Penguins honor legendary broadcaster on Mike Lange Night

It's more than hockey night in Pittsburgh. It's Mike Lange night.

The Pittsburgh Penguins dedicated the night to their Hall of Fame announcer during the Penguins' matchup against the Dallas Stars at PPG Arena on Tuesday. During a break on the ice, Lange was honored with a special tribute video and arena-shattering applause.

Lange called Penguins games for more than four decades and retired in August. The 2001 Foster Hewitt Award recipient is well-known for his original vocabulary and language, or Lange-isms, most notably, "Elvis has left the building," "Slap me silly Sidney," and "Make me a milkshake Malkin."
Years later, Malkin did.

More than a milkshake-lover or legendary announcer, former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher and television color commentator Steve Blass knows Lange first as a friend. The two called Pittsburgh Pirates games together 1986-87 season.
"If you have Mike Lange for a friend, you've got a friend for life," Blass said on the AT&T SportsNet pregame show. "There isn't anybody more loyal to his friends than Mike Lange. I don't know anybody that's done so many things under the radar for people in [Pittsburgh] - no headlines, no acknowledgement. One of the most down to earth [people], I love to call special people, "decent." He's one of the most decent people I've ever been around."
Lange became so popular among fans that he appeared in the 1995 movie "Sudden Death" as himself.
"When I think of Mike Lange, I think of somebody on the team," Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said in a video posted on the Penguins' Twitter account. "He's been around a lot longer than guys who even play, so the fact that he's been a part of the organization for as long as he has and has been a part of so many great, memorable experiences, he's a special guy... I just think he's part of the team, it's always kind of felt that way."
Elvis might have left the announcer booth, but he'll always be felt in the building.