Some goals. Some goons. A brawl. A building. The top 20 Penguins grudges of all time. - TribLIVE

Last week, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan published a list of unresolved grievances for every NHL team.

She got an assist from ESPN producer and Pittsburgh-area product Denny Wolfe for some perspective. And it’s a pretty good list of the unresolved anger issues Penguins fans hold in the pit of their gut. I agree with the winning choice — David Volek’s Game 7 overtime goal in the 1993 Eastern Conference semifinals.

That defeat prevented the Penguins from getting a deeper run at the fabled “threepeat” that the Chicago Bulls were accomplishing at the same time in the NBA.

The second choice — Adam Graves’ slash on Mario Lemieux in 1992 — doesn’t bug me as much.

Oh, it did at the time. But since the Penguins ended up winning that series and a Stanley Cup title anyway, I don’t need to see my therapist about my rage surrounding it anymore.

A few other nominations such as Jaromir Jagr sulking his way out of town in 2001 and the 1975 blown 3-0 series lead to the Islanders are in the discussion, as well.

So let’s go a little deeper. Because, as we all know, there’s nothing Pittsburgh sports fans do better than carry a grudge or obsess over a perceived slight.

Even Michael Jordan could’ve learned a thing or two from us in that regard.

Here’s my ranking of the top 20 Penguins grudges. Keep in mind that, at age 45, my pre-Lemieux angst may not be as spicy as some of those a little older than me. So if you’ve got some heat you want to spit from the blue jersey days, be my guest in the comment section below.

10. Derian Hatcher knocking out Sidney Crosby’s teeth his rookie season: This probably falls under the Adam Graves category to a degree.

The Penguins won the game. Crosby scored the game-winning goal. He is going to the Hall of Fame. The Philadelphia Flyers haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1975. And Hatcher isn’t even the best player in his own family.

Like Graves slashing Lemieux, Crosby beating the Flyers that day is now part of the lore of his career.

That doesn’t mean we have to forget.

I mean, c’mon! Neither of those hits to the mouth were called? And Crosby got an unsportsmanlike for complaining. Gimme a break.

Maybe our gripe should be with the officials as much as it is with Hatcher.

9. Jaromir Jagr goes to Philadelphia: As ESPN intimates in its piece, it feels like we are in the “time heals all wounds” phase of Pittsburgh’s relationship with Jagr.

But try to remember how raw the emotions were back in the summer of 2011 when Jagr came back to the NHL and chose to sign with the hated Flyers over the Penguins.

I agree that how Jagr left wasn’t great. This felt worse, though.

8. The Spectrum: Another Flyers-related one here. Notice a trend developing?

You can hold a grudge against a building. Can’t you? Even one that has been gone for about a decade?

I can. Especially one that housed a 42-game winless streak. From Feb. 7, 1974 through Feb. 2, 1989, the Penguins were 0–39–3 at the Spec … uh … that place of which we will no longer speak.

7. Tom Wilson: For his hit on Brian Dumoulin.

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For his hit on Zach-Aston Reese.

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For laughing about it. All of it. This grudge is ongoing. And it should be.

Forever.

6. Adam Graves slashes Mario Lemieux: I changed my mind.

That was so bad, it still has to be in the top 10.

Look, I said I was repressing my rage. I didn’t say I was over it!

5. Dave Steckel concusses Sidney Crosby: OK. Crosby coming back a few days later and getting smooshed into the boards by Victor Hedman didn’t help.

But that hit in the 2011 Winter Classic started all of Crosby’s concussion problems.

He went on to miss the better part of two seasons as a result.

4. Marian Hossa: Another example of, “Just because the Penguins won in the end, that doesn’t mean you have to bury the hatchet.”

Hossa came to Pittsburgh for part of 2008. He was really good here. In fact, he helped the Penguins almost beat the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final.

Then he defected to those same Red Wings during the offseason despite getting just a one-year contract ($7.45 million). The Penguins offered him a five-year deal at nearly the same money per season.

