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

Forgive my MIA status lately. Let me wrap up my series of posts on the Penguins' greatest games in the last 25 years, with a game that should be on anyone's list:

Penguins' 8-0 Stanley Cup clinching win in Game 6 of the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals Against the Minnesota North Stars.

Who can forget this game, right? A Stanley Cup clincher for the ages -- an 8-0 whitewashing of Minnesota, in their building. I vividly recall it for many reasons. Not the least of which was the "reward" my girlfriend at the time provided me in the 3rd period when I was in my glory just waiting for the clock to tick down.

So much for a Cup parade through Minneapolis.

Mario Lemieux and Tom Barrasso led the way in this game, as they did in many during that playoff run, but when you open up with a goal by Cam Neely hit-man Ulf Samuelsson and add one by defenseman Jim Paek, you know the stars are aligned for you.

The North Stars were no match for Pittsburgh in this one. They were up 3-0 after one period and 6-0 after two. It wasn't close. The Penguins recognized the moment and seized it. They would not be denied, and were a deserving Cup champion. Shutting out Minnesota was just icing on the cake.

I still have every newspaper article from that entire season. I had followed the team for 9 years up to that point, from 1982-83. It was quite gratifying to watch the Penguins win that title and bask in the glory of the championship in the weeks and months to come. And even though I didn't follow the team in the early years, I can only imagine how satisfying it was to the team after having been bankrupt in the past.

A franchise only wins its first Stanley Cup once. Undoubtedly one of the greatest games in franchise history ..

That concludes the series boys and girls. Next summer I may go after a list of Lemieux's greatest goals of all time. That compliation will undoubtedly be much harder.

Training camp starts in 3 weeks ...... not soon enough for me.

Whitney Out 3-5 Months: ANALYSIS

First of all, forgive my absence. It's been a while since I've dropped by. I have one more game to discuss in my list of the Penguins' greatest of all time. I'll post on that soon. In the meantime, the Penguins announced some bad news over the weekend.

Less than one month before training camp, our Boys of Winter announced that Defenseman Ryan Whitney had Osteotomy surgery in Charlotte, NC to correct a misaligned left foot and would be out 3-5 months.

An Osteotomy is not a simple procedure. Often it involves bone cutting and, when dealing with the foot, wires usually need to be inserted to help regain stability. These procedures generally aren't preferred, but if other treatments fail, there are no other choices because a foot misalignment is fairly painful, and can get worse over time.

Apparently, this injury first started causing Whitney a problem in the 2007 playoffs against Ottawa. Over the course of last season, he tried several non-invasive methods to improve the injury. Unfortunately, none proved successful. When he disclosed the nature of the injury to coach Michel Therrein and GM Ray Shero at their end-of-season meetings, they were "shocked". A few more failed attempts at rehab later, he went under the knife.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Penguins beat writer Rob Rossi broke this story. In his piece, he mentions that Whitney kept the injury quiet. He said that teammates Sidney Crosby and Brooks Orpik knew he had a foot problem, but didn't know the extent of it.

Some Penguin fans may be happy to hear Whitney will be out a while, since he happens to be a popular whipping boy in these parts. I'm not one of those observers. Whitney certainly had an inconsistent season, but perhaps this condition explains some of that. When healthy and on top of his game, Whitney can score in the top 10 among defenseman in the league. At some point, Sergei Gonchar is going to move on. When he does, the Penguins will be glad they have Whitney around.

So how will the Penguins account for his absence for the first part of the season?

Fortunately, the Penguins have a pretty fair stable of NHL-caliber defenseman. Losing Whitney will hurt, but Pittsburgh is better equipped to deal without him for a while than a lot of teams would be. Expect Kris Letang to get more of an offensive role, especially on the power play -- whether he plays with Gonchar on the first unit, or leads the 2nd unit from the point. This will be his year to take on more of an offensive, puck-moving role.

Whitney's absence also slides prospect Alex Goligoski up the depth chart. He could end up with the big club this year, depending on what Shero decides to do with Darryl Sydor. Ever since free agency, Shero has been listening to offers for Sydor, particularly from Penguins South (the Tampa Bay Lightning), but also the Los Angeles Kings. Both teams are looking for depth on defense. For some reason, Shero has held on to Sydor. His move may prove wise. If he is moved, however, Goligoski may have a spot in the top 7, with Gonchar, Orpik, Letang, Eaton, Gill & Scuderi.

