Despite missing the 1990 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the final game of the 1989-90 regular season, the loss in overtime to the Buffalo Sabres was a blessing in disguise. The loss gave Pittsburgh the fifth overall selection in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. General Manager Craig Patrick hired Bob Johnson as head coach and Scotty Bowman as director of player development and recruitment on June 12, 1990. Four days later at the draft, the Penguins selected right winger Jaromir Jagr from Kladno (Czechoslovakia) and Joe Mullen was acquired via trade from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Pittsburgh's second round choice in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft.

On December 11, 1990, with the Penguins in fifth place in the Patrick Division and a record of 12-15-3, 12 points behind the division-leading New York Rangers, the team swapped defensemen with Minnesota acquiring Larry Murphy and Peter Taglianetti from Minnesota in exchange for Jim Johnson and Chris Dahlquist.  The Penguins had allowed the third-most goals against in the league at that point in the season with 117 (3.90 goals-per-game) and had a 6-8-1 home record. The team went 16-6-0 over the next 22 games after the trade. Murphy produced 14 points (3G, 11A) and had a +10 rating over that 22-game stretch.

After missing the first 50 games of the season and the Penguins in third place in the Patrick Division with a record of 26-21-3, seven points behind the New York Rangers (62 points), Mario Lemieux returned on January 26, 1991 at Quebec. Lemieux would play in 26 of the final 30 games of the season recording 45 points (19G, 26A) including a 13-game point scoring streak from February 8th to March 9th in which her scored 27 points (9G, 18A). The Penguins went 14-9-3 in the 26 games Lemieux played the rest of the season and 1-3-0 in the four he missed en route to 88 points, three ahead of the Rangers for the Patrick Division title.

Looking to add the final pieces to a contender, Craig Patrick pulled off the greatest trade in franchise history. On March 4, 1991, Patrick acquired Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings from the Hartford Whalers in exchange for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker. Francis scored two goals, including the game-winner on in the division title-clinching game on March 31, 1991 at Detroit and added nine assists in the final 14 games of the regular season as the Penguins went 9-3-2. Mark Recchi led the Penguins in scoring with 113 points including 40 goals and 73 assists and nine game-winning goals. The 1990-91 Pittsburgh Penguins captured the first Division Championship in franchise history winning the Patrick Division with a record of 41-33-6. 

In the Patrick Division Semi-Finals, the Penguins found themselves down 3-2 in the series headed to East Rutherford, NJ for Game 6. With the Penguins leading 2-1 with 5:36 left in the first period, Frank Pietrangelo, filling in for an injured Tom Barrasso, took a delay of game penalty for clearing the puck over the glass. A little over one minute later, a Viacheslav Fetisov shot from the left point on the New Jersey power-play made its way through to Pietrangelo. The shot bounced on its way in and Pietrangelo fought it off with his right arm. The puck rebounded to Brendan Shanahan on the doorstep who fired a backhand shot off of Pietrangelo's left pad. The puck squirted to Pietrangelo's left and rolled just one foot from the top of the crease as Peter Stastny barreled in from the right circle. Stastny, a left-handed shot, fired the puck on his forehand as a sprawling Pietrangelo lunged to his left with his left glove extended to robbed Stastny's shot. "The Save" by Pietrangelo propelled the Penguins to a 4-3 win in Game 6 and a 4-0 shutout in Game 7 at the Civic Arena two nights later.

The Penguins ousted the Washington Capitals in five games and held the Caps to just one goal in each of the final three games of the series. After dropping the first two games of the Wales Conference Final in Boston, Kevin Stevens guaranteed the Penguins would win the next four games. Pittsburgh did just that with Stevens leading the way. He scored four goals in the next three games including two goals and three assists in a 7-2 Penguins win in Game 5 to put the Penguins up 3-2 in the series. In Game 6, the Penguins left no doubt and Mario Lemieux, the player who changed the franchise's course in history, scored the empty-net goal and fell to his knees before being mobbed by teammates to clinch the game, 5-3, and the Penguins' earned a spot in the Stanley Cup Final against the Minnesota North Stars.

​Minnesota won Game 1, 5-4, but Pittsburgh appeared to have righted the ship by taking a 2-0 going into the second period of Game 2. Mike Modano scored a power-play goal 55 seconds into the second period and doubt crept back in to the Civic Arena crowd of 16,164. Holding onto a precarious 2-1 lead with just over five minutes left in the second period, Mario Lemieux took a breakout pass from Phil Bourque and raced end-to-end beating North Stars defensemen Shawn Chambers and Neil Wilkinson inside the Minnesota blue line. Lemieux then bared down all alone on North Stars goalie Jon Casey who tried to poke check the puck off of Lemieux's stick just as Lemieux moved the puck to his backhand and, while falling to the ice, slid the puck into the net to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead and command of the game. Kevin Stevens added a goal 1:28 later to put the Penguins up 4-1 and the series headed to Minnesota tied 1-1.

The teams split the two games at the Met Center with the North Stars winning Game 3, 3-1, against a Lemieux-less Pittsburgh team and the Penguins taking Game 4, 5-3. The series shifted back to Pittsburgh for Game 5 where Lemieux scored a goal and two assists in a 6-4 Penguins win. Two nights later, the Penguins thrashed the North Stars 8-0 to win the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history.

Despite losing the Game 1 of every single round, the Penguins defeated the New Jersey Devils (4-3), Washington Capitals (4-1), Boston Bruins (4-2) and Minnesota North Stars (4-2). Mario Lemieux won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the player judged most valuable to his team for his performance in the 1991 Stanley Cup Playoffs as he led the league with 44 points in 23 games including scoring a least one point in his final 18 games and at least one goal in his final 10 games.

This miniature Stanley Cup,  produced by Boffey Promotions, Inc. - the same company that engraves the actual Stanley Cup - was awarded to a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. Standing 13" tall, the trophy features the names of every member of the 1990-91 Pittsburgh Penguins that are engraved on the actual Stanley Cup.
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