Francis was catalyst for Penguins in 1992 Stanley Cup repeat

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.
This week Fischler harks back 31 years when Ron Francis, now the Seattle Kraken general manager, played a critical role for the Pittbsurgh Penguins to help them win their second straight Stanley Cup championship.

The Pittsburgh Penguins won their first Stanley Cup in 1991 but there were reasons to doubt that they could succeed in their quest to repeat as champions.
The biggest reason was the death of coach Bob Johnson due to brain cancer in November of 1991. He was replaced by Scotty Bowman and the Penguins didn't acclimate easily to a different style of hockey.
"Plenty of doubt surrounded our club," Ron Francis remembered. "We had finished first when we won the Cup with Johnson. But a year later, in 1992, we wound up in a disappointing third place. There were questions whether we had the goods to repeat."
The questions were magnified once the 1992 postseason began. The second place Washington Capitals, who finished 11 points ahead of Pittsburgh in the Patrick Division, took a 3-1 series lead, shoving Bowman's club to the brink.
"Game 5 was at their rink and if somehow we made it to a seventh game, we'd have it there as well," Francis explained. "But the sign of a good hockey club is how it handles adversity and we won the next three straight."
In addition to adjusting to Bowman's blueprint for winning, the Penguins also had a major ownership change. Howard Baldwin was the their new chief operating officer. He previously had run the Hartford Whalers.
"We had Ronnie Francis in Hartford," Baldwin told me, "and we knew what kind of player he was -- solid in every single way -- and that's what gave us confidence now in Pittsburgh."
Confidence was what the Penguins needed most as they jetted to New York for the second round. They would face the heavily-favored first-place Rangers who had finished 18 points ahead of Pittsburgh.
"We needed a 'feel good' win in that first game at The Garden," Baldwin added, "and that's where Ron came through for us."
The underdog Penguins stunned New York 4-2 in the series opener. Francis took all the important faceoffs and had an assist and the final "cushion" goal.
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Everything seemed to be falling into place again in the second game in Manhattan until the visitors suffered a double blow. The Penguins lost two of their most important players, captain Mario Lemieux and high-scoring forward Joey Mullen, due to injury. The Rangers rallied to win Game 2 and followeed up with a road win in Pittsburgh to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
"We were desperate. We knew that if we lost the next game we'd be trailing the Rangers three games to one with the series returning to New York," Francis said. "Not only had we lost Mario and Joey but (forward) Rick Tocchet and (defenseman) Kjell Samuelsson also were out with injuries."
Even in losing Game 3 to the Rangers, Pittsburgh's attack was carried by Francis. The center led all players with nine shots on goal and had two goals and an assist.
"I knew that I still had to do a lot more if we were to stay alive in the series," Francis said. "What I needed to focus on was playing offensively all over the ice."
In the absence of Lemieux, Tocchet and Mullen, Francis assumed the leadership role in memorable fashion. With his club trailing 3-1 and only six seconds left in the second period, Francis scored, shifting momentum back to the Penguins.
But Mark Messier restored the Rangers two-goal lead before the third period was a minute old. What's more, New York held fast through half the period.
"Our club wasn't disheartened," Francis explained. "But we knew we were in a critical situation."
At 10:27 of the third period, Francis incredibly beat Rangers goalie Mike Richter with a slap shot from outside the blue line and less than two minutes later Troy Loney tied the game for the Penguins, forcing overtime. And when Rangers defenseman Jeff Beukeboom was called for holding at 1:17 of the sudden-death period, Bowman dispatched Francis to play the point on the power play.
"I told Scotty that I'd rather be up front, work down low on the power play," Francis said. "Scotty agreed and put Phil Bourque on the point. We got the puck in deep and then Messier tried to skate it out.
"Our defenseman Larry Murphy pinched and got the puck. Meanwhile, I went to the net as 'Murph' took a swipe at the puck, I got my stick on it and I got my first
Stanley Cup sudden death goal, my first hat trick and a big win for the team."
Infused with confidence and momentum, the Penguins won the next two games to take the series -- still minus Lemieux and Mullen -- and adavanced to play the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final.
Pittsburgh swept the Bruins in four games, setting up a matchup against the Chicago BlackHhawks in the 1992 Stanley Cup Final. The Penguins won the first three games and reached the lip of capturing their second straight Cup. Game 4 was a scorer's paradise with Pittsburgh holding a 5-4 lead approaching the eight-minute mark of the third period. Of all the Penguins, nobody was riding higher than Francis.
After blunting a Chicago attack, he broke free skating 2-on-1 with Shawn McEachern. Taking a perfect pass, Francis fired a one-timer past goalie Ed Belfour at 7:59. Jeremy Roenick got one back for the Blackhawks but that was it -- 6-5 for the Penguins, who completed their championship double-dip with Ron Francis their No. 1 hero.
"Not many can say they played on two straight Stanley Cup winners and scored the game-winning goal in the second Cup-winning game,"Francis stated.
Not that a postscript was needed but Baldwin added, "No doubt about it, we couldn't have done it without Ronnie Francis. He was our MVP."