER_05: And then when he couldn't catch Brown, he started fighting Paul Coffee.
45:15
SPEAKER_05: I'm like, I I remember watching that as a you know, I was what maybe 12 years old at the time.
45:22
SPEAKER_00: Just hating Rextahl, yeah.
45:24
SPEAKER_05: Well, and thinking, like, oh my god, this guy's a psychopath.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: Well, even in the interviews afterward, he has like these icy blue eyes.
45:30
SPEAKER_00: You just looked in the camera, you can tell he was so pissed off about that.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: He just and I mean I understand it.
45:38
SPEAKER_00: That was a rough night, man.
45:39
SPEAKER_00: You you you gave up a lot of goals in Sure.
45:42
SPEAKER_05: Then slam you slam your stick down or throw the water bottle or something.
45:46
SPEAKER_05: Like, don't why would you chase after Robin?
45:48
SPEAKER_05: Like, what was he gonna like?
45:49
SPEAKER_00: My question was always Well, he's not allowed to celebrate then.
45:52
SPEAKER_05: Well, my question was, what was gonna happen if he caught him?
45:55
SPEAKER_00: It would have been a fight, I guess.
45:58
SPEAKER_05: I I don't know.
45:59
SPEAKER_05: I think he would have like murdered him on the ice and just like looked up at the crowd and be like, Yep, take me.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: Are you not entertained?
46:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
46:09
SPEAKER_05: I, you know, again, I I've always said this about the Flyer.
46:12
SPEAKER_05: The Flyers for years have employed like the Biff Tannen level like goons.
46:17
SPEAKER_05: Like Scottie Hartnall.
46:19
SPEAKER_05: It's just like, hey, butthead.
46:21
SPEAKER_05: Like these guys that are just thugs and goons, and they're not really that dangerous, they're just idiots.
46:27
SPEAKER_05: Hexall to me was the like long shanks from Braveheart.
46:32
SPEAKER_05: You know, he was the like, you know, fire the arrows, but sire, won't we hit our own men?
46:36
SPEAKER_05: Yes, theirs as well.
46:38
SPEAKER_05: Like that was that was Hexdall.
46:40
SPEAKER_05: He was much more of a of a crazy person than than the Flyers typically employed.
46:48
SPEAKER_00: He was the Billy Smith school of goaltending from the Islanders.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: He would like slash people, and yeah, he did.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: And there was actually questions, like they asked the uh I forget, I I did read in the paper when I was researching that somebody from the penguins asked, like, are you going to punish him for swinging at the lineman?
47:06
SPEAKER_00: They asked the um head of the uh NHL, the uh commissioner, who was not it was not what uh what's it Ziegler.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and he said, Yeah, and he said, Oh no, we're good.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we that's all good.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: He didn't mean to.
47:20
SPEAKER_00: He didn't mean it.
47:21
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, talk about the more things change, the more they stay the same.
47:24
SPEAKER_05: The NHL, just you know, whatever.
47:27
SPEAKER_05: Violence, broad league, our best players getting hit upside the head, whatever.
47:34
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, you know, Dave Hannon, to his credit, says, and here's a great Dave Hannon quote I don't think I have seen an athlete come up as potent as I did tonight.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: And I that honestly is, that's one of those performances.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: Now, the one thing I will say is there's a lot of fights in the third period, and there's a lot of physicality by the Flyers.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: But I think the Flyers kind of figure it out.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: They want to be physical but not take penalties.
48:03
SPEAKER_00: And um so now the post is that they write an editorial praising Mario and wishing him the best.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: So no.
48:11
SPEAKER_05: Even well, he needed to score five goals, Steve, not one or two.
48:17
SPEAKER_05: I mean, to be fair, he hadn't scored five goals.
48:19
SPEAKER_00: I didn't I didn't see what Gene Collier wrote in that, so I I don't know.
48:24
SPEAKER_00: So I guess it was good enough for Gene, finally.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, I should have done it earlier in the series.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know.
48:31
SPEAKER_05: What took him so long?
48:34
SPEAKER_00: So game six, um, this is in Philadelphia, so it's gonna be tough to close out the Flyers on home ice, right?
48:41
SPEAKER_00: It's it's not gonna be an easy task.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, the Penguins fall very short.
48:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, they give uh they score uh the Flyers score six, the Penguins score two.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh Tim Corker scores two more goals.
48:58
SPEAKER_00: Derek Smith, some no-name center, scores two goals.
49:01
SPEAKER_00: Dave Poulion, just they kind of go with the Rangers plan where they just put somebody on Mario.
