2012–13 Pittsburgh Penguins season
The Pittsburgh Penguins finished their 2011–12 season with 108 points, ranking second in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Pittsburgh started off the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs in the Eastern Conference Quarter-finals against their cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers.
On June 4, 2012, the Penguins signed goaltender Tomas Vokoun to a two-year contract after acquiring him from the Washington Capitals for a seventh-round draft pick in 2012.
[7] At approximately 4:40 am EST on January 6, 2013 the NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr announced that they have reached an agreement on the framework of a new CBA.
[21][22] The Penguins released a statement from co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle and CEO David Morehouse shortly after the NHL announced the framework agreement, offering an apology to the fans and the community and thanking them for their patience and loyalty to the team.
The Penguins started February with a four-game winning streak including their first home victory of the season against the New Jersey Devils.
[33] Throughout the first four home games, as part of the special promotion following the lockout, the Penguins organization gave away 52,142 fountain drinks, 33,289 nachos, 26,633 pretzels, 22,258 hot dogs, 22,118 chicken sandwiches and 20,380 hamburgers and sold at half-price 8,680 jerseys, 18,950 T-shirts and 8,776 hats.
[35] Malkin went on to miss the rest of the remaining three games of February and was diagnosed with a concussion suffering from short-term memory loss and retroactively was placed on IR effective the time of initial injury.
[37] The Penguins lost the last game of February against ex-Penguin Jordan Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes[38] but still finished the month with nine wins and five losses leading the Atlantic Division and second place in the Eastern Conference with twenty-six points.
The Penguins started out March with a wild game against the Montreal Canadiens that combined for a total of thirteen goals including the Brandon Sutter game-winner in overtime.
The game featured Brandon Sutter, Matt Cooke and Chris Kunitz all scoring two goals apiece with defenceman Kris Letang finished with a career-high four assist night.
After absorbing a hit from James van Riemsdyk in the third period, Evgeni Malkin left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return.
[47] On March 16, in a game against the New York Rangers, Marc-Andre Fleury recorded a franchise all-time leading 23rd career shutout in a 3–0 victory.
[52] The Penguins defeated the Canadiens 1–0 on March 26 with a lone goal from Chris Kunitz[53] in a game that featured Marc-Andre Fleury and Tomas Vokoun combining for a team shutout after Marc-Andre Fleury left that game after the second period when Tyler Kennedy and Brian Gionta got tangled up and crashed into him.
[55] In the early morning hours on March 28 the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they had acquired 16-year veteran and Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla in exchange for Ben Hanowski, Kenny Agostino and a 2013 first-round draft pick after Iginla also waived his no-trade clause to play for the Penguins.
[57] Jarome Iginla filled an immigration petition and was approved to join the team on March 29 in time to be added to the starting line-up against the New York Islanders.
[58] The Penguins went on to defeat the Islanders extending the winning streak to 15 games and became the first team in league history to have a perfect record over a calendar month.
The win came with a price after 50 seconds into his first shift, Sidney Crosby left the game after a shot from Brooks Orpik was deflected and re-directed into his mouth.
[60] The next day, head coach Dan Bylsma announced that Sidney Crosby needed to have oral surgery as a result of the injury and was out indefinitely with a broken jaw.
[114] The Penguins went on to win Game 3 at the 8:44 mark of overtime when Chris Kunitz scored a power-play goal defeating the Islanders 5–4.
Game 3 went into double-overtime and 7:39 minutes into the second overtime period, Colin Greening scored on a rebound to give the Senators a 2–1 victory, bringing the series to 2–1.
The Pittsburgh Penguins had made it to their third Conference Finals since 2008, while the Boston Bruins were making their second appearance in three years.
The Bruins swept the top seeded Penguins, as Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask recorded his first two career playoff shutouts and only allowed two Pittsburgh goals in the entire series.
Penguin stars Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and the newly acquired Jarome Iginla were held to zero combined points during the series.
