All victories are created equal on some levels -- they're all worth two points during the regular season, for example -- but there's no question that some are more satisfying than others.
And the Penguins' 7-6 victory over New Jersey Tuesday, when the Devils outscored them, 6-1, during the third period was a reminder that it's even possible for a win to feel more like a gut punch than a cause for celebration.
That the Penguins managed to survive New Jersey's late-game surge -- or, more to the point, their own unraveling -- means that most of the fan base shouldn't end up with any long-lasting psychological scars from those 20 minutes, despite the totally understandable and justified outrage so many have expressed about the Penguins' implosion.
There are, however, games that leave a scar on the psyches of those who follow a team, and the Penguins have had their share over the past 50-plus years.
Almost invariably, those come in losses. Playoff losses, most of the time.
For some, it might be the Game 7 loss at home to the New York Islanders in 1993. Or maybe the Game 7 loss to the Islanders in 1975. Perhaps the Game 6 defeat by Detroit in 2008 or Washington in 2018.
The choice here would be for one of those losses to the Islanders; the latter because he made the Penguins just the second team in NHL history to lose a best-of-seven after winning the first three games, the former because the Penguins had a clearly superior lineup and a promising path to a third consecutive Stanley Cup.
However, the choice doesn't necessarily have to be a playoff game, or even a defeat. It could be some innocuous mid-winter regular-season game that most people who witnessed it forgot long ago. Something like an inexplicably disappointing victory over the California Golden Seals or Cleveland Barons.
Only this much is certain: There are plenty of candidates from which to choose.
YOUR TURN: Which Penguins game, regardless of the outcome, has caused you the most enduring distress? (Recurring nightmares optional.)
