Every year around this time, I can’t help but look back on the whirlwind that was March of 2020. In seemingly the blink of an eye, the entire world flipped upside down as Covid-19 swept through the planet. This new and mysterious virus had so many of us afraid, and suddenly having to experience something we never had before.

But, as someone who has watched hockey, and Penguins hockey in particular, one of the final “normal” days that month sticks out to me more than the others: the final Penguins game before Covid.

First, allow me to set the stage a little. The Penguins were well on their way to another playoff spot, back during the time where an appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs admittedly felt like a given.

At the trade deadline just a few weeks prior, the team had bulked up in preparation for another run at Lord Stanley. Pittsburgh acquired Evan Rodrigues and re-acquired Conor Sheary from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Dominik Kahun. From San Jose, they brought in 40-year-old Patrick Marleau for the cost of a third-round pick.

That deadline came in the midst of a six-game losing streak, dating back to February 20th and eventually snapping on March 3rd with a 7-3 win over Ottawa. They followed that up with a 4-2 in Buffalo, but had dropped back-to-back games in brutal fashion against divisional foes. The Penguins needed another turnaround, badly.

And that brings us to March 10th, 2020, a Tuesday night in New Jersey.

The Penguins and Devils traded a few chances early in this game, with the Devils putting some early pressure on Matt Murray. But about eight and a half minutes in, Evan Rodrigues (in his seventh game with the Penguins) scored his first goal with Pittsburgh. Charging into the New Jersey zone before pulling up, Rodrigues rattled off one of the crazier snipes you will see from beyond the face-off circle to open the scoring.

But the Devils were able to respond. After Jack Johnson took a delay of game penalty for flipping the puck over the glass, New Jersey cashed in late in their power play Nikita Gusev tallied his 13th and final goal of the season.

PK Subban started the breakout for the Devils before dropping it back for Pavel Zacha. Zacha eventually found a streaking Gusev, and the goose was loose. Gusev was able to sneak a shot off Murray’s glove and into the back of the net. The rest of the first period was pretty quiet.

Coming out of the first intermission, the Penguins put a ton of pressure on New Jersey right away. Mackenzie Blackwood saw both a tip-in chance and a deflection opportunity within the opening minute.

It was a sign of things to come for the Penguins in that period; a little over four minutes in, Bryan Rust dropped a pass to the trailing Evgeni Malkin, who slid it across the ice for a charging Justin Schultz for the goal. Schultz’s shot deflected off Nico Hischier, creating a bar-down goal for the Penguin defenseman.

A few minutes later, a rookie Jack Hughes was called for tripping, but had a chance coming out of the box for a breakaway against Murray that just wouldn’t go.

The teams traded a few chances the rest of the period until the Devils nearly had a wraparound goal in the dying seconds of the middle frame. Kyle Palmieri had the puck before running into a few bodies near the Penguin net. He scooped up the loose puck and nearly was able to wrap it all the way around for a goal, but Murray flew back across the net to just barely keep it out. Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

The third period was where things started to break open. The Penguins had two great chances right out of the gate, including a chance for a second goal by Rodrigues. But New Jersey had ample opportunity as well.

Sidney Crosby was called for high-sticking 3:36 into the third, and 18 seconds later, Kris Letang joined him in the box on a slashing call. That gave the Devils a near two-minute 5-on-3. A Penguin penalty kill that finished top-ten in the NHL that season was able to kill both of those off, preserving the lead.

Those kills gave the Penguins momentum, capped off by Evgeni Malkin scoring at 7:11 in to give Pittsburgh a two-goal lead. His goal was similar to his fellow countryman in Gusev’s; his shot hit Blackwood first before trickling into the net.

New Jersey wasn’t done yet, though. Hischier made an incredible effort midway through the third to lift the stick of Dominik Simon. He airmailed a pass to a flying Miles Wood, who was able to fend off the challenge from Brian Dumoulin and rip one past Murray to put the Devils back within one.

New Jersey wouldn’t find the equalizer, though. Instead, they saw Malkin one-up the thievery by the Devils when he picked up the loose puck off an errant pass and fired a fourth puck past Blackwood.

That goal essentially sealed it. New Jersey pulled the goalie down two with under two minutes to go, but Kris Letang, from behind his own net, fired it all 200 feet down into the net for a bullseye goal.

At the time, no one knew that would be the last pre-Covid goal in Penguins history.

While more and more cases of Covid-19 were starting to pop up across the United States in February, it wasn’t until midway through March that everything seemed to happen all at once. Even as concern from the medical community grew about this rapidly spreading virus, life continued to go on as normal.

When the Penguins left Prudential Center in East Rutherford, all was normal in the NHL. Less than two days later, the entire sporting world had shut down.

The game in New Jersey was the first of a three-game road trip on Pittsburgh’s schedule. Next up was Columbus, slated for March 12th. On that Wednesday, the 11th, Ohio governor Mike DeWine had signed an order banning large gatherings to mitigate the spread of this new virus.

This forced the Blue Jackets to plan on holding a game without any fans in the building, an idea that seemed completely foreign at the time but would soon become the “new normal.”

Later that evening, the Penguins put out a statement that detailed some of the enhanced cleaning and safety measures the team was enacting to future home games to help ease concerns over the virus. But, the Penguins maintained that their scheduled home games, starting with that Sunday against the New York Islanders, would go on as scheduled.

That same night, the NBA announced that a player had tested positive for Covid-19, and were suspending all league activity following that night’s action in the league. The NHL initially planned to continue their games, but by the afternoon of March 12th, had also suspended all games.

MLB followed suit, postponing spring training games and the World Baseball Classic qualifiers. NCAA’s March Madness tournament was canceled later that day. In just a matter of hours, nearly every sport had suspended activity.

The NHL wouldn’t get back into action until August. After months of lockdowns and varying degrees of stay-at-home orders, the NHL was able to set up two “bubbles” in Toronto and Edmonton to hold a 24-team Stanley Cup Playoff. Empty arenas watched teams try to get their legs back under them in a situation unlike anything any of them had ever experienced before.

Every time early March rolls around, I can’t help but to think back to that time in 2020, and wonder whether I would have liked to know those were the final “normal” days for a while. That’s a philosophical debate, I suppose, and it’s unique to each individual. But I can tell you that on the night of March 10th, 2020, I had no idea this would be the last Penguins game for months, and the last Penguins game before the world changed forever.

If you’re interested in looking further down memory lane, here’s the roster of both teams that night.

You can find the full highlights of the game here.