Regardless of what happens, let's hope this surgery gets Whitney healthy again because, when he is healthy, he can be a force.

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

Sorry for being on the bench the last few days. Let's get back to my list of the Penguins greatest games in the last 25 years.

Penguins 10-7 win in Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference Semifinal against Philadelphia

This game was one for the ages. Tied 2-2 in the series going into the game, the Penguins rolled to a win of extreme proportions on their home ice. Mario Lemieux tied several playoff records with five (5) goals and eight (8) points, including one of the most memorable goals he has ever scored, in my opinion (more later this summer on that list).

Who could forget #66 hovering behind and to the near side of the goal behind Flyers netminder Ron Hextall when the puck got dumped around the boards from the opposite end. Hextall, not knowing Lemieux was there, went around the other side of the net to try and cut off the puck along the boards behind the goal. In one motion, Le Manifique lifted Hextall's stick and with his long reach, wrapped the puck around the other side of the net into the vacant cage.

That game was one of those nights that Lemieux was just unstoppable. No matter what the Flyers did, he was going to lead the Penguins to victory. It didn't matter if Philadelphia was able to send 12 guys out on the ice.

Of course, this game was also infamous for Hextall chasing Rob Brown after #44 took Lemieux's perfect pass at the side of the goal and buried the Penguins' 9th tally of the game. Hextall obviously didn't like Brown's celebration. I wasn't sure the officials were going to be able to restrain him.

I still can't figure out why Hextall remained in the game that long. The Penguins were putting a woodshed beating on the Flyers. You don't just leave your starting netminder in for that abuse. That's the kind of thing that led Patrick Roy out of Montreal about 7 years later.

Unfortunately, the Penguins didn't win again in the series, bowing out to the Flyers in 7, thanks to the work of unexpected game 7 Flyers starter, backup and later-Penguin Ken Wregget. A lot of people -- me among them -- thought that the Flyers comeback late in game 5, as fruitless as it was then, stabilized them and give them a chance in the remainder of the series. Even though the Penguins won game 5 by the 10-7 score, they led it 10-3. The Flyers scored 4 third period goals and dominated play. That gave them the momentum to come out in game 6 at home and roll, which they did winning 6-2. Wregget did the rest in game 7 and the Penguins first appearance in the playoffs with Lemieux ended on a sour note.

Until the next installment ......

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

For the third installment in my list of the Penguins' greatest games in the last 25 years, we stick with the playoff theme, and return to the scene of the Stanley Cup Finals, this time in 1992 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The game that makes my list is not the cup-winning game, however. Even though that game was the Penguins NHL record-tying 11th straight playoff win and brought the franchise its first back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, the game that is on my list of those greatest in franchise history is the first game of that series.

Game #1 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Final Against the Chicago Blackhawks

As many recall, that game was won by the Penguins with just 12 seconds left when Mario Lemieux just about lifted the roof off the venerable Igloo with his game-winner. His goal gave the Penguins a 5-4 victory and culminated a comeback from being down 4-1 in the third period.

I'll get to Lemieux's goal in a minute, but one other goal in the game also is a fixed part of Penguins' lore.

Who could forget baby-faced Jaromir Jagr's tying goal? You know ... the one where he corraled the puck along the left wing boards, got around one guy along the wall, then quickly deked past a 2nd fast-approaching Blackhawks player, only to burst towards the slot, use a forehand/backhand move to get around a third Blackhawk and finally whip a backhander through a screen past a stunned Blackhawks netminder Ed Belfour.

That goal is one of the greatest in Penguins' history.

But only Lemieux could find a way to top it.

And Lemieux didn't top it for artistry. He topped it for timing and circumstance, as he almost always did for the Penguins when the stakes were at the their highest.

Once they came back just to tie the game at 4-4 after being down 3 goals, momentum was clearly on the Penguins' side. Not long after Jagr's goal, however, the Penguins were forced to kill a penalty. This was late in the 3rd period, and they did so successfully.