He strung along the Penguins during the negotiations. Then Hossa put the cherry on the sundae by saying he thought the Red Wings gave him the better chance to win a Stanley Cup.

Although, I think we all remember how that turned out when the two teams met again in the 2009 Final.

Oh! The look on his face after Game 7 ended!

3. The Islanders come back from 3-0 down in 1975: This is one I can’t speak to personally remembering.

However, Penguins fans of any generation are familiar with at least hearing about the Penguins blowing a 3-0 series lead to the Islanders in the second round of the 1975 playoffs.

And Ed Westfall’s goal in Game 7 to win it 1-0.

2. Tom Fitzgerald beats Tom Barrasso: Losing to the Florida Panthers and those flying rats in 1996 was almost as bad as how the Penguins were upset a few years earlier by David Volek and the Islanders.

Tom Fitzgerald? From that far out? Really?

Ick.

Do the Penguins go on to beat the Colorado Avalanche that year in the Stanley Cup Final? I don’t know.

But I do know it was their last best chance before that Crosby kid came along.

1. David Volek. Overtime. 1993. Second round of the playoffs: See above.

Twice.

Don’t look down.

At all.

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Told you not to look.

Oh, did you think we were done? Not a chance. Five Stanley Cup titles doesn’t mean we have let bygones be bygones.

About anything!

Here a few honorable mentions out of the top 10.

11. Zdeno Chara punches Sidney Crosby in his busted jaw: He knew what he was doing.

12. 1989 Hart Trophy: Lemieux had 199 points. It was given to Wayne Gretzky anyway. Lemieux had 31 more points than Gretzky. All of them goals.

13. Daniel Briere was offsides: Briere was so far offsides in Game 1 of the 2012 playoffs, he wasn’t even back across the blue line by the time Game 2 started.

14. Jagr’s exit in 2001: Say what you will about what was really meant by his infamous “dying alive” quote in the early portion of that season, Jagr pouted his way through much of those playoffs and was just generally an emotional drag until he was traded in the offseason.

15. The Jagr trade itself: Far be it from anyone to hold this against Craig Patrick’s legacy given the economic circumstances of that offseason. But Kris Beech, Michal Sivek and Ross Lupaschuk?

That’s it?

16. John Madden’s sneaky “Ace” move: Remember when the former New Jersey Devil suckered Lemieux into a blind drop pass by calling out “Ace” behind him in the 2001 playoffs?

17. SHHHH, Daniel Carcillo: Yeah. It was Max Talbot who baited Carcillo into the fight on purpose during the 2009 playoffs.

But Carcillo was such a jackwagon, regardless. He’s probably still proud of himself just for winning the fight.

18. Evgeny Kuznetsov’s overtime goal in 2018: Man, I already hated that bird-flap thing back when Terrell Owens was doing it.

It was the goal (and celly) heard 'round the league… Kuzy's OT game-winner against the Pens in Game 6.

But what kind of season-long preparation went into taking advantage of that moment? Blaine Forsythe breaks it all down… including his own special celly pic.twitter.com/rhwhaUC0ND

— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) October 5, 2018

That brought it to a whole new level.

19. Jaroslav Halak brings down the old barn: The former Canadiens goalie stopped 71 of 76 shots over the last two games of the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals, eliminating the Penguins and closing Mellon Arena.

20. Trevor Gillies: For all those who had some sort of blame for what happened during the 2011 Penguins-Islanders brawl, Gilles punching Eric Tangradi after he had already injured him in the first place touched off the whole thing.

In this week’s Export Tire hockey podcast, Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network joins me to examine that list and air a few grievances of his own.

Plus, we talk about the potential of an NHL reboot, that weird social media thread about Matt Murray over the weekend, the Penguins front office layoffs, and the loss of the 2020 concert season.

LISTEN: Tim Benz, Brian Metzer discuss all-time Penguins grudges

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

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