On the Penguins: Games that made the arena

As the club embarks on its final regular season in Mellon Arena, we recall 12 regular-season games that turned the oldest arena in the NHL into a house of memories.

Sunday, October 04, 2009
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Mario Lemieux's return in 2000 was as emotional a night as the arena, below, has seen since the Penguins debuted there in 1967.

It all began inauspiciously enough, with a 2-1 loss to Montreal on Oct. 11, 1967, in a place then known as the Civic Arena.

History notes that Andy Bathgate beat Canadiens goalie Rogie Vachon for the Penguins' only goal in that first home opener, and that only 9,307 of 12,580 tickets were sold for the game.

Much changed over the following four-plus decades, and all of the 16,940 seats available these days were sold long before the 42nd and final home opener in that building Friday night, when the Penguins launched defense of their third Stanley Cup championship against the New York Rangers.

Most of the home openers over the years were long since forgotten -- anyone recall the details of, say, that 3-2 loss to Toronto on Oct. 11, 1978? -- but lots of regular-season games in the building have made an indelible impression. A look at one man's list of the top dozen, in chronological order:

• April 2, 1972

The Penguins beat St. Louis, 6-2, in the regular-season finale, but most of the crowd was more concerned with what was going on in Buffalo because the Penguins needed a Sabres victory against Philadelphia, as well as one of their own, to get into the playoffs. The outlook was bleak until, with four seconds left in regulation, Gerry Meehan of the Sabres beat Flyers goalie Doug Favell with a long-distance shot to pull out a 3-2 victory -- and inspire perhaps the loudest cheers of the evening at the Civic Arena.

• Nov. 22, 1972

The 1972-73 Penguins averaged 3.29 goals per game, but outdid themselves during a 10-4 victory against the Blues. They set a league record by scoring five within two minutes, seven seconds. The goal-scorers: Bryan Hextall, Jean Pronovost, Al McDonough, Ken Schinkel and Ron Schock.

• Jan. 23, 1974

The Blues, the Penguins' most fierce rivals during their early years in the league, figured in this one, too. In several ways. Not only was St. Louis on the short end of a 4-1 final, but watched the Civic Arena crowd embrace Steve (Demolition Derby) Durbano and Bob (Battleship) Kelly, who had been acquired from the Blues six days earlier. When Durbano and Kelly were among the players honored as stars of the game, they came out of the runway with each raising the other's arm.

• March 8, 1975

Just beating Philadelphia, 8-2, would have made this memorable enough for most Penguins partisans, but defenseman Ron Stackhouse -- hardly a universal favorite at the arena -- added a neat twist when he tied NHL records for assists in a period (4) and a game (6).

• March 24, 1976

The Penguins had a dozen ties during the 1975-76 season, but none quite like this 5-5 duel with Boston. Along the way, Pierre Larouche recorded his 100th point of the season and Pronovost got his 50th goal, both franchise firsts.

• Feb. 21, 1982

The New York Islanders, rolling toward the third of four consecutive Stanley Cups, enter the game with a league-record 15-game winning streak and leave it with a 4-3 defeat.

• Dec. 31, 1988

Mario Lemieux becomes the only player in NHL history to record one goal of every type -- even-strength, power play, shorthanded, penalty-shot and empty-net -- in the same game during an 8-6 victory against the New Jersey Devils. Sometimes forgotten is that Lemieux's assist on a Rob Brown goal was his 100th point of the season. It came in his 36th game, two shy of Wayne Gretzky's record.

• March 31, 1990

Lemieux returns for the regular-season finale after spending several months in Los Angeles for therapy on his bad back. He gets a goal and an assist, but the Penguins lose the game -- and a playoff berth -- when Buffalo defenseman Uwe Krupp beats Penguins goalie Tom Barrasso one minute into overtime. The Sabres' victory lifts the Islanders into the playoffs, but also makes it possible for the Penguins to draft Jaromir Jagr.

• Nov. 27, 1991

Bob Johnson, who had coached the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup just months earlier, is remembered in a candlelight ceremony one day after he died of brain cancer. The pregame tribute made a more lasting impression than the 8-4 victory over New Jersey that followed.

• March 26, 1996

Lemieux celebrates the arrival of his son, Austin, who was born after his wife, Nathalie, endured a difficult pregnancy, by piling up five goals and two assists in an 8-6 victory over St. Louis. Longtime rival Wayne Gretzky, then a center with the Blues, manages one assist.

• Dec. 27, 2000

Lemieux kicks off Phase II of his playing career in style. After sitting out three-plus seasons, he scores one goal and sets up two others in a 5-0 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

• March 13, 2007

The Penguins survive a third-period rally by Buffalo and pull out a 5-4 shootout victory just hours after an agreement to finance the arena that would come to be known as Consol Energy Center is finalized. Should be a few games to remember in that place, too.