As he often did, Lemeiux knew that, after his team's penalty kill, the zebras might be inclined to call the next penalty on the Blackhawks. So, once the penalty was over, #66 looked to have someone spring him for a late-game scoring chance. Sure enough, he got that chance, breaking in to the Blackhawks end and drawing a penalty with about 15 seconds left.

I remember, after the game, then-Blackhawks coach Mike Keenan was fuming at the call on Lemieux. He felt Lemieux dove to get the penalty.

(By the way, I have no doubt that Lemieux, knowing he wasn't going to get the good scoring chance he wanted, looked to purposely draw the penalty. He was the best at it.)

After the penalty, the Penguins set up for the face-off. They had a set play for this draw. And it worked exactly -- and I mean EXACTLY -- the way it was drawn up. I'll never forget it.

Ron Francis lined up in the far face-off circle to the left of Belfour. His plan was to draw the puck back to Larry Murphy, who was behind him. The Blackhaws were in a traditional defensive alignment, with 3 guys along the circle, one player to the far right of the circle assigned to the Penguins' other point man, and one defenseman below the circle. To have the play work, Francis had to win the puck clean, because everything was based on timing.

The puck was dropped and, although Francis tried to win it cleanly, he didn't. Murphy already took a step forward based on the premise that #10 would draw it back to him for a quick one-timer. When Francis didn't when the draw cleanly, Murhpy hesitated a second after stepping forward.

Now, even though Francis didn't when the puck cleanly, it did trickle behind him. After a half of a second, he was able to turn around and push it to Murphy for the shot. At this point, Murphy was under pressure because the Blackhawks' centerman had pushed hard past Francis in the course of trying to battle him for the puck. Since Murphy had stepped up to the top of the circle, he had Francis and several other players just about in his face.

Meanwhile, the Penguins' other point man, had the same M.O. as Murphy. Wait for the clean face-off win, then break to the net. Like Murphy, he had to hesitate becasue the win wasn't clean. As he was hesitating however, he skated a backwards stride or two, hoping the Blackhawks player skating out to him would lose track of him.

He did.

And it was fatal.

Murphy got off his shot -- right to the net and at Belfour's right pad.

Just as planned, he promptly kicked it out right onto the waiting right-handed stick of the other point man -- Lemieux -- who had gone behind and past the Blackhawks' forward into the clear at just about the near hash.

Everyone knows what happened next.

The world stood still for a second, then Lemieux buried it upstairs past a surprised, sprawling Beflour, and Mike Lange, the Penguins' legendary TV play-by-play man, lost his mind along with Penguin fans everywhere.

Penguins, 5 - Blackhawks, 4

True to my description, here are 2 clips of the goal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9STr-jICqQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvS0iwrJELQ

If Murphy somehow didn't get that puck to the net and Chicago was able to chip or otherwise get the puck past him, the Blackhawks would have had a virtual 2-0 going the other way to try and win it with 10 seconds left in the game.

As it was, the Penguins completed their comeback.

They didn't lose in that final, continuing the momentum they kept in game 1, and sweeping the Blackhawks.

Undoubtedly one of the greatest games in Penguins' history.

Penguins Re-Sign Michel Therrein

I promise I'll get back to posting about the Penguins' greatest games as soon as they stop making news. I assure everyone -- I was not going to interrupt the discussion to report that the Penguins traded the rights to Tim Brent to the Chicago Blackhawks for the rights to defenseman Danny Richmond. I'm all about the team and news, but couldn't get excited about that deal enough to post. Sorry. All dealing Brent did was eliminate one of the 9 borderline NHL forwards the Penguins were going to have compete for 1 or 2 remaining forward spots in camp.

But news about the coach re-signing?? That's certainly post-worthy.

Michel Therrein got a new 3 year contract today. I'm not aware that terms were announced, but the deal replaces the one he currently had with one year left on it, and increased his salary. Basically, in addition to more money, Therrein got a 2 year extension.

I'll say this: 3 years is a long time for a coach to be around in the NHL, a league that goes through coaches about as often as I wanted to look at Katie Price (a.k.a. Jordan) about 5 years ago when she graced the cover of Playboy. Can you say, OH MY ........?????? :

Anyway, back to Therrein.

(Do I have to?)

Okay.

