At #4 on our list, we look at a Pittsburgh Penguins victory that was won in such a way that calling it rare would not be doing it justice.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Calgary Flames (9-1 Victory) – October 25, 2018
The NHL features the best talent from roster to roster that the world has to offer. So when we look at this Penguins game, where the Pens defeated Calgary by a whopping eight goals, you know this was a special day. It was also a day that featured some ridiculous statistical numbers, most of which we will inform you of right now.
For starters, this game saw 15 different players on the Pens roster earn at least a point in the contest. FIFTEEN. While this is not necessary to point out, that is not something that happens very often. But where things start to get really crazy is when we examine the team statistics, and find out that Pittsburgh actually was the lesser in most of these categories.
The Flames had 9 more faceoff wins than the Pens, and they also took three more shots, yet the 9-1 victory had the Pens on the right side of things. By the time Calgary was able to get their one and only goal in this one, the Pens had already tacked 8 on the scoreboard.
Besides this contest, the largest margin of victory that the Pens had over the course of the season was five, so this was quite the jump in that aspect of things. It was a game that is truly a rarity in the sport, and showed once again just how talented this team had the potential to be. A victory of this stature does not just accidentally occur, this was a dominating performance for Pittsburgh where everything was clicking.
Matt Murray made 38 saves in the game as well. This was also part of a trip that featured the Pens getting a 5-0 victory over the Canucks two days later. The Penguins would return from Canada then after picking up wins in all four games.
This was a time that was filled with incredible amounts of optimism for what these Penguins would possibly be able to do this season. And because they did something that was more than rare in the victory over Calgary, it makes our list at #4 for the best wins of this past season.