49:06
SPEAKER_00: They and just physicality, but what I think they're doing with the Rain is now that it's not just a four-game series, they're starting to wear down the Penguins, what I was afraid of.
49:16
SPEAKER_00: Rob Brown gets hurt, and another thing is Rick Tocket had been out for a couple games.
49:21
SPEAKER_00: He comes back, so now they can roll like more it's more than just Tim Kerr or Poulion or Mellonby beating on you.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: It's it's this guy, it's Tocket, too.
49:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, you really have some physical players out there.
49:35
SPEAKER_00: But one weird thing that does happen in game six that does, because now, you know, obviously the series shifts back for a decisive game seven in Pittsburgh.
49:45
SPEAKER_00: The penguins are kind of up against it, but maybe you know the hockey gods are smiling on Pittsburgh.
49:52
SPEAKER_00: Ron Hextahl is hurt and he cannot play game seven.
49:57
SPEAKER_00: So maybe, just maybe, the penguins can get to the backup, who is the aforementioned Ken Reagan.
50:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, the Penguins have had pretty good luck against goalies.
50:08
SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe you know, Hexall kind of figured him out this game.
50:11
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they can, you know, come back.
50:14
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and and and while Hexall was crazy, he was also really good goaltender.
50:21
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
50:21
SPEAKER_05: You know, I mean that shouldn't be forgotten.
50:23
SPEAKER_05: He he had won the Conn Smythe trophy.
50:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one of the playoffs, yeah, one of their playoff runs.
50:30
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the year that they the year that they lost to the Oilers in the finals, they they gave him the Conn Smythe, even though the the Flyers were the losing team.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
50:38
SPEAKER_05: Because that's how good he was in that playoff run.
50:42
SPEAKER_05: So so yeah, I I I remember after game five, first of all, after game five, after that just display of force in game five, I'm like, this team, this team's winning the cup, right?
50:54
SPEAKER_05: Like, they're so good they're gonna win the cup.
50:56
SPEAKER_05: And and then whenever they lost Hexel, it's like, well, they're they're at least winning this series.
51:01
SPEAKER_05: I mean, it's over.
51:04
SPEAKER_05: That's what you thought.
51:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:05
SPEAKER_00: And in game six, too, the penguins start to take penalties.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: Mario takes a penalty, throwing a punch after getting checked.
51:12
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, game six, the Flyers kind of changed more to a playoff hockey where they weren't trying to goon it up as much.
51:18
SPEAKER_00: They are still playing physical, but there's articles where like they asked one of the Flyers players, aren't you gonna go out and fight one of the goons from the penguins?
51:26
SPEAKER_00: He's like, No, that wouldn't accomplish anything, and I'm not gonna be out there with Mario and all the skill players, I'll just give up a goal.
51:33
SPEAKER_00: So the Flyers are figuring it out.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: That's unfortunately what's happening.
51:38
SPEAKER_00: But like you said, they kind of have Hextal.
51:41
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you know, Hexdall being hurt, Ken Reggett, maybe the Flyers can, or maybe the Penguins can get to him.
51:47
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, it doesn't work out that way.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: Ken Reggett starts out stellar, he uh stops all pen shots in the 11 shots in the first period, he stops them all.
51:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's really a bad look for the penguins.
52:01
SPEAKER_00: They they really get dominated.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: Um Dave Poulion scores the game-winning goal on a short-handed effort.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: And then like Coach Ubraco is complaining about a missed offside call on the Penguins.
52:15
SPEAKER_00: Like, it doesn't make any sense.
52:17
SPEAKER_00: Like, it's like, oh, that would have stopped the play and this would have never happened.
52:21
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even make any sense.
52:22
SPEAKER_00: You were offsides.
52:23
SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't understand.
52:25
SPEAKER_00: I read that three times to to make sure he wasn't talking about the Flyers, but no, he was talking about the Penguins being offsides.
52:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's yeah, they win four to one handily.
52:38
SPEAKER_00: Ken Reggett shuts him down.
52:40
SPEAKER_00: Scott Mellenby scores an empty net and at the end of the game with like 30 seconds left, and he mocks Robbie Brown's goal celebration.
52:48
SPEAKER_00: That really hurt.
52:49
SPEAKER_00: I remember that.
52:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
52:50
SPEAKER_00: Um note, uh, Flyer Center Keith Acton was actually taken to Presby Hospital.
52:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, he had a ruptured spleen in the first period, so kind of serious for him.
53:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, Mario scores the only goal for the Penguins.
53:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, he needs a supporting cast, they need to bring in some grit.
