April 2, 1988.

[Jesse]

You old timers ought to remember this one.

Summer sucks, so on Faceoff-Factor we're reliving our favorite Mario Lemieux moments in a segment called "Mario Monday."

The Penguins dropped 2 in a row to the Devils in a tight division race and had to beat the Capitals to make the playoffs.

It's one of Lemieux's finest moments, and a game, goal and story that's by-and-large been forgotten about because the Penguins, despite winning the last two games of the regular season, missed the playoffs entirely.

http://www.faceoff-factor.com/1pittsbur ... -the-press

[IntangibleBeer]

Absolutely awesome.

I was fortunate to be in the stands for some of those fabulous Mario goals. The person commenting