When History Repeats Itself: See How the 1992 Pens Won Without Lemieux and How the 2022 Pens Can Win Without Crosby
The Penguins are hurt. The Penguins are angry. The Penguins have been in this situation before. Actually, the Penguins were in basically this EXACT situation, thirty years ago, today. The 1992 Penguins lost their star player, their beloved Captain, to a dirty play by a Ranger during the playoffs. Adam Graves, who wasn't known for hunting players at all, gave a two-handed slash to Captain Mario Lemieux in Game 2 of their Round 2 series. And just like Crosby, Lemieux went to the bench, first, sat for a few minutes, clearly in pain, before heading to the locker room to confirm what everyone feared - his hand had been broken.
As similar as the 2022 Penguins' situation is to their 1992 counterparts, the Rangers were also eerily in the same boat, as their coach as just issued a «challenge» to them before this game, just as Gallant did before Game 5, by calling his team «soft». That was clearly all it took, as Trouba was seen elbowing Jake Guentzel in his very first shift. Rakell had already been taken out in Game 1, and when you look at the stats, Jake, Rikard, and Sid are at the top.
Both past and present Rangers adopted a «If you can't beat �em, beat �em» mentality, and Crosby was the targeted recipient of an elbow to the end, taking him out for the rest of the game - over 6 minutes in the 2nd, and all of the 3rd. The Penguins had been up 2-0, but ended up losing the game 5-3. Jump back 30 years, and after losing Lemieux, Scotty Bowman's team lost Game 2. And Game 3. But eventually, the Coach's words from a team meeting before Game 3 finally sunk in. Pittsburgh game back from a 4-2 deficit in Game 4 to win it in OT. Game 5 was in New York, where Jagr scored twice (including a Penalty Shot) to give the Penguins the 3-2 lead, and what turned into the GWG.
After that game, the Penguins had a 3-2 lead in the series, and were on their way home. Sound familiar?
On May 13, 1992, the Pittsburgh Penguins faced the New York Rangers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The location was Pittsburgh. They were without their Captain. And while it may not be the Igloo, PPG Paints Arena houses some of the same fans as were in the Civic Arena that day. And relatives of those people. And friends. Everyone remembers what happened to Lemieux. Everyone is angry over what happened to Sid. The crowd was behind them, then, and they'll be behind this team, tonight. The players themselves don't have to focus on Trouba, the fans will do that for them. All the Penguins need to do is let history repeat itself.
Full 1992 Game:
| POLL | ||
Was Trouba hunting Penguins? | ||
| Yes, but it wasn't an illegal hit | 34 | 24.8 % |
| No, it was an accident | 28 | 20.4 % |
| No, he just took an opportunity | 34 | 24.8 % |
| Yes - should have been punished | 41 | 29.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
