The Penguins began the 1980s by changing their team colors. In January 1980, the team switched from wearing blue and white to their present-day scheme of black and gold to honor Pittsburgh's other sports teams, the Pirates and the Steelers, as well as the Flag of Pittsburgh. Both the Pirates and Steelers had worn black and gold for decades, and both were fresh off world championship seasons at that time. The Bruins protested this color change, claiming a monopoly on black and gold, but the Penguins defended their choice by stating that the NHL Pirates also used black and gold as their team colors, and that that black and gold were Pittsburgh's traditional sporting colors. The NHL agreed, and Pittsburgh was allowed to use black and gold. The Penguins officially debuted wearing black and gold against the St. Louis Blues at the Civic Arena on January 30, 1980

RALEIGH, N.C. - Elias Lindholm scored three goals to lead the Carolina Hurricanes past the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 in a preseason game Friday night.
Nathan Gerbe had a goal and an assist, and Lindholm and Jeff Skinner scored 59 seconds apart in the second period for the Hurricanes.
Andrej Sekera added two assists for Carolina, which scored three goals in the second period while going up 4-0.
Jake McCabe scored the Sabres' goal.
Cam Ward made 19 saves for Carolina while Michal Neuvirth stopped 32 shots for Buffalo.
Lindholm, Carolina's first-round pick in 2013, scored his first goal by whipping a rebound past Neuvirth to make it 2-0 at 3:46 of the second, moments before Skinner's one-timer from Gerbe.
Lindholm's second goal came with 9:57 left in the second and made it 4-0. He completed the hat trick by scoring into an empty net with 3:56 left.

When Erik Karlsson was told he was being named Ottawa Senators captain in a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Eugene Melnyk, Bryan Murray and Paul MacLean, he was sworn to secrecy.
The club wanted to announce the news at a splashy news conference early Thursday morning and they wanted the new captain to be tight-lipped until then.
However, Karlsson couldn't help but share his good news with a couple of trusted people in his inner circle. First, he phoned his father in Sweden Wednesday night to tell him about the captaincy. And then early Thursday morning, he had a 40-minute phone conversation with the man who knows the role of captain in Ottawa better than anybody else: Daniel Alfredsson.
In a twist of fate, Karlsson was named captain of the team exactly 15 years to the date that Alfredsson was bestowed the same honor back in 1999. In some ways, there is a direct parallel between the two situations. Both are inheriting the captaincy from a player who wore jersey No. 19 and left town under less than ideal circumstances. In the case of Alfredsson, he took over the captaincy when Alexei Yashin decided to sit out the 1999-2000 campaign because of a contract dispute. And this year, the captaincy became vacant in Ottawa when Jason Spezza decided to ask for a trade at the end of the season.
For Karlsson, the phone conversation with Alfredsson was certainly not out of the norm. In fact, the two speak to each other once or twice a week on the phone. He said Alfredsson was genuinely happy for him to assume his old role in Ottawa.
"I just called him to let him know what was going on. He was really happy for me and he thought that I would be ready for it and that it would be a good thing for my career, for this organization and this team," Karlsson said.
This wasn't the first time the two had spoken about Karlsson possibly assuming the Senators captaincy. They spent a majority of the summer together in Sweden, where Karlsson said he had numerous conversations with Alfredsson about the ultimate leadership role in Ottawa.
"We're really close friends. Just being around him from such a young age when I got here and seeing how he acts around people, sSometimes you don't have to ask questions, you can just pick it up," Karlsson said of Alfredsson's influence on him. "I've been really fortunate that way to become really good friends and to look up to him and take after him in certain areas."
But Karlsson is also quick to point out that he simply won't be an Alfredsson clone as the Senators new captain.
"I'll never be Alfie. I'll never be Spezz. I'll never be anybody else," he said when wrapping up his media scrum on Thursday morning. "I'll just be myself and I'll lead in a different way than other players will. No one should shape themselves exactly after somebody else. I was fortunate enough to be around Alfie and take the best things from him and also Spezza, Phillips and Neiler. It helps shape you into who you want to be."

