50 Fun Facts About Pittsburgh Penguins

Which team joined the NHL alongside Pittsburgh in 1967?

The Philadelphia Flyers arrived decades after Pittsburgh's first NHL club, the Pirates, had moved to Philadelphia for a single season.

What inspired Pittsburgh's 1967 expansion team to call itself the Penguins?

The Civic Arena's nickname, the Igloo, is what led a team owner's wife to suggest Penguins.

Which Pittsburgh sports owner leaned on the Norris brothers for votes to bring the NHL to Pittsburgh?

Art Rooney pressed both Norris brothers, who each owned an NHL club, and both then voted to make Pittsburgh the sixth expansion city.

What did the shape behind the skating penguin in the Penguins' original logo symbolise?

Downtown Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle sat behind the skating penguin, a logo modernised in 1992 and revived on a throwback third jersey in 2000.

Which rookie led the Penguins to their first playoffs in 1970, then died after a car crash?

Michel Briere spent 11 months in a coma before dying at 21; no one wore his No. 21 again, though it wasn't officially retired until 2001.

Which shopping-mall magnate bought the Penguins after their 1975 bankruptcy?

The team's office doors had been padlocked by creditors that year.

Which team protested when the Penguins switched to black and gold in 1980?

The Boston Bruins claimed black and gold as their own, but the Penguins prevailed by citing Pittsburgh's 1920s NHL Pirates, who had worn those colours.

Which trio formed the Penguins' 1970s Century Line?

Syl Apps, Lowell MacDonald and Jean Pronovost teamed up after MacDonald, who had sat out a season with a bad knee, won the 1973 Masterton Trophy on his comeback.

Which coach later admitted the Penguins consciously finished last in 1983-84 to secure the first pick?

Lou Angotti's team slumped to the top pick, which the Penguins used on Mario Lemieux.

What did Lemieux do on his very first NHL shift in October 1984?

Scored on his opening shot, yet Lemieux's Penguins still missed the playoffs in each of his first four seasons.

Lemieux's junior record of 282 points in 1983-84 came with which QMJHL club?

Laval Voisins' star needed three goals on the season's final night to tie Guy Lafleur's record of 130, and he scored six.

What did Lemieux do against New Jersey on December 31, 1988?

Five goals five different ways came in a game in which Lemieux also set up Pittsburgh's other three goals.

Which superstar defenseman did Pittsburgh acquire from Edmonton after the Oilers' 1987 Cup?

Paul Coffey left Edmonton after a string of disputes, and with Pittsburgh he won his fourth Stanley Cup, in 1991.

Jaromir Jagr's jersey number, 68, honours which event in his homeland's history?

The Prague Spring was crushed by an invasion in 1968, and Jagr has worn No. 68 throughout his career in remembrance.

Whom did the Penguins beat for their first Stanley Cup in 1991, closing with an 8-0 win?

The Minnesota North Stars had a losing regular-season record, yet upset first-place Chicago on the way to the Final.

Which goaltender made 39 saves for his first playoff shutout in the Penguins' 1991 Cup-clinching 8-0 win?

Tom Barrasso had been out when Pittsburgh faced elimination in the first round, and backup Frank Pietrangelo won the last two games against New Jersey.

Who took over as Penguins coach for the 1992 repeat after Bob Johnson was stricken with cancer?

Scotty Bowman moved from the front office to the bench, and his Penguins finished the repeat with a four-game sweep of Chicago.

Lemieux was diagnosed with which illness during the 1992-93 season, yet still won the scoring title?

Hodgkin lymphoma treatment kept Lemieux off the ice for weeks, yet after returning he overtook Buffalo's Pat LaFontaine for the title.

Which trophy did the 1992-93 Penguins win?

Presidents' Trophy winners for the league's best record, they were still knocked out in the second round of the playoffs.

Which team eliminated the record-setting Penguins in seven games in the 1993 playoffs?

The New York Islanders won Game 7 on David Volek's overtime goal, ending Pittsburgh's bid for a third straight Cup.

How did Lemieux enter the Hall of Fame months after retiring?

The three-year waiting period was waived, so Lemieux was already a Hall of Famer when he came out of retirement to play again in December 2000.

Lemieux bought the bankrupt Penguins in 1999 by converting what into equity?

Deferred salary he was owed ran to millions, so Lemieux turned that debt into a controlling stake rather than lose it in bankruptcy.

Which supermarket tycoon helped Lemieux take control of the team in 1999?

Ronald Burkle stayed on as Lemieux's partner, and by 2006 the two owners were already weighing offers for the team.

Mario Lemieux's December 2000 comeback from retirement came against which team?

Toronto Maple Leafs were the opponent as Lemieux, on his first shift back, set up a goal just 33 seconds into the game.

Which team acquired Jaromir Jagr from Pittsburgh in the summer of 2001?

Washington Capitals dealt Jagr to the New York Rangers in January 2004, less than three seasons after acquiring him.

