Editing Pittsburgh Penguins (section)

====Playoff runs and a uniform change (1974–1982)====
[[File:Lowell MacDonald.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|alt=Photograph of Lowell MacDonald holding his hockey stick on the ice |During the mid-1970s, [[Lowell MacDonald]] was paired with [[Syl Apps Jr.]] and [[Jean Pronovost]], forming the "Century [[line (ice hockey)|Line]]". MacDonald played with the Penguins from 1970 to 1978.]]
Beginning in the mid-1970s, Pittsburgh iced some powerful offensive clubs, led by the likes of the "Century Line" of Syl Apps, [[Lowell MacDonald]] and Jean Pronovost. They nearly reached the semifinals in [[1974–75 NHL season|1975]], but were ousted from the playoffs by the [[New York Islanders]] in one of the only four best-of-seven-game series in NHL history where a team came back from being down three games to none. As the 1970s wore on, a mediocre team defense neutralized the Penguins' success beyond the regular season. [[Baz Bastien]], a former coach and general manager of the AHL's Hornets, later became general manager. The Penguins missed the playoffs in [[1977–78 NHL season|1977–78]]. Bastien traded prime draft picks for several players whose best years were already behind them, and the team would suffer in the early 1980s as a result. The decade closed with a playoff appearance in 1979 and a rousing opening series win over the [[Buffalo Sabres]] before a second-round sweep at the hands of the [[Boston Bruins]].<ref name="History2016" />

The Penguins began the 1980s by changing their team colors; in January 1980, the team switched from wearing blue and white to their present-day scheme of black and gold to honor Pittsburgh's other sports teams, the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] and the Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as the [[Flag of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Flag of Pittsburgh]]. Both the Pirates and Steelers had worn black and gold for decades, and both had enjoyed world championship seasons. The Bruins protested this color change, claiming a monopoly on black and gold, but the Penguins defended their choice stating that the NHL Pirates also used black and gold as their team colors and that black and gold were Pittsburgh's traditional sporting colors. The NHL agreed, and Pittsburgh could use black and gold. The Penguins officially debuted the black and gold uniform in a game against the St. Louis Blues at the Civic Arena on January 30, 1980.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Dates |url=https://www.penguinschronicles.com/historic-dates.html |url-status=live |access-date=May 8, 2021 |website=penguinschronicle.com |archive-date=May 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508202612/https://www.penguinschronicles.com/historic-dates.html}}</ref> On the ice, the Penguins began the 1980s with defenseman [[Randy Carlyle]], and prolific scorers [[Paul Gardner (ice hockey)|Paul Gardner]] and [[Mike Bullard (ice hockey)|Mike Bullard]] but little else.

During the early part of the decade, the Penguins made a habit of being a tough draw for higher-seeded opponents in the playoffs. In 1980, the 13th-seeded Penguins took the Bruins to the limit in their first-round playoff series. The following season, as the 15th seed, they lost the decisive game of their first-round series in overtime to the heavily favored St. Louis Blues. Then, in the [[1982 Stanley Cup playoffs|1982 playoffs]], the Penguins held a 3–1 lead late in the fifth and final game of their playoff series against the reigning champions, the New York Islanders. However, the Islanders rallied to force overtime and won the series on a goal by [[John Tonelli]], who had tied the game before.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.si.com/nhl/2017/04/24/penguins-islanders-1982-stanley-cup-playoffs | title=How the Isles dynasty survived some the Penguins | newspaper=Sports Illustrated}}</ref> It would be the Penguins' final playoff appearance until [[1989 Stanley Cup playoffs|1989]].