53:08
SPEAKER_00: Um I have a we'll have a link to the third period of this game where you can go to 36 minutes and watch Scott Mellingby being a jerk if you're some sort of sadist.
53:17
SPEAKER_00: Um I watched it.
53:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh my own my own sadism, I guess.
53:25
SPEAKER_00: I I watched it.
53:26
SPEAKER_05: I watched it too after you pointed it out, and it just made me mad all over again.
53:31
SPEAKER_00: So um and like I said, like I kind of shadowed uh the Flyers outmusled the Penguins.
53:37
SPEAKER_00: And they and also I didn't have the power play stats for this last.
53:41
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they're one for eight in the power.
53:43
SPEAKER_00: Once again, one for eight.
53:45
SPEAKER_00: If the penguins just don't give up a shorthanded goal and go like two for eight or three for eight, they're right in this game at the end.
53:53
SPEAKER_00: Um well, I mean, it was really three to one because the last is empty net.
53:58
SPEAKER_00: So they tie the game if they just score one more power play or two more, you know.
54:04
SPEAKER_00: I it it just really hurts.
54:07
SPEAKER_00: And give the Flyers credit, they did a great job in the power play, they the penalty kill.
54:12
SPEAKER_00: They absolutely that's what won them the series, that and the physicality, killing all those penalties.
54:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, like I said, the Penguins have no net front presence.
54:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they've I don't think Phil Bork was really a net front presence kind of guy, and um, they just can't compete when the team gets physical.
54:28
SPEAKER_00: Zarley Zelopski and Paul Coffee are great puck moving defensemen, but you know, and and they did kind of expose Shell Samuelson, who was for the Flyers, but I I think they just wore them down.
54:40
SPEAKER_00: And the longer the series it went on, the more it favored the Flyers.
54:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, Bob Smyzik, another you know, person, actually, you know, as much as we've made fun of Bob Smyzik on this podcast, he actually writes a very great wrap-up here, and it kind of plays into my false summit.
54:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is the attitude like the the fans stay after the game.
55:02
SPEAKER_00: If you do watch, you can get through Scott Mellingby's silliness.
55:05
SPEAKER_00: They actually stand there at the game and it's on that video, and they clap and give the team a standing ovation.
55:12
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, I think people were happy with this team.
55:14
SPEAKER_00: They felt like they had given it, you know, it went to game seven against the hated Flyers who have been there, done that.
55:21
SPEAKER_00: Everybody thinks this team is on the way, you know, only bigger and better things.
55:25
SPEAKER_00: I think Barrasso after the game says it's just the setback.
55:29
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of hockey left in us.
55:31
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the attitude after this playoff loss, which is the exact opposite of you think when the Pirates lost in '92, when it was like, oh, it's over, we're never going to be competitive again.
55:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
55:43
SPEAKER_00: Bob Smyzik wrote, where the playoffs once were a goal rarely achieved, the thought of not making them in the years ahead, not making the playoffs, seems unlikely.
55:54
SPEAKER_00: This year it was second place in the Patrick division.
55:57
SPEAKER_00: Next year, who knows, first place is attainable, and they should be favored.
56:02
SPEAKER_00: Favored in the Wales conference.
56:05
SPEAKER_00: Only the Canadians are superior, Tim.
56:09
SPEAKER_00: So that is now the expectations going forward.
56:12
SPEAKER_00: You know, just like anything, when you have success, people expect more of it and at a higher level, and that's that's kind of where they've set the bar at this point with this great season and this pretty solid prop uh playoff run.
56:27
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, the NHL notes, uh the Flyers do play the Canadians in, I guess that would be the conference final, and they lose.
56:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, Montreal and Calgary.
56:38
SPEAKER_00: Is it Calgary or Calgary?
56:40
unknown: I don't know.
56:42
SPEAKER_00: Calgary play for the Cup.
56:44
SPEAKER_00: And uh can you uh believe do you know what the fun fact about the Montreal Calgary series, the Stanley Cup final is?
56:53
SPEAKER_05: Um it's pretty obvious.
56:55
SPEAKER_05: Calgary wins.
56:57
SPEAKER_05: I know that.
56:59
SPEAKER_00: This is the last time two Canadian teams have played a Stanley Cup final.
57:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
57:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the last time a Canadian team has won is obviously Montreal 93, but this is the last time it was strictly.
57:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't could that I guess that could happen again.
57:13
SPEAKER_05: Sure.
57:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know what else never happens again after this season?
57:19
SPEAKER_00: What's that?
57:20
SPEAKER_00: Gretzky never wins another Stanley Cup.
