Looking back on it the 2000-01 Pittsburgh Penguins season was a little wild.
It was the first year of the Ivan Hlinka experience.
The wheels were starting to get in motion for Jaromir Jagr’s exit from Pittsburgh.
The team was off to a mostly mediocre start through the first half of the season.
In mid-December Mario Lemieux came out of retirement and, after sitting out three years and at the age of 35, completely dominated the NHL with one of his best seasons ever at the height of the dead puck era.
They also went on a run to the Eastern Conference Final (after Darius Kaspairaitis, of all people, scored one of the biggest Game 7 goals in franchise history when he beat Dominik Hasek in overtime) thanks in part to one of the Penguins’ all-time great underdog success stories: Starting goalie Johan Hedberg.