Sixteen years ago today, the Pittsburgh Penguins were blown out in a Game 7 against the Montreal Canadiens, losing the final game in the storied history of the Mellon Arena.
The Penguins were the defending Stanley Cup champions and made their way to the second round of the playoffs after beating the Ottawa Senators in six games.
Pittsburgh jumped out to a 1-0 series lead against Montreal and quickly learned the Canadiens would not be going quietly with P.K. Subban making national headlines and Jaroslav
Halak being a brick wall in the net.
The Penguins and Canadiens traded wins through six games as Mellon Arena would host the deciding game of the series.
With all the excitement in the air of the building, it was just as quickly let out as Brian Gionta scored a power play goal for Montreal just 32 seconds into the game.
Dominic Moore doubled the Canadiens’ lead in the first period, but the second period was when the wheels fell off.
Noted Penguins killer Mike Cammalleri scored his 12th goal of the playoffs and then Travis Moen scored a backbreaking shorthanded goal to make it 4-0 a short time later.
The Penguins would get on the board with two goals and a sign of life, but it was too little, too late.
Just like that, Penguins fans had to say goodbye to the Mellon Arena.
