Fewer than three months after announcing he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in Jan. 1993, Mario Lemieux pulled off an otherworldly performance on as grand a stage as they come en route to solidifying himself and the Penguins in the record books.
In a game that had Jaromir Jagr score a highlight reel goal, a hat trick from future hall of fame winger Joe Mullen, and a slew of other stars including Ron Francis, Kevin Stevens and Mark Messier, to name a few, Lemieux managed to steal the spotlight yet again for displaying a performance level that couldn't be touched by anyone else.
Even on his rough days.
Following the Penguins' 10-4 drubbing of the Rangers -- essentially eliminating them from postseason contention -- on April 9, 1993, Lemieux said he was tired before the game and didn't feel particularly well. He then said it had happened before, and that he usually ends up having a strong game, just as he always did.
That Friday night on Broadway was no different. Lemieux potted five goals, several of which appeared as if a man was playing against boys, as the Penguins dominated nearly every second he spent on the ice.
Unfortunately, statistics that aren't available via the box score are pretty much nonexistent from any season prior to 2007-08, so I went and manually tracked various key performance indicators for Lemieux that I'll touch on throughout.
I also plotted the locations of all 11 of his shot attempts from that game (triangles indicate a goal, circles indicate a shot attempt):
Triangles = goal, circles = shot attempt
Unafraid to rip it from distance, Lemieux still picked up three of his tallies from just about the exact same spot in the crease, right around where the vast majority of goals are scored. In that era, with his raw skill, Lemieux getting in tight with the puck on his stick meant bad news for opposing goaltenders 10 times out of 10.
No skater in that game took more shots from the slot than the four Lemieux took, but his first goal came near the top of the right circle as he blistered a wicked slap shot to the back of the net off the rush:
After a back and forth first period that had the Penguins and Rangers knotted at two apiece, Lemieux took control to start the second.
That shot is just ... something else, and could not be more fundamentally sound from the synergy of his lower-body weight transfer and upper-body movement, to the exact point at which he struck the puck and labeled it for the far side.
What stands out to me even more, though, is the flawlessness in which Lemieux pivoted in open ice to receive the oncoming pass while in transition without losing his momentum or compromising his body positioning. Smooth skating and edge control to that degree was extremely rare due to the technological limitations of skates at the time. Even the stars on both sides of the ice looked as if they had sandbags around their ankles at certain points, but perhaps Lemieux was the only skater out there who didn't have a moment in which he seemed to be doing everything in his power to not lose an edge and tumble to the ice.
Or how about him not losing any speed in favor of stickhandling? No unnecessary forehand-backhand-forehand action, just two ever so slight bumps as the puck came to him to get it an optimal position to blast away.
On his way to scoring, Lemieux crossed the offensive blue line with possession, otherwise known as a controlled zone entry. That was one of five attempts Lemieux made to gain the offensive zone at even-strength, either by skating across with the puck or completing a pass to a teammate. He was successful on all five attempts.
Just over a minute after the goal, Tony Amonte beat Tom Barrasso to tie the game right back up for a whole two minutes until Lemieux picked up his second of the night, a power-play tally assisted by Francis and Rick Tocchet:
Plodding out of the corner and certainly not folding under pressure, Lemieux sent a cross-ice pass to Francis, then inched into the vacated ice in front of him, raising his stick in an overly loaded position to alert his pass recipient to send the puck right back. That's exactly what happened, as Francis sold a slap shot of his own right before rolling his wrists and changing the angle of his blade for another cross-ice pass.
Francis did a good job to put the pass in his wheelhouse, but Lemieux was smart to strike the puck a bit out to his side so as to not handcuff himself. By dipping his back leg after transferring weight to his front leg, he was able to lean into his shot with the strength of his upper-body.
The Rangers foolishly left one of the two greatest players in history all alone in his office, but with Francis on the opposite side and Stevens assuming the bumper role in the middle, it was really just a matter of picking their poison.