COLLINGWOOD, ONT – Five years ago it was he who was the Maple Leafs' hotshot teenage prospect.
Nazem Kadri, now 23 and nearly 200 games into his NHL career, admits to seeing a lot of himself in the latest reincarnation, William Nylander, Toronto’s first-round pick from the June draft. He sees it in the skill. He sees it in the confidence and the swagger. He sees it in the seemingly limitless offensive upside and, admittedly, little regard to defensive play.
But even Kadri needed a little bit more development time after his electric exhibition tour in the fall of 2009 or so the organization, led then by Brian Burke and Ron Wilson, thought at the time. A similar decision now looms in the case of Nylander, vying to make the Leafs as an 18-year-old.
Is the Swede, picked eighth overall at the draft in Philly, ready to play in the NHL? It would appear not.
“It’s hard to say,” said Kadri of Nylander’s NHL readiness, emphasizing that he was a player and in no real position to judge. “I definitely think he can play in the NHL, there’s no question about that. It’s just a matter of whether he can go through the whole 82-game schedule and the whole grind it takes and the travel schedule, little things like that.”
Nylander’s skills are unquestionably NHL-grade, but it’s become clear over the course of two weeks that he isn’t ready to be a Leaf just yet.
He’s offered flashes, no doubt – his hands, vision and bursts of speed obvious and impressive assets – but he hasn’t left the nightly impression that he’s ready to make an impact as a teenager and do so from October to April and possibly beyond. That fact should be clear-cut for a club to hold onto its prized top prospect, a reality that now seems unlikely with only one exhibition game to go.
“The puck follows him around and he gets his offensive chances, that’s for sure,” said head coach, Randy Carlyle of Nylander. “But you’ve always got to caution yourself; he is only 18-years-old and we’re asking him to do something that he has not done before as far as playing at this level, so it’s always continually a test.”
The Leafs have given him every opportunity to perform; they’ve played him in five of the seven preseason games to date and paired him with Kadri most nights. And while he scored a goal late in the first exhibition game, he’s become less and less noticeable opposite competition that’s gotten better and better.
Morgan Rielly was a slam-dunk case last fall. He was noticeably ready, both mentally and physically, and forced the hand of Carlyle and Nonis with a standout preseason – though, he oddly sat out the first two games of the regular season.
Unlike Rielly, who came right in with a thick NHL-ready frame, Nylander hasn’t shown that his size won’t be an issue for 82 games, though he hasn’t been “buried” either.
“I don’t know if I can say that,” Nylander said of his readiness to play in the NHL, pointing to Friday’s finale against Detroit as perhaps the best test with a cast of regular Red Wings likely to be in the lineup.
The team appears to be handling his case in a manner that mirrors Rielly, who was picked fifth overall in 2012. They want to be sure, as Carlyle framed it again Thursday, that what they do now is in the best long-term interests of Nylander.
“Does it stunt some young player’s development by putting him in situations they can’t survive in?” Carlyle queried. “And that’s the tough decision you have to make on your young players at times.”
The wrong move can end up hurting the prospect in the long run, as it may have in the case of Luke Schenn, a top-five pick of the Leafs in 2008, who made the roster as an untested, but physically mature 18-year-old.
More and more teams are pushing their top prospects quickly into the NHL, both because of the cap – where value is highest from contributors on entry-level contracts – and because many appear to be ready to play and contribute right away – Nathan MacKinnon no better a recent example.
“Back then it was little more physical, clutch-and-grab type style and maybe it was a little harder for young guys, smaller guys and lighter guys to get around the ice, especially with bigger guys and bigger defencemen,” Kadri said of the evolution. “Now, all you’re really seeing is mobile and agile players. They’ve really taken those roles out of the game and made it a lot faster. So I think younger guys have a better chance to make it than they did back then.”
Carlyle, who won a Norris Trophy as a player, says he was ill-prepared to play in the league as a teenager, though he made the leap as a 20-year-old.
“No,” he said firmly. “I was nowhere near ready.”
“I just think the level of player is a higher level of player,” he continued. “They’re better players. They’re better athletes. They’re stronger … They separate themselves in two areas - with hockey sense and with skating ability.”
Nylander certainly has both gifts, which is why his status is even in question at this stage late in camp. But not every young kid is MacKinnon and unless the coaching staff and new management, led by Brendan Shanahan, can say with certainty that Nylander is ready for a full NHL campaign, then his place is somewhere besides the Leafs (and there’s nothing wrong with that).
If there’s been a benefit to training camp for him, it’s been the constant learning in an NHL setting, be it from teammates or coaches. A hint of that emerged during practice Thursday when he pulled Carlyle aside for a question or two about the system, one particular drill giving him pause.
“It’s been a good learning experience for me,” he said.
The Leafs could opt to extend their evaluation process beyond the preseason. Nylander can play in nine regular season games before the first year of his entry-level contract kicks in. Barring that, the choice would come down to a tour with the Marlies or a return to the Swedish Hockey League, where he is currently a free agent. Both avenues certainly have their merit; the AHL offers an extended acclimation to the North American ice and schedule; Sweden offers limelight-less development in a quality league where Nylander struggled some last season (one goal in 22 games).
The prudent (and sometimes slower) path isn’t always fun – be it for the player or fans.
And Kadri made no secrets about his frustration with it, but looking back now he understands the upside it eventually offered. That would appear the best solution for the younger version of himself.