Rewatching the Penguins' last game at Mellon Arena 10 years later

The sky was gray in Pittsburgh on May 12, 2010.

That’s not exactly a unique occurrence in this city where it’s gray so often, one could suspect Mino Argento of painting it.

But the sky was incredibly fitting for what occurred that night one decade ago.

The Penguins closed the Mellon Arena (formerly known as the Civic Arena) with a spectacularly awful 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series.

A year after winning the franchise’s third Stanley Cup title, the Penguins were in pursuit of another title and seemed to have a fairly easy road to get back to another final series. After all, these Canadiens knocked out the Penguins’ biggest impediment in the conference, the Washington Capitals, during the first round. Surely the defending champions could defeate this underwhelming team of spare parts from Montreal.

Alas, the storied franchise that was the Penguins’ first opponent when they played their first NHL game at the Civic Arena in 1967 ended the Penguins’ residence at the only home they had known for the first 42 years of their existence in an abrasive fashion.

Out of an an abudance of free time thanks to the NHL’s hiatus in play due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Tribune-Review watched a full broadcast of that game and tried to dissect what went wrong that night 10 years ago.

What happened

The Penguins were in a bad way almost from the opening faceoffs. Only 10 seconds into regulation, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was called for boarding Canadiens defenseman Josh Gorges. On the ensuing power play, Penguins forward Matt Cooke was called for high-sticking Canadiens forward Brian Gionta after only a few seconds.

During that delayed penalty, Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban settled a loose puck in the Penguins’ left circle. Fending off stick checks from Penguins defensemen Sergei Gonchar and forward Jordan Staal, Subban, realizing there was a delayed penalty, seemingly fired an innocent backhander from a bad angle on net in hopes of getting a whistle and opening a two-man advantage.

Instead, Gionta was parked above the crease tapping his stick a few times facing minimal resistance from Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik. That allowed Gionta to re-direct the puck by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s blocker on the near side a mere 32 seconds into play. As the goal was scored during an already existing power-play sequence, Cooke’s penalty would still need to be served. Subban and Canadiens forward Scott Gomez had assists.

The Penguins had an opportunity to tie the game with a power play after Canadiens forward Dominic Moore was called for interference against Gonchar at 12:32 of the first period. But all the Penguins could muster during the ensuing two minutes was two shots on net. They attempted four and, as was the case throughout most of this series, had two blocked. Their best chance was a weak backhander from a bad angle by forward Jordan Staal. In contrast, the Canadiens generated a brilliant short-handed chance thanks to a wrister by forward Tomas Plekanec.

At roughtly the 12:30 mark of the first, the Penguins’ third line of Staal, Cooke and forward Tyler Kennedy, along with defensemen Kris Letang and Mark Eaton, generated a strong shift which resulted in four good scoring chances.

Any momentum created by that surge was quickly snuffed out. After Orpik slammed Canadiens forward Maxim Lapierre into the Penguins cage, Crosby played a puck off his own end boards to the right circle for forward Pascal Dupuis. The pass was less than crisp and was disrupted by a pinching Plekanec. The puck bounced loose to the slot where Gonchar whiffed on a pass attempt then was claimed by Moore, a former Penguins castoff. Wasting little time, Moore spun towards the net and fired a wrister past Fleury’s blocker at the 14:23 mark. Defenseman Roman Hamrlik netted the lone assist.

The Penguins actually got off to a solid start in the second period. Within the first three minutes of play, they had two shots on four attempts and limited the Canadiens to one attempt. But that served as false optimism.

The Canadiens took a 3-0 lead at the 3:32 mark. After Penguins forward Chris Kunitz turned the puck over on his own left half wall thanks to pressure from Canadiens forward Andrei Kostitsyn, Canadiens defenseman Jaroslav Spacek claimed it on the opposite wall. Hesitating for a moment, Spacek fed a cross-ice pass to the left circle for Plekanec who one-touched it to the right circle where forward Michael Cammalleri leaned on his left knee and fired a one-timer that glanced off Fleury’s glove hand before hitting twine. The only assist went to Spacek.