A major penalty to Peter Taglianetti for high sticking afforded the Rangers an opportunity to once again tie the game in the latter stages of the second period, but they ultimately failed to score before Lemieux snuck behind a sloppy change by the Rangers' defensemen and picked up a shorthanded goal:
At least one of the three goals Barrasso surrendered was a bit of a softie, but he made up for it and then some with a perfect saucer pass from his own crease to spring Lemieux all alone the other way.
Both Rangers defensemen went off for a change because they thought the puck was getting rimmed deep around the boards and not right to the stick of Barrasso. Since it was the second period and their bench was on the far side of their own end, they weren't able to recover or get anywhere close to tracking Lemieux down before he deked poor 20-year-old Corey Hirsch -- who was making one of just four career appearances with the Rangers -- right out of his goalie gear.
Lemieux moved the puck to his backhand at the exact same time he cut his skates to the right, essentially freezing Hirsch because, even though Lemieux's body positioning made him think otherwise, the actual angle of the puck didn't change much at all until Lemieux made another forehand-backhand move and swiped the puck to the back of the net, past an outstretched Hirsch.
Hirsch wouldn't survive to stick between the pipes for the start of the third period. The broadcast caught him explaining his perspective of Lemieux's hat trick goal to one of the Rangers' training staff members on the bench:
Although Lemieux had a lone goal while on the penalty kill, he had a massive impact toward generating offense when the Penguins should've been stuck chasing the puck around in their own zone.
Here he is teaming up with Francis for a skillful and stylish two-on-two shorthanded rush that produced a glorious scoring chance:
You won't find a much prettier two-on-two rush than that.
Lemieux shaded toward the boards upon entering the zone, dragging both defenders over in the process. Francis instinctively skated hard between both defenders to create a mini two-on-one, then received a slip pass as Lemieux overlapped with him toward the middle of the ice, going right around the defenders stuck in the spin cycle.
The Penguins carried a 5-3 lead into the third period, but fewer than two minutes in, Mullen scored to make it 6-3. Lemieux added insult to injury a couple minutes later to ensure that Mike Richter, in for Hirsch between the pipes, knew what he was all about, too:
"Oh no, Eddie spaghetti" might not be one of Mike Lange's better lines, but man, the grittiness and gruff with which he emphasized his call made it top-notch.
Starting the sequence back in the defensive zone, Lemieux rimmed the puck and swung with it on his way to occupying the center lane. Out in the neutral zone he caught a pass, took a couple of crossover strides to keep the defenders honest, then dished wide and continued his pursuit to the doorstep -- unscathed, mind you -- before Tocchet completed an incredibly easy alley-oop off Lemieux's blade.
Sometimes you get lucky and everything falls into place for an opportunity like that to arise.
When you're Lemieux, those opportunities are abundant because he thought the game at a higher level than anyone else and possessed more skill -- in every facet -- than anyone else.
And after his fourth goal? Lange's sixth sense kicked in as he warned viewers and listeners that Super Mario's show wasn't over just yet.
"And the way he’s going, folks, don’t go away. Don’t turn the set off or don’t go away. I'm telling you right now," Lange alerted over the broadcast.
Goals from Jagr and Mullen pushed the Penguins' lead to 9-3, and with slightly under nine minutes remaining, Lemieux picked up his fifth tally of the night on a stank face inducing backhand roof job:
I mean, come on. Lemieux's ability to sneak and slip behind the last line of defense unmarked was legitimately ridiculous. It's almost as if he was using an invisibility cheat code.
Time expired shortly thereafter as the Penguins secured their 16th straight victory, an NHL record at the time. Lemieux scored in every single game during the streak, notching an incomprehensible 27 goals in addition to 24 assists.
Although Lemieux didn't pick up any assists, he still had a more than respectable night dishing the puck out. Per my tracking, he completed three passes through the slot in the offensive zone, connected on three passes to line mates in the slot, and made four passes that directly led to a teammate taking a shot.
All recently removed from radiation treatments.
There isn't an adjective in the book that would truly do this performance justice.
He had New Yorkers cheering for him in a blowout loss for crying out loud!
As we stray further and further away from some of the most legendary moments in history, it's important to take a look back every once in a while and truly appreciate greatness in its glory.
I have a feeling this game, in particular, will stand the test of time.
