Pittsburgh Penguins are a hockey team, which was founded during the formation of 1967-68 expansion teams by the NHL. They started off their career in 1967. They have written the history by winning two Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. The path of success was not very smooth for the team. They gave many bad performances in their first twenty years. It was almost a tough task for the Penguins to establish themselves in the league's playoffs. The team's first general manager Jack Riley built up a team by casting former minor leaguers. It did not bring any improvement to the team and would miss the playoffs continuously. In the mid of 1970s, they formed a good team with players such as Peter Mahovlich, Pierre Larouche, and Jean Pronovost. However, it was Mario Lemieux, who helped the team out in turning into a strong one. While playing for the team, he won many trophies including Art Ross Trophy, as NHL scoring champion, the Hart Trophy, as the most valuable player and many goal scoring titles. Alone with winning two Stanley Cups, the team set the NHL record of winning 17 consecutive games in a row in one year(1992-93). They won the President's Trophy in the same year as the top team in the regular season.
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Mario Lemieux can be said as the leading man in the history of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. The team had the league's worst record in 1983 and 1984 seasons. When worst performances coupled with financial problems, it looked, as it would fold. But fortune had something in treasure for the team when they got Mario Lemieux. In 2006, again the Penguins dropped to the bottom of the league. This time also they had one of the best players, Sidney Crosby. Crosby was in 6th position in NH L's scoring list in 2005-06 season, at the age of 18.