Penguins' Greatest Games in the Last 25 Years: Installment One

Well, with mainstream free agency grinding to a near-halt and the Penguins reportedly still trying to work out a contract extension for head coach Michel Therrein and trying to put the finishing touches on a deal for free agent former Coyote and Pittsburgh native RW Bill Thomas (I'll post on both when and if either are finalized), the dog days of the NHL summer are upon us.

Without much in the way of Penguin news, I couldn't think of a better time for a series of posts discussing the Penguins' greatest games in the last 25 years.

Sure, the franchise dates back further than that, and there certainly were some memorable games in the team's history before then, but since I began my following of the Boys of Winter in about 1982, that's about my only time of reference. And we all know there have been plenty (more) memories since that time.

So over the next week to ten days, I'll discuss in no particular order what I feel are the Penguins greatest games in the last 25 years, and then post a poll to vote on them.

Without further adieu then, the first game I HAVE to talk about is ...........


Penguins 4 OT, 3-2 Victory over Washington in game #4 of the 1996 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal


The Penguins have been involved in some amazing playoff overtime games over the years -- and some of the longest in NHL playoff history. This game goes down not only as one of the longest (at the time, it was the 3rd longest game ever), but also one of the best for its storylines.

Ended by Petr Nedved on a power play goal (drawn by Jaromir Jagr driving to the net, forcing former Penguin and then-Capitals' defenseman Jim Johnson to take him down) with less than a minute to go in the 4th overtime, this game may be remembered as much for what happened during the game as Nedved's winner.

First, Mario Lemieux was ejected from the game in the 2nd period by Referee Dan Marouelli for jumping on top of Capitals forward Todd Krygier and trying to give him the business. The worst part about the ejection was that Lemieux didn't even really do a whole lot before a wave of players entered the fray. I couldn't believe that Marouelli concluded that Lemieux actually "instigated" something that hardly was a fight and had the nerve to toss him in a playoff game because of it. This clearly was one of the worst games I have ever seen officiated in the NHL. And to think Marouelli was just getting started.

In the second overtime, he put his blindfold back on and actually called a penalty shot for Washington after ruling that Penguins' defenseman Chris Tamer purposefully dislodged the net to keep the puck from going in. I don't know that I've ever seen a more awful call and have thought the same thing every time I've seen the replay since. It shows Tamer desperately lunging behind Penguins goaltender Ken Wregget (who didn't start the contest but entered the game in regulation after Tom Barrasso had to leave because of injury) with his stick to keep a puck that had squirted through him from crossing the goal line, and then dislodging the net with the momentum of his body after he knocked the puck away. Marouelli was in the background and couldn't see what Tamer was doing, which made his call worse. I'm not even sure he saw the puck! I suspect he saw the net become dislodged and drew his own conclusions without even considering Tamer's clear effort, body language, etc. He's lucky I wasn't there in person or I might have had to come down from the stands.

It was the first playoff overtime penalty shot in the history of the game. Since the Capitals' most lethal scorer, Petr Bondra, was on the bench and not on the ice when the "penalty" occurred, Captials coach Jim Schoenfeld chose Joe Juneau to take the shot. Juneau was never a great goal-scorer in his career. As it turned out, he wasn't a good puck handler either, because as he broke down on Wregget right down the middle of the ice, the puck bounced over his stick, causing him to get only a very weak shot off, which Wregget stopped easily.

After all that and everything else that occurred in the game, I'll never forget Mike Lange's call or the ensuing celebration after Nedved's winner.

Here's a link from an article in the Washington Post on the game, a link to the box score, and a link to a great compilation of highlights from the game, including everything mentioned above:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/capitals/longterm/1998/stanleycup/articles/pens96a.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores96/96115/96115391.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlEohAy9F5g

Of course, the Penguins game back to win that series, after losing the first 2 at home.

Then again, what else would happen? They were playing the Capitals.

A hint for the next game: Another playoff contest, but a more recent one.