Whom did the Penguins select first overall in the 2003 draft?

Marc-Andre Fleury went first after Pittsburgh traded up with Florida on draft day, and he won three Stanley Cups as a Penguin.

Where was Lemieux exploring a possible relocation before the 2007 arena deal?

Kansas City talk ended once the arena deal was reached, and the Penguins agreed to stay in Pittsburgh for at least 30 more years.

What set each team's odds in the lockout-year 2005 NHL draft lottery?

Recent playoff appearances and No. 1 picks each cost a team lottery balls, and Pittsburgh, one of four teams left with three, won and took Sidney Crosby.

Which award did Evgeni Malkin win in 2006-07?

Calder Memorial Trophy winner Malkin had slipped away from his Russian club during a trip to Finland, where his agent met him.

Which team beat the Penguins in the 2008 Stanley Cup Final before losing the 2009 rematch?

The Detroit Red Wings won the 2008 Final, but in the rematch Pittsburgh lost the first two games in Detroit and still took the Cup.

Who scored both Pittsburgh goals in the 2-1 Game 7 win that clinched the 2009 Stanley Cup?

Maxime Talbot had also tied Game 5 of the 2008 Final in the last minute of regulation, and Pittsburgh won it in triple overtime.

Which coach replaced Michel Therrien midway through 2008-09 and won the Cup months later?

Dan Bylsma was still only the interim coach when the playoffs began, and Pittsburgh made him permanent after the first round.

Which trophy did Sidney Crosby share with Steven Stamkos in 2009-10?

Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy honours were split after Stamkos scored in the season's final game to tie Crosby at 51 goals.

The Penguins' 2011 Winter Classic blue jerseys were later nicknamed the 'Blue Jerseys of' what?

Doom stuck after Crosby's concussion at the 2011 Winter Classic, and the team shelved the jerseys for good after he broke his jaw in them in 2013.

Which star winger did Jim Rutherford acquire in the summer of 2015?

Phil Kessel came over in a 2015 trade and helped Pittsburgh win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.

Whom did the Penguins beat in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final?

The San Jose Sharks fell to a Pittsburgh team that had fired its coach the previous December.

Which rookie goaltender backstopped the Penguins to the 2016 Stanley Cup?

Matt Murray had played just 13 regular-season games before that run, so he was still a rookie when he won the Cup again in 2017.

Which franchise took the Penguins' longtime goaltender in the 2017 expansion draft?

Vegas Golden Knights were also handed Pittsburgh's 2020 second-round pick in return for agreeing to take him.

Which owner of the Red Sox and Liverpool FC took majority control of the Penguins in 2021?

The Hoffman family later bought the club, taking full control in June 2026.

Which Norris Trophy-winning defenseman did Pittsburgh acquire in a 2023 three-team trade?

Erik Karlsson once needed Achilles surgery after Penguins forward Matt Cooke's skate cut him in 2013.

In 2025 Crosby, Malkin and Letang became major North American sport's first trio to do what?

Play 20 seasons together as teammates: along the way, Letang came back from strokes in both 2014 and 2022.

Which team did Chris Kunitz eliminate with a double-overtime goal in Game 7 of the 2017 conference final?

Ottawa Senators saw Kunitz score twice that night, the only two goals he managed in those entire playoffs.

PPG Paints Arena opened in 2010 under what original name?

Consol Energy Center took the Penguins across the street, and their old arena was demolished within two years.

Which casino company offered to fund a $290 million Pittsburgh arena for a slots licence?

Isle of Capri lost the Pittsburgh slots licence to Majestic Star, which then agreed to help fund the new arena instead.

Where was the 2011 Winter Classic, featuring the Penguins, played?

Heinz Field's game was pushed back to an 8 p.m. start because of the threat of rain.

Which longtime Hartford Whalers star did Pittsburgh acquire before its 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cups?

Ron Francis later signed with the Carolina Hurricanes, the former Whalers franchise, and won the 2002 King Clancy Trophy there.

Mario Lemieux's 1987 Canada Cup-clinching goal, set up by Wayne Gretzky, came against which country?

The Soviet Union lost the deciding game on Lemieux's goal, and that NHL season he ended Gretzky's run of scoring titles.

Which two nicknames is Lemieux best known by?

Le Magnifique and Super Mario had back surgery in 1990 and missed 50 games, then led Pittsburgh to its first Stanley Cup that spring.

Which Pennsylvania state senator led the 1965 campaign to bring an NHL franchise to Pittsburgh?

Jack McGregor pitched hockey as an urban-renewal tool for Pittsburgh and became the club's first president.

Longtime Penguins radio voice Mike Lange was honoured by the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001 with which prize?

Foster Hewitt Memorial honours went to a broadcaster whose first Penguins stint ended when the team went bankrupt in 1975, yet who was called back in 1976 and stayed over 40 years.