57:23
SPEAKER_00: And Edmonton does win another Stanley Cup like two years later, so without him.
57:28
SPEAKER_00: So the great one, eh?
57:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh so the aftermath, right?
57:35
SPEAKER_00: Bob Smizak, we're all pumped.
57:37
SPEAKER_00: I think Bob Smizak summed it up right, and I don't blame him.
57:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying he was wrong because it makes sense.
57:42
SPEAKER_00: It seems like this team is prime, they just need a few tweaks.
57:45
SPEAKER_00: Tony Esposito, Coach Yubiraco are gonna get in the offseason, they're gonna get some grit, they're gonna make some changes, they're gonna really get the team together.
57:56
SPEAKER_00: Depends, take a step back.
57:59
SPEAKER_00: Um they they um they actually are losing, they are completely out of the playoffs.
58:06
SPEAKER_00: Yubiraco gets fired, him and Tony Esposito in December.
58:12
SPEAKER_00: They don't even make it to 90.
58:15
SPEAKER_00: They get fired in December 5th, early in December, right after Thanksgiving.
58:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, he was 10, 14, and 2, so really bad record.
58:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh there was a loss to the Flyers in December where the fans were chanting, fire the coach, we want a coach, we want a real coach.
58:34
SPEAKER_00: Um like I said, um I don't think the Esposito GM was a good hiring.
58:43
SPEAKER_00: And um Eddie DeBartler Jr.
58:45
SPEAKER_00: to his credit said this has been contemplated for some time between myself and my father.
58:51
SPEAKER_00: We've discussed the leadership and the direction we want the franchise to take.
58:55
SPEAKER_00: We're not making this change just to make a change, we're making it for the betterment of the franchise.
59:00
SPEAKER_00: We feel very, very confident that Craig Patrick will be able to run this team, to lead this team in the direction we would like to see, and also where we believe the team should be.
59:10
SPEAKER_00: And that's with the talent on it right at the top.
59:15
SPEAKER_00: So, kudos to Eddie Jabartler Jr.
59:18
SPEAKER_00: for realizing he had kind of, you know, you shouldn't just hire people you play golf with.
59:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, he kind of went the art senior route there, and um so, you know, they take over.
59:29
SPEAKER_00: Craig Patrick comes in.
59:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, what happened to Gene Ubriaco?
59:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, he actually coaches the Italian hockey team in '92 in the Olympics, and he's inducted in the Italian Sports Hall of Fame, Tim.
59:42
SPEAKER_00: Um he actually coaches the Chicago Wolves for a couple years, and he's still the director of hockey operations for that team, has been since 1997.
59:50
SPEAKER_00: I have a link to the um Italian Sports Hall of Fame, which I'm sure you'll be very interested in, Tim.
59:56
SPEAKER_00: We'll have that.
59:57
SPEAKER_00: Um Tony Esposito, um, he actually went on to be the head scott, how head scout for the newly formed Tampa Bay Lightning.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_00: Gee, that sounds like a you know nice move.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's because his brother was the general manager.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_00: Um and so he was never a general manager after that.
1:00:15
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know what Debartle was thinking.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:00:19
SPEAKER_00: And um, they were there until 98 when both of them got fired, when the ownership changed.
1:00:25
SPEAKER_00: I don't think Tampa had much success with those two, did they?
1:00:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah in the early 90s.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_00: They didn't.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, fun fact Tony Esposito has been inducted in the city of Sault Ste.
1:00:36
SPEAKER_00: Marie Walk of Fame along with his brother.
1:00:38
SPEAKER_00: I guess they have a Walk of Fame in Sault Ste.
1:00:40
SPEAKER_00: Marie.
1:00:41
SPEAKER_00: I think is in Ontario, something like that.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, Tony um passed away in 2021.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_00: Um great player, great goalie.
1:00:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, just just not GM material.
1:00:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, Craig Patrick, uh hero of the Miracle on Ice, you know, obviously um he's hired as GM, and I guess he doesn't feel like he can hire an interim coach for the rest of the year, or he can't find anybody who wants to be the coach.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_00: So he just coaches the team for the rest of that season.
1:01:12
SPEAKER_00: The Penguins finish up that season um a disappointing 32, 40, and 8, which was 72 points, which was good, 15 points less than the season before.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_00: They actually end up out of the playoffs because they lose a game to Buffalo in the last game of the season, where if they would have won, they would have made the playoffs.
1:01:33
SPEAKER_00: But they really down the down the stretch, they went on a losing streak of like I forget how many games, like five or six games.
