Inside Scoop: Eastern Conference Final Playoff Memories

The Penguins made the playoffs for 16 consecutive seasons from 2007-22. It had been the longest active streak in all of the major North American professional sports leagues, and no NHL team was more dominant over that stretch. In addition to their three Stanley Cups, Pittsburgh piled up 768 regular-season wins and 103 playoff victories.

The team is celebrating that incredible run by sharing some of the top moments from each round over the years. In addition to the video for Round 2, team reporter Michelle Crechiolo - who has been with the Penguins since the 2010-11 campaign - shares some of her own personal favorite memories that she's experienced during her time with the team, in written form.

The Round 1 video is here, and the Round 1 feature is here.

The Round 2 video is here, and the Round 2 feature is here.

KUNITZ'S GAME 7 DOUBLE OT WINNER

I feel like my heart rate goes up just thinking about the night of May 25, 2017. Unlike the year before, when the Penguins felt like a team of destiny, they had to scratch and claw their way back to the Eastern Conference Final, with a battered blue line missing its best player in Kris Letang.

They managed to earn a 3-2 series lead over Ottawa before the 'Pesky Sens' evened it up, forcing a Game 7 back in Pittsburgh. Justin Schultz, making his return to the lineup after a four-game absence, scored on the power play to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead with just over eight minutes left in regulation. We all thought that would stand to be the winner, and Schultz would be the story. But the Senators tied it up to keep their season alive.

The Penguins went to overtime many times in their 16-year playoff streak, and what I've learned from covering most of those games is that you can tell pretty quickly which team is most likely going to win. The line from Mario Lemieux's famous text message to the Penguins ahead of Game 7 in Detroit back in 2009 - "Play without fear and you will be successful!" - resonates even more in these situations.

And that night, the Penguins dominated from the moment the puck dropped to start the first overtime… which meant that even though my nerves were still completely fried and I lived and died with every play, deep down, I felt confident Pittsburgh would find a way. I still felt that way even when the Penguins couldn't convert any of their glorious chances in the first overtime, and a second overtime was needed. And sure enough, Chris Kunitz played the hero and cemented his place in Penguins lore by scoring the winning goal, his first since Feb. 16 of that year.

It takes a while to travel from the media level down to the Penguins locker room, and I had to be in position ready to go in once it opened, so I didn't actually see it live. But I've seen the replay countless times, because there is NOTHING better than watching the bowl explode as Penguins fans leapt to their feet in celebration. Even watching it now, years later, still elicits a flood of emotions.

Video: Favorite Memories from the Eastern Conference Finals.

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SAUCE TO THE RESCUE

Andy Saucier (pronounced SOH-sure), who was promoted into his current position of hockey operations analyst last June, spent a decade as the Penguins video coach. In that role, the man nicknamed 'Sauce' played a huge role in the team's success, mostly working behind the scenes … until he earned an incredibly well-deserved moment in the spotlight during Game 6 of the 2016 Eastern Conference Final.

The Lightning, holding a 3-2 series lead and playing in front of their home crowd, found the back of the net just five minutes into the game. What the ecstatic fans didn't realize was that Saucier, who believed the play was offside at first glance, was quickly confirming his suspicion and radioing to Pittsburgh's bench - telling the coaching staff to challenge the play. Because they have full trust and belief in Saucier, they did. The Penguins won the challenge, and kept the Lightning from getting some huge early momentum.

Sauce, already beloved by all of us in the organization because he's a phenomenal person who's terrific at his job, became a fan favorite with his actions … and it was awesome to see all the love he received for that sequence.

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RUST IS TOUGH ON BOLTS

Until writing this story, I didn't quite realize how many great Penguins moments I've witnessed standing in the event level of an arena, watching a mounted TV screen, waiting to enter the locker room and talk to players about what transpired minutes before.

One of those moments that will always stick out in my mind is seeing Bryan Rust score with just over two minutes left to play in Game 6 of the 2016 Eastern Conference Final at Amalie Arena to give Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead over Tampa Bay, and force a Game 7 back at home. That's when I knew, without a doubt, that the Penguins were going to win the Stanley Cup.

Video: Favorite Memories from the Eastern Conference Finals.

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HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE A PITTSBURGH HERO?

Bryan Rust's Game 6 heroics were only a prelude of what was to come in Game 7 of the 2016 Eastern Conference Final against Tampa Bay.

After he scored twice to lead the Penguins to a 2-1 win over the Lightning, Nick Bonino leaned over to the 24-year-old winger and asked him how it felt to be a Pittsburgh hero.

Video: Favorite Memories from the Eastern Conference Finals.

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'THE GENO'

The Big Three (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang) have reached some incredible milestones revolving around the number 1,000 in recent years, and as an organization, we do our best to do right by those players and celebrate their careers and legacies to the fullest.

But since 1,000 games and 1,000 points only encompass the regular season, not the postseason, we haven't always gone into a ton of detail about playoff achievements in that context.

So let me take a moment to celebrate one of Malkin's most magnificent moments ever - the night he scored a hat trick in Game 2 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Final against Carolina. His third tally came on a faceoff play dubbed 'The Geno', where the center wins the draw forward into the offensive zone. Malkin executed that perfectly before retrieving the puck; carrying around the net; and beating Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward on a spinning backhand shot into the top corner.

Ward didn't know whether to cry or wind his watch, because at that point, Malkin truly couldn't be stopped. It was a truly remarkable sequence that encapsulated his dominance.

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MY FAVORITE MALKIN GOAL

'The Geno' is a masterpiece, but my own personal favorite Geno goal of all time is his slapshot goal on a breakaway in Game 1 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Final against Philadelphia.

That's where the Flyers learned that it's not a good idea to make Malkin mad, as angry Geno is a force to be reckoned with. After Mike Richards laid him into the boards with a huge hit behind the Flyers net, Malkin slowly got up and headed out of the zone to join his teammates at the other end of the ice after play had gone the other way.

That's when Sergei Gonchar hit Malkin with a home-run pass right as he crossed the blue line. He went in all alone on a breakaway, took the puck between the hashmarks … and just wound up and BLASTED a slapshot past goalie Martin Biron.

It still cracks me up watching the replay, because this play is just classic Geno. I love that he was just so fired up that he unloaded a slapper in that situation. I can't think of many other players who would have the guts to do that. Just one of the many reasons why we love Geno.