Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL) - Historic Firsts

Historic Firsts

The Pittsburgh Pirates have left their mark in the NHL record books and NHL history with many firsts and other notable achievements.

• Odie Cleghorn, the Pirates' coach (and occasional player) for the first four seasons, was the first NHL coach to change his players on the fly. This article from the December 21, 1925 Pittsburgh Press describes how Cleghorn would change the forward line halfway through each period with another set of attackers, who would play for "six or eight minutes". The first line would then come back on to finish the period. The defencemen were not changed.

• Cleghorn was also the first coach to use three set forward lines, which was a huge change from the standard, which was to simply leave the best players out for as long as possible.

• The Pirates set an NHL record in salaries by signing defenceman Lionel Conacher to a three-year deal worth $7,500 a year. Conacher was later named Canada's athlete of the half-century.

• On December 26, 1926 the Pirates and the New York Americans combined for a still standing NHL record for most shots in one game. The two teams combined for 141 shots in a 3–1 New York win. Roy Worters made 70 saves for the Pirates and Jake Forbes made 67 saves for the Americans. That is a record that still stands today.

• The Pirates were the first team in Pittsburgh to use the black & gold color scheme. A December 21, 1925 article from the Pitsburgh Press referred to the Pirates as "the Black and Gold".