1:01:40
SPEAKER_05: So um And Mario got hurt that season.
1:01:43
SPEAKER_05: That's when he had the back injury because he had that scoring streak, he had like that 50-game scoring streak.
1:01:47
SPEAKER_05: So that didn't help.
1:01:48
SPEAKER_05: But like you said, even in December when Mario was healthy, you know, they had a losing record.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_05: It it just was it was you're right, it was a huge step back given what where they had been the previous season.
1:01:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um, you know, they finish it disappointing.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, King Patrick kind of follows the, you know, I started with Winston Churchill, I guess we'll finish up with Joseph Stalin, you know, one step back to take two steps forward.
1:02:12
SPEAKER_00: And there's my quotes from world leaders for the podcast.
1:02:15
SPEAKER_00: It is in my contract to give you at least one a podcast.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_00: I have satisfied my contractual obligations too.
1:02:25
SPEAKER_00: Um uh Bob Johnson is hired in the offseason.
1:02:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, and guess what, Tim?
1:02:31
SPEAKER_00: It's a great day for hockey.
1:02:33
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
1:02:34
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know what a fun fact about uh Craig Patrick is is his uh father was Lester Patrick, who the Patrick Division is named after.
1:02:43
SPEAKER_00: So hopefully that bodes well for us winning the Patrick Division.
1:02:49
SPEAKER_00: Um comparison of other sports in Pittsburgh where there might have been false dons.
1:02:55
SPEAKER_00: I often think of the 15-1 2004 Steelers, Ben's rookie year.
1:02:59
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of one of those false, like I really thought we were gonna win the Super Bowl that year.
1:03:03
SPEAKER_00: But I don't know if it's completely because we did win the Super Bowl next year.
1:03:07
SPEAKER_00: I would say probably the 1972 Steelers, where they win and then they lose in the championship game, then they lose in the playoffs the next year.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_00: Like people probably thought they kind of did the same thing the Penguins did where they took a step back, but they didn't have to change coaches, they just had to wait another year till they got you know a bunch more people.
1:03:25
SPEAKER_00: They had that great draft in 74.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_00: Um I would say this, although I didn't think so, but I read people who thought so.
1:03:33
SPEAKER_00: 2021, the Pitt football team winning the ACC.
1:03:37
SPEAKER_00: I read people like, oh, Pitt's gonna dominate.
1:03:39
SPEAKER_00: I never thought so.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_00: I thought it was they had a bunch of fifth and sixth year players that were able to come together for one season and have a really magical season.
1:03:49
SPEAKER_00: And um the 2013 Pirates wildcard, I really expected the Pirates to win more than just one wild card game after with that little run they had there.
1:04:00
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's a good that's a good comparison, actually.
1:04:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, pit football, did you actually think pit football was gonna dominate the ACC for years?
1:04:08
SPEAKER_05: Well, well, that's uh I mean that the we've we're we've been pit fans long enough to to understand that.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_05: But but you like in professional sports or something like this, you know, the the you I think you're right.
1:04:22
SPEAKER_05: Smyzac was spot on.
1:04:23
SPEAKER_05: Like that should have been the trajectory.
1:04:25
SPEAKER_05: They they they did get there.
1:04:26
SPEAKER_05: They did exactly what he said.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_05: They won the Patrick Division, they won two Stanley Cups, and then them not making the playoffs for the rest of the 90s was like unheard of.
1:04:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:04:36
SPEAKER_05: So so he was absolutely right.
1:04:38
SPEAKER_05: It just took them a year longer than you would have thought.
1:04:41
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think they just it they had the wrong people in place in charge of that team.
1:04:45
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:04:46
SPEAKER_00: And that that and then when they got the right people in charge, it's funny that Scotty Bowman would eventually become the coach later after, you know, wanted to be the coach, but I think Bob Johnson was the perfect coach for Mario and got the best out of Mario that anybody could.
1:05:02
SPEAKER_00: It's a shame that he couldn't have coached a little longer with the Penguins.
1:05:05
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they win those three or four Stanley Cubs.
1:05:09
SPEAKER_00: But so um if you like our podcast, uh keep checking us out on Spotify and all the other services where we're at.
1:05:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we appreciate the listenership.
1:05:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, word of mouth is great.
1:05:20
SPEAKER_00: Check us out on Facebook.
1:05:22
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, don't forget about um the book, about the Ravens and Steelers rivalry.
1:05:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, just had a lot of a lot of great fun with it, and it's been a joy doing this.
1:05:33
SPEAKER_00: And uh thank you, and uh, we'll catch you next time, and God bless you.