The Stanley Cup playoffs get underway this weekend, kicking off a two-month grind that will be rife with successes and smiles, defeats and disappointments.
And when they finally end, after countless plot twists and mood swings, there will be 15 teams thinking about what might have been, and one cherishing memories that will endure for a lifetime.
While every NHL franchise has experienced the highs and lows of postseason play, not many -- outside of the Original Six, anyway -- have gone through quite as many of both as the Penguins.
The lows? Well, there was blowing a 3-0 lead to the New York Islanders during Round 2 in 1975, becoming just the second team in NHL history to squander such an advantage. Double-overtime elimination by heavily favored St. Louis in 1981, or an overtime loss to the defending champion Islanders the following year? How about being upset by the Islanders -- they seem to turn up a lot on this list -- in 1993, or losing to upstart Florida in the conference final three years later?
And that's just a sampling.
Of course, those heartbreaks have been countered by championships in 1991, 1992, 2009, 2016 and 2017, dwarfing the total earned by any other franchise that entered the league in the 1967 expansion.
But those hardly are the only postseason victories that will live forever in franchise lore. Start with George Ferguson's overtime goal in Buffalo to eliminate the Sabres in 1979, and move on to Game 6 in the Wales Conference final against Boston in 1991, when the Penguins clinched their first berth in a Cup final.
And that's without mentioning their comeback in Game 4 against the New York Rangers in Round 2 the next year, Darius Kasparaitis' overtime winner in Game 7 at Buffalo in 2001 and Game 7 against Ottawa in 2017, which Chris Kunitz won in double-overtime.
Might be another one or two (dozen) that belong on the list, as well.
YOUR TURN: Aside from games that clinched a Stanley Cup, what is your all-time favorite playoff victory?