Overall, it's hard to complain about what Therrein has done the last few years. There always are things to nitpick about, but there probably are about every coach. Most imporantly, he wins games, and that's really all you want from a coach. The fact that the guy said to have the most dislike for Therrein -- defenseman Brooks Orpik -- re-signed with the team says it all. Orpik knows that Therrien has helped make him a better player.

I've noticed Therrein grow a lot in the last few years, particularly in the way he handles goaltenders. Back when he coached in Wilkes-Barre, he was pretty tough on Marc Andre Fleury, Andy Chiodo, and others. If one of them played a single sub-par game in the playoffs, he was on the pine. That's certainly not a way to build a goaltender's confidence. But he's gotten better with that over the years and, even though he still rotates lines too much, he's also installed a sound 1-2-2 system for the team that plays to the strength of the team and lets them succeed when they play it.

Of course, only time will tell if Therrein is around at the end of his new deal. After all, expectations are high around town now that the Penguins advanced to the Cup Finals. If they go through a mediocre stretch or are eliminated in the first two rounds of the playoffs, there will be calls to fire him.

Those calls probably will be unjustified. Just as they have been thusfar ....

Another Greatest Games Interlude: 2008/2009 NHL Schedule Released

I'm sorry for (again) interrupting the discussion I've been running about the Penguins greatest games. I'll try to pick that up once more tomorrow. But I just wanted to put out a short post on next year's schedule, which was fully released today.

The good news for Penguin fans is that they'll get the opportunity to boo Red Wings RW Marion Hossa mercilessly when Detroit visits the Mellon Arena next year.

The bad news is that they'll have to wait until February of 2009 to do it.

The Red Wings are one of 3 Western Conference teams, with the Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks being the others, that the Penguins will match up twice against, once each at home and once each on the road. Otherwise, they will see every team in the West once, thanks to the NHL's new scheduling format, which kicks in for the first time. It will be nice to see a regular dose of teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and the Saint Louis Blues, which the Penguins haven't seen in recent years. Of course, they'll see teams like the Los Angeles Kings, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars, etc. too., and even though the Penguins have seen those teams once in the last two seasons, it will be nice to see them every year from now on.

Back in the east, the Penguins will face every team in their Division six times, and every other team in their conference 4 times.

Of course, they start the season in a back-to-back set against the Ottawa Senators in Stockholm, Sweden on October 4 and 5. After that they play their next 4 games at the Mellon Arena. The season is filled with the usual home games on the night before and Saturday after Thanksgiving. The Penguins also play on New Year's day. The 2009 portion of their slate is full of weekend afternoon games for NBC's benefit, and contains a handful of Monday and Tuesday evening games for Versus, too. The Penguins' final home game will be against the New York Islanders, and they will conclude their season on the next-to-the-last day of the season on the road against the Montreal Candadiens.

Time to plan a road trip or two ....

Greatest Games Interrupted: Penguins Sign Thomas, Beech and Stone

Stepping back from the continued discussion of the Penguins greatest games, the Boys of Winter announced yesterday that they signed former Phoenix Coyote and Pittsburgh native RW Bill Thomas, and re-signed forwards Kris Beech and Ryan Stone. All received one-year, two-way contracts.

The Thomas signing is the most interesting, not just because he's from the area, but because he is a player with some potential. He mostly played in the AHL last season, but has put up nearly a half a point per game in 40 career NHL games over the last few years (17 total points, including 9 goals, with 14 of those points in 26 games in 2006/2007.

Thomas, 25, has been a bit of a late bloomer. He averaged over a point per game during his two years at the University of Nebraska, Omaha in the 2004 and 2005 seasons before getting his first crack at NHL action. He's got size and some skill and it will be interesting to see what he can do in Pittsburgh. I'm still not sure why Phoenix did not re-sign him. By most reports, they viewed him as a decent prospect.

In Re-signing Beech and Stone, the Penguins added to their depth up-front -- something they needed to maintain -- following the losses of half of their forwards this offseason. Although the Penguins aren't ready to write Stone off, I'm beginning to wonder if he's ever going to be a meaningful contributor at the NHL level. Stone was a 2nd round draft pick and, although I don't think anyone expected him to be able to play on the top 2 lines, I haven't seen enough from him so far to suggest he's ready for regular 4th line duty either. This is his 4th year with the organization. If he's going to stick, he has to do it now.

