1990 – 91 Pittsburgh Penguins season The 1990 – 91 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the Penguins 24th season in the NHL , and they were coming off of a disappointing 1989 – 90 season , when they finished with a 32 – 40 – 8 record , recording 72 points , finishing 1 point behind the New York Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Patrick Division , failing to qualify for post season play for the 7th time in 8 seasons . The Penguins placed first in their division , third - overall in the Wales Conference , on the way to the first - ever Stanley Cup championship for the team . Off - season . In the off - season , General Manager Craig Patrick , who finished the previous season coaching the club , would name Bob Johnson as the new head coach of the Penguins . Patrick also named Scotty Bowman as his director of player development and recruitment . Johnson had previously been the head coach of the Calgary Flames from 1982 – 87 . The team also acquired veteran Bryan Trottier , who helped lead the New York Islanders to 4 straight Stanley Cups from 1980 – 83 , to help out with his leadership abilities . Regular season . The Penguins would begin the season without Mario Lemieux , as he would miss the first half of the season recovering from a back injury that he suffered in a game against the New York Rangers on February 14 , 1990 , which caused him to miss the remainder of the 1989 – 90 season . Pittsburgh would begin the season slow , and in their opening 31 games , the team had a 12 – 16 – 3 , good for 27 points , and 9 points out of a playoff spot . As the season progressed , the team began playing better , had Mario Lemieux return to the lineup , and Patrick would make some trades , acquiring defenceman Larry Murphy from the Minnesota North Stars and Scott Young from the Hartford Whalers . The Penguins eventually came into playoff contention , and on March 4 , when the team had a 32 – 30 – 4 record , sitting in 3rd place in the division , the club pulled off a blockbuster deal with the Whalers , trading John Cullen , Zarley Zalapski , and Jeff Parker to Hartford for Ron Francis , Ulf Samuelsson , and Grant Jennings . The deal helped the Penguins finish the season off 9 – 3 – 2 , and win their first ever Division championship , finishing 3 points ahead of the 2nd place New York Rangers . With Mario Lemieux missing the majority of the season due to his back injury , Mark Recchi stepped up , and had a breakout season , scoring a team high 40 goals and 73 assists for 113 points . Kevin Stevens would tie Recchi for the team lead in goals with 40 , and add 46 assists for 86 points . Rookie Jaromir Jagr had a solid season , scoring 27 goals and earning 57 points , while Lemieux recorded 19 goals and 45 points in only 26 games . Paul Coffey led the defense with 93 points in 76 games . The 342 goals the Penguins scored was the 2nd highest toal in the league , only 2 goals less than the Calgary Flames In goal , Tom Barrasso had the majority of playing time , winning a team high 27 games and posting a 3 . 59 GAA , along with a shutout . Frank Pietrangelo appeared in 25 games , finishing with a 10 – 11 – 1 record and a 3 . 94 GAA . Playoffs . In the playoffs , the Penguins would open up against the New Jersey Devils , who finished the year in 4th place in the division , 9 points behind Pittsburgh . The teams split the opening 2 games in Pittsburgh , and then split the 2 games in New Jersey , before the Devils won game 5 at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena to take a 3 – 2 series lead back home . The Penguins responded with a hard fought 4 – 3 victory in game 6 to bring it back home for game 7 , where Pittsburgh completed the comeback with a 4 – 0 shutout to win the series . Up next was the Washington Capitals , and Washington would surprise the Penguins with a 4 – 2 victory in the opening game , however , Pittsburgh tied the series up in game 2 with a 7 – 6 overtime victory . The Pens would go into Washington for games 3 and 4 , and post back - to - back 3 – 1 wins to go up 3 – 1 in the series , and finish off Washington in the 5th game to clinch the series and advance to the Conference Finals for the 1st time in team history . The Penguins next opponent was the Boston Bruins , the defending Wales Conference champions , and the Bruins , who finished with 100 points , had home ice for the series . Boston would take control of the series early by winning the opening 2 games in Boston , however , the Penguins responded by winning the next 2 in Pittsburgh to even up the series . Pittsburgh would return to Boston for the 5th game , and surprise the Bruins with a 7 – 2 victory , going up 3 – 2 in the series and returning home for the 6th game . The Penguins finished off Boston in the 6th game , winning the Prince of Wales Trophy and going to the Stanley Cup finals for the 1st time in team history . Pittsburgh faced the surprising Minnesota North Stars in the Stanley Cup finals . While the North Stars had a 27 – 39 – 14 record during the regular season , they had been red hot in the playoffs , defeating the President ' s Trophy winners Chicago Blackhawks , the St . Louis Blues and the defending Stanley Cup champions Edmonton Oilers to reach the finals . Minnesota would continue their hot streak with a 5 – 4 victory in game 1 , however , the Penguins tied the series up in game 2 as the series shifted from Pittsburgh to Minnesota . The North Stars won game 3 with solid goaltending , but the Penguins rebounded in game 4 to tie it back up as they returned to Pittsburgh . Game 5 was a close , hard fought game , with the Penguins winning 6 – 4 to take a 3 – 2 series lead , and in game 6 , the Pittsburgh Penguins would pummel the North Stars 8 – 0 to win the series , and the first - ever Stanley Cup in club history . Mario Lemieux , recording 44 points in 23 games , won the Conn Smythe Trophy . Draft picks . Pittsburgh ' s draft picks at the 1990 NHL Entry Draft Farm teams . The IHL ' s Muskegon Lumberjacks finished in fourth place in the East Division with a record of 38 - 40 - 5 . They lost to the Kalamazoo Wings in the first round of the playoffs 4 - 1 . The East Coast Hockey League ' s Knoxville Cherokees won the Henry Brabham Cup as the team with the league ' s most outstanding record ( 46 - 13 - 5 ) . They were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Louisville Icehawks . Don Jackson was named coach of the year , Stan Drulia was named league MVP and was leading scorer , and Dan Gauthier was the league rookie of the year .