When the Chicago Blackhawks took on the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 11th, 2023, nobody expected it to have an impact on NHL history the way that it did. Entering the game, the Pittsburgh Penguins needed to beat the Blackhawks, one of the basement teams in the league, to secure a postseason berth for the 17th year in a row.
After a scoreless first period, the Chicago Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead in the second thanks to a goal scored by Connor Murphy. They took that lead into the second intermission.
In the final frame, the course of history took a turn. After Evgeni Malkin tied it up 5:28 into the third, the Penguins looked like they had the momentum they needed to pull it off.
That was until 10:22, when Buddy Robinson put Chicago ahead for good with his first goal in a Blackhawks sweater. A handful of empty netters and meaningless goals followed for both sides, but it was Robinsin’s goal that allowed the Blackhawks to secure a victory.
Not only did this goal keep the Penguins from making it to the playoffs, ending their streak at 16 years, but many teams were also impacted (both good and bad).
For one, the Florida Panthers are the team that took that final playoff spot. One year after winning the President’s Trophy, they struggled with consistency but snuck in thanks to the Penguins’ loss.
Florida rode the wave to the Stanley Cup Final. They were defeated by the Vegas Golden Knights, but it was the start of something special. They got back to the Final again in 2023-24 and won the Cup for the first time in franchise history. Now, they are looking to repeat with a berth in the final again in 2024-25.
If they don’t sneak in thanks to the Buddy Robinson goal in 2022-23, they might overreact and make moves that don’t allow them to do what they’ve done since.
On the playoff run that the Panthers had as a result of getting in over the Penguins, they ended the Boston Bruins’ season, which saw them have the best record in the history of the NHL. In the second round, they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, who then fired almost their entire front office.
Even the Montreal Canadiens were impacted as they missed out on a lottery pick that they would have received as a result of a trade.
As for the Chicago Blackhawks themselves, earning those two points in the win seemed like a detriment to their lottery odds at the time, but they ended up winning it anyway. If they weren’t the third-worst team in the NHL, they likely wouldn’t win the lottery and the right to select Connor Bedard.
All of these dominoes fell the way they did because of Buddy Robinson scoring his only goal with the Chicago Blackhawks. One goal scored by a journeyman on his way out of the league changed history for a lot of teams.
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