‘Burgh’s Best to Wear It, No. 93: Petr Nedved's overtime heroics endure
The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.
No. 93: Petr Nedved
Let’s be honest.
If it wasn’t for one goal, Petr Nedved isn’t this beloved.
He would be just another talented player who rolled through town, put up some big numbers for a few seasons and left in pursuit of another contract with another team.
He would be Peter Lee or Stu Barnes. Appreciated but hardly lionized.
But that goal.
Oh boy, what a goal.
On April 24, 1996, the Pittsburgh Penguins entered Game 4 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series on the road against their bitter rivals, the Washington Capitals, down 2-1.
On April 25, 1996, Nedved won the game.
In what remains the fifth-longest game in NHL history, Nedved took a pass from Penguins defenseman Sergei Zubov, waited for Capitals defenseman Mark Tinordi to slide out of position and lifted a wrister through a phalanx of exhausted legs and arms past the left shoulder of goaltender Olaf Kolzig to give his team a victory at 19 minutes, 15 seconds of the fourth overtime period, well past everyone’s bedtime (2:22 a.m. to be precise).
Acquired in a 1995 trade, Nedved’s career with the Penguins was brief but productive. In two seasons as a supporting character to Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr in the mid-1990s, he put up 170 points in only 154 games. A contract dispute led him to hold out the 1997-98 season before being traded in the fall of 1998.
Two Steelers defensive linemen had far longer careers donning No. 93 in Pittsburgh:
• Joel Steed was the anchor at nose tackle for the Steelers’ “Blitzburgh” defenses in the 1990s.
While the likes of Greg Lloyd, Chad Brown, Rod Woodson and Carnell Lake swooped in from everywhere to hound opposing quarterbacks, Steed’s sturdy presence tied up offensive linemen, allowing teammates to rack up sack totals.
A Pro Bowler in 1997, Steed was Casey Hampton before it was cool.
• Keith Willis joined the Steelers in 1982 as an undrafted free agent defensive end out of Northeastern. He left in 1991 as one of the most prolific pass-rushers in franchise history with 59 sacks, including what was then a team record 14 in 1983. An overachiever, Willis was far more productive on the Steelers defensive line than teammates such as Keith Gary or Darryl Sims, each unappetizing former first-round picks.
‘Burgh’s Best to Wear It
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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