Penguins Win Pennant

This is Syl Apps, Jr. He was part of the early “expansion” Penguins who could score some and they left a little too. Before Mario, the Penguins were a strange little team that never really won a thing. Greg Polis would win a car at the All-Star game, they’d run a tremendous offensive line out most years (Apps-Lowell MacDonald-Jean Pronovost, they called it the “Century Line”) and they’d be good for one franchise-crippling trade every June. Lots of really good players with dominant teams spent time on the downside with the Penguins. Rick MacLeish, Peter Mahovlich, those kinds of guys.

The Mario years were splendid and the Sidney-Evgeni years look like they could be pretty damn good. Pittsburgh won their 4th pennant tonight and one would think that they’ll have a better chance to win the Stanley than they did one year ago.

There are two western teams still in the pennant race, but that could change tomorrow night.

1. Montreal (11): ’68, ’69, ’71, ’73, ’76-’79, ’86, ’89, ’93
2. Boston (7): ’70, ’72, ’74, ’77, ’78, ’88, ’90
3. Edmonton (7): ’83, ’84, ’85, ’87, ’88, ’90, ’06
4. Philadephia (7): ’74, ’75, ’76, ’80, ’85, ’87, ’97
5. Detroit (5): ’95, ’97, ’98, ’02, ’08
6. New York Islanders (5): ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84
7. Pittsburgh Penguins (4): ’91, ’92, ’08, ’09
8. Dallas (4): ’81, ’91, ’99, ’00
9. New Jersey (4): ’95, ’00, ’01, ’03
10. Calgary (3): ’86, ’89, ’04
11. Chicago (3): ’71, ’73, ’92
12. New York Rangers (3): ’72, ’79, ’94
13. St. Louis (3): ’68, ’69, ’70
14. Anaheim (2): ’03, ’07
15. Buffalo (2): ’75, ’99
16. Carolina (2): ’02, ’06
17. Colorado (2): ’96, ’01
18. Vancouver (2): ’82, ’94
19. Florida (1): ’96
20. Los Angeles (1): ’93
21. Ottawa (1): ’07
22. Tampa Bay (1): ’04
23. Washington (1): ’98
24. Atlanta
25. Columbus
26. Minnesota
27. Nashville
28. Phoenix
29. San Jose
30. Toronto