Things just got strange after that. After Kostitsyn was given a roughing minor for a high hit on Gonchar at the 3:59 mark, the Penguins had a power-play opportunity and another chance to get on the scoreboard. Only three shots were generated during that ensuing two minutes, two by the Canadiens.

The backbreaking goal occurred at 5:14. After another turnover by Kunitz in the offensive zone, Canadiens forward Travis Moen claimed it within his blue line and skated it to the neutral zone. Facing minimal pressure from Gonchar, Moen chipped the puck off the left wing boards. Inexplicably, Gonchar failed to defend the sequence and allowed Moen to surge past him to reclaim his own chip. As Letang scrambled to provide some resistance, Moen lifted a wrister which blew past Fleury’s glove hand on the far side. That prompted Penguins coach Dan Bylsma to replace Fleury with backup goaltender Brent Johnson. The goal was unassisted.

The Penguins finally got on the scoreboard at 8:36 of the second thanks to a combinaton of hard work by the first line and some much-needed luck. Lugging a puck up from his own zone, Dupuis chipped a puck into the offensive zone. Gorges momentarily intercepted it but pressure by Dupuis forced the puck free. Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak tried to play the puck away, but his clearing attempt was intercepted by Kunitz on the left half-wall. A deflected wrister by Kunitz ended up just below the right circle where Dupuis chased it down. Skating furiously to maintain distance from former Penguins defenseman Hal Gill, Dupuis fed a pass to the right point for Alex Goligoski.

As Gill lost his stick thanks to an underside lift by Kunitz, Goligoski dished the puck back to Dupuis, who scooted by an out-of-place Gill who was leaning down in the right circle to recover his stick. Dupuis then fed a small pass to Letang on the right wall, and Letang slipped low in the circle, where he lifted a wrister. The puck missed the mark to far side but hit of the left skate of referee Dan O’Halloran and deflected to the left of the crease where Kunitz was able to clean up the garbage with a wrister under the left leg of Halak. Letang and Dupuis recorded assists.

With just over six minutes left in the second period, forward Alexei Ponikarovsky initiated what was arguably the most impressive two-plus minutes of his otherwise disappointing tenure with the Penguins.

Chipping a puck up the right wing and chasing it down, he drew an interference penalty from Roman Hamrlik and gave the Penguins another power-play opportunity. While the first power-play squad offered a mostly feeble attack during the ensuing opportunity, the second squad gained an offensive-zone entry which eventually led to an even-strength goal.

After Staal and Kunitz won a two-on-two battle with Spacek and Subban along the end board, Ponikarovsky ended up with the puck on the right half wall. Meandering to the center point, Ponikarovsky slid a pass to Goligoski at left point. Moving up the wall, Goligoski drew in Gionta and created space above the left circle for Ponikarovsky. As Hamrlik, who had lost his stick, tried to square up, Ponikarovsky clapped a one-timer towards the cage. Above the crease, Staal fended off Subban and redirected the shot past Halak’s glove. Ponikarovsky and Goligoski collected assists.

That would prove to be the final goal by a member of the Penguins in this venue.

The Penguins’ last chance to make this a truly competitive contest came 6:40 into the third when Gill was called for holding Crosby. The Penguins went on another power play which was largely ineffective. Their best shot was a stunning denial by Halak of a wrister by Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin from just above the crease at the 6:51 mark.

At the 11:02 mark, the Penguins were nabbed for too many men on the ice and the Canadiens were granted another power play. They would secure victory with another goal at 10:00.

Controlling the puck on the right half wall, Gomez chopped it to the right of the net, where Cammalleri directed the puck through the air across the crease for Gionta, who swatted the puck past Johnson’s left skate. Assists went to Cammalleri and Gomez.

During the final minute of regulation, the Penguins would be called for too many men once again and finished the game on the penalty kill.

Immediately following the game, the teams shook hands and the Penguins left the ice at the Mellon Arena for the final time.