Pittsburgh Penguins legend and Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux was never short of highlights. He was never short of doing something amazing. He was also not shy about putting up multiple points in a single game. he did all of those in a single night in 1989. A playoff game nontheless. It was not a regular playoff game with Lemieux producing offense it had much more than that. We look back at one of the craziest games in Penguins history against their biggest rivals. the Philadelphia Flyers.
Mario's heroics one for the books
Mario was not only lethal in the regular season but he took it up a notch in the playoffs. He was just as deadly with the puck and it was impossible to stop him. In Game 5 of the 1989 Patrick Division Final between the Penguins and Flyers, Lemieux came to play, and he set records. In what could be called the wildest game in Penguins history, he produced five goals and three assists for eight points in a 10-7 Penguins win. Lemieux was also a plus +5 in a game where he had two power-play goals among the nine shots he took.
Lemieux tied the record for most points in one playoff game (8), tied for the most goals in a playoff game (5), tied for most goals in a period in the playoffs (4 in the first period), and set the record for the fastest three goals to start a playoff game (3 goals in 6 minutes and 55 seconds). Lemieux's 4-goal first period included a natural hat trick meaning three consecutive goals by one player.
This game had it all
While the game was all Lemieux and his amazing offensive production, the Flyers would would go on to win this series four games to three. This particular game saw the Flyers outshoot Pittsburgh 45-35 and accumulate 84 penalty minutes to the Penguins 46 in a typical playoff game between the two heated rivals.
The Flyers did have a story in this game that did involve fiery goaltender Ron Hextall. He had the reputation of being a feisty goaltender who would not back down from the toughest player in the league and he wanted the rest of the NHL to know how tough he was for a goaltender. On this night, he lost it. After Penguins forward Rob Brown scored the ninth goal against Hextall, the netminder snapped and chased Brown across the ice with his stick raised violently until he was eventually stopped. Hextall had given up six goals, was pulled, only to return later in the game. For the stick altercation, Hextall received a 10-minute misconduct penalty, which was nothing new as he did accumulate quite a few penalty minutes during his playing days.
Fans that came to see this game sure got their money's worth. The Civic Arena crowd of 16,165 was more than entertained and was so loud and volatile that it was reported that it felt like the building was shaking. While the rivalry today is not what it once was, there is still tension between the two teams. Looking back at these games and moments, it sure does take us back to when hockey was quite a different game than it is today.
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