Beech is the better depth player of the two, and still flashes the ability to contribute from time to time. He popped 6 goals in 25 games last year in stints with Columbus and Washington, and that actually averages out to just under 20 a season. I'm not sure he'll make the club in camp but, if not, will probably be one of the most useful guys the Penguins have in the organization to step in if someone is injured. He could be this year's Jeff Taffe -- a guy who stepped into various forward positions when needed and even exceeded expectations a little.

Taffe, by the way, has an outstanding one-year, two-way offer from the Penguins to return, but hasn't signed it yet. He's reportedly talking with some other teams as well.

I'll continue the Penguins greatest games installment with my next post, barring any other news.

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

Today, the second game on my list of the Penguins' greatest in the last 25 years.

Penguins 3 OT, 4-3 Victory over Detroit in game #5 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final

There's no discussion of playoff overtime games in Penguins' history -- or of the Penguins' greatest games -- without mention of the Penguins triple overtime thriller against the Red Wings in the Finals about six weeks ago.

I blogged in detail about this game in its aftermath, so I won't revisit everything again here. Suffice it to say, however, this game will go down as legendary in Penguins history, not only for what happened, but because of what was on the line. When you think about it, there just aren't many situations where there is more at stake. Triple overtime in game 6 of the Finals? Okay. Overtime of any kind in game 7 of the Finals? Certainly. But that's about it. Petr Sykora saved the Penguins season with his power play goal just a little more than half way through the 3rd overtime after telling NBC bench reporter that he was going to score the winner, and his effort culminated a night of memories for the Penguins and their fans in the game, including:

- Marc Andre Fleury's 55 saves, including his other-worldly toe save on Red Wings forward Mikael Samuelsoon, which simply is now known around town as "The Save, II"

- Ryan Malone coming back to play after his second broken nose of the finals

- Max Talbot joining the ice as 6th attacker with Fleury pulled and promptly scoring to tie the game with 30 seconds left before the Penguins were to hit the golf course

- Sergei Gonchar leaving the game in the 3rd period with back spasms after hitting the boards hard following his hustle to help break up a 2-on-1 Detroit rush, only to return for the first time about 3+ periods later in the 3rd overtime on the power play and assisting on Sykora's game winner.

The Penguins showed incredible heart and desire in a game they had to win. Even though they went on to lose the next game at home -- and therefore the chance to carry the Stanley Cup -- their game against the Red Wings in game 5 is unquestionably one of the best ever in the history of the franchise.

Any chance they can re-do that set of the Penguins' 10 greatest games?

In my next post, I'll keep the Stanley Cup Final theme going and talk about a 3rd game to be put on my list. Here's a hint: It won't be a Cup Clincher.




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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.

It's Official: Penguins Sign Pesonen

Finnish LW Janne Pesonen formally signed his one-year deal with the Penguins yesterday, further bolstering Pittsburgh's scoring punch on the wing following Marion Hossa's departure.

As I believe I have said before, I really like this signing by Ray Shero. Only time will tell what type of impact Pesonen will have -- and whether it's in Pittsburgh or Wilkes-Barre -- but it's a low-risk, high-reward signing because it's a two-way deal.

Pesonen has the skills to play on the top line if he is willing to get his nose dirty. Last time I checked, the Penguins could use a LW there. I don't doubt that, in a best case scenario, Pittsburgh would love to see him play there. If he doesn't stick in that spot, he could see 3rd line duty, either next to Jordan Staal if they keep him at center, or perhaps even Mad Max Talbot. Either way, I'm definitely anxious to see him in camp, which is only about 2 months away.

At this point, I don't expect the Penguins to make any additional moves of note in free agency. They continue to sign players to add depth to their minor league system -- as they did yesterday when inking defenseman T.J. Kemp and forward Adam Henrick -- but that's been a staple of Shero's MO since arriving.

Even though hockey fans are getting into the dog days of summer, there's still plenty to talk about, so over the next month or so, I hope to periodically hit on a handful of subjects here, including burning questions for the team going into next season, how the rest of the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference positioned themselves -- for better or worse -- to compete with the Penguins, and a lot more.