Installment No. 2 in an occasional series highlighting the most memorable game in which players participated as a member of the Penguins:
Player: Colby Armstrong
Date: April 11, 2007
Game: Game 1, Round 1, Stanley Cup playoffs
Site: Scotiabank Place, Ottawa
Result: Senators, 6-3
Three stars: 1. Senators RW Daniel Alfredsson. 2. Senators RW Chris Neil. 3. Senators D Anton Volchenkov
Armstrong admits that he's a little hazy on the details.
He didn't mention that Ottawa scored the first three goals of the game, or that the Senators held a five-goal lead before Sergei Gonchar and Sidney Crosby scored during the final 7 1/2 minutes of regulation to whittle their margin of victory to three.
What he does remember -- and remember vividly -- was how the numerous young players on the Penguins' roster reacted to their initial appearance in the playoffs, which also happened to be the first for the franchise in six years.
"That was our first kick at the can of the playoffs," he said. "For us to make the playoffs ... after the years they'd had before -- even the year before, when we were awful and couldn't win a game -- just for our group to experience that was incredible. It was big for us, as a group, because we were so young. We had Gary Roberts there and others, but the main core of the group was so young."
Armstrong accounted for three of the Penguins' 28 hits during Game 1, perhaps because playing the body was the best way to burn off some of the energy that had built up within him.
"I remember feeling like I was crawling out of my skin the entire game," he said. "Uncontrollable adrenaline. It was just so strong."
And it apparently began to course through Armstrong's veins well before the opening faceoff. It certainly was flowing as the Penguins prepared to go onto the ice for warmups and the Scotiabank Place sound system was pumping out what he described as "robotic" music that captured, or maybe set, the mood for what was to come.
"I remember standing there with (Max) Talbot and some of these guys and we were looking at each other like, 'Holy crap,' " Armstrong said. "All the guys I'd played with in Wilkes-Barre. It was just awesome that our entire group got that first taste of fighting for the Stanley Cup. To get that experience, that feeling, was unbelievable. It was just incredible."
The opener reminded the Penguins just how good Ottawa was -- the Senators reached the Stanley Cup final against Anaheim that spring -- and introduced them to the raw fury of postseason hockey.
"It was eye-opening, the speed and intensity of playoffs," Armstrong said. "And then the (challenge of) corralling and controlling of your emotions, too. The energy and atmosphere in the playoffs was incredible. It was elevated that much more."
Although the Penguins evened the series with a 4-3 victory in Ottawa three nights later, they clearly were overmatched against the Senators, who won Games 3, 4 and 5 to advance to Round 2.
But while the Penguins went down pretty quickly, they didn't go easily. Especially Armstrong.
"I was running around like a maniac that series," he said. "I ran (Senators goalie) Ray Emery twice, got in a fight. I hit Patrick Eaves pretty hard coming around the net. Then Talbot had to fight Dean McAmmond.
"It was a pretty good, heated series against a really good team. They had Dany Heatley, (Daniel) Alfredsson, (Jason) Spezza, (Antoine) Vermette, (Anton) Volchenkov, (Chris) Phillips. You go down the list. They had all their guys we'd played against previously in Binghamton, like 15 times, and all their superstar players surrounding them. ... We played hard, but they were just so much better than us."
But the Penguins learned, Armstrong said, even as they were losing. And the roots of the success the franchise has enjoyed since then stretch all the way back to that series, beginning with Game 1.
"After that series, even though we lost, we knew that next year, we were going to be good," he said. "And we were.
"We were (angry) that we lost. Ottawa was really good, but at the same time, there was a flame in our group. It was so big for us, to know that we could really be a good team next year. It set us in motion.
"We got our taste (of the playoffs) and by doing that, elevated our belief in our group and elevated our confidence to levels where you saw (the Penguins) in the final the next year and then (the following) year, (winning) the Cup. And then forever being a contender, every year."
First installment: Matt Cullen