Last night flipping through some channels I found something that caught my eye on Sportsnet Ontario. They were showing Sidney Crosby’s first home game in Pittsburgh way back from 2005, 15 years ago. It was amazing to see the characters involved on the ice, behind the benches, in the booth, and especially on the public address.

I tuned in at the end of the second period right as Sidney Crosby scored his ever career goal. Wouldn’t you know it was a #SidDownLow goalmouth slam dunk on the power play. This gave the Penguins a 6-4 lead against what would be a bad Bruins team. As we know the 2005-06 Penguins were worse. Crosby’s goal was a trip down memory. It was assisted by Ziggy Palffy who would leave the team halfway through the year despite having over a point per game on the year. It was a Mark Recchi who had yet to win his third Stanley Cup with Carolina who was hugging Crosby in celebration. The replay on the bench had a shot of two Penguins who excitedly stood up to celebrate. Mario Lemieux and his linemate Ryan Malone. Lemieux had scored both the second and fifth goal of the game by that point. Narrating the bench moment was a television version of Mike Lange and a new guy on the color, Bob Errey. In-between their conversation you could hear somebody announcing "Penguins goal, his first of the season, and first in the National Hockey League, number 87 Sidney Crosbyyyyyyy." The legend himself, John Barbaro.

The third period and overtime were a sign of things to come for this Penguins team. Despite scoring six goals their lead was not safe. They went on to give up two goals in the third period to the Bruins which forced overtime. Some observations during the third period I found interesting:

Brooks Orpik laid a great hit behind the net and didn’t look like he was stuck in concrete. He even had a goal in this game!

Joe Thornton was passing with the same elegance he has his entire career and like Orpik he didn’t look like he was stuck in concrete.

John Leclair, Pittsburgh Penguin

Ryan Malone was a good player back in the day.

Glen Murray’s name wasn’t allowed to be mentioned on the broadcast without “former Penguin” coming before it. His name was mentioned quite a bit as he scored in the third period and eventually the overtime winner.

Brian Leetch was in this game! And he still looked decent.

Sergei Gonchar was joining the play late in the game for an offensive push. It was nice to see him in a Penguins jersey again.

Lemieux had a chance for his hat trick late in the third period on a wide open pass from who I think was Malone and tried to redirect it through the goalies five hole, but it was stopped.

Former Penguins leading scorer Dick Tarnstrom took a penalty late in the third period that bled over into the brand new 4v4 overtime. The Penguins would start the overtime session killing a 4v3 power play.

The broadcast showed the Bruins bench when discussing the personnel the Bruins were going to use on the power play and wouldn’t you know who the Bruins coach was… Mike Sullivan.

In overtime the Bruins power play overwhelmed the Penguins penalty kill. Their power play looked great. Joe Thornton was sending lasers across the goal mouth on multiple occasions to a wide open Brian Leetch on the back door. They ran that play a number of times and Leetch just couldn’t finish it. When they weren’t trying that play they were setting up a young pup by the name of Patrice Bergeron who was striking absolute bombs from the point that were barely missing wide. Ultimately “former Penguin” Glen Murray scored his second goal of the game and the Penguins blew their 6-4 lead on a night where Lemieux scored twice, Crosby scored his first, a rare Orpik goal, and Ziggy Palffy also got in on the action.

It was fun watching this game. The 2005-06 season was great hockey because it was wide open. It was awesome seeing some of the players we taken for granted over the years doing their thing in their younger years. It was great seeing the guys we haven’t seen in a long time like Mario Lemieux, Ziggy Palffy, Brian Leetch, Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar, and Ryan Malone on the ice. Mike Lange was on the television broadcast and it was amazing. Hearing John Barbaro made everything feel right. He is a Penguins legend and provided the soundtrack of Penguins hockey in concert with Mike Lange.

Fifteen years sure flies by fast.

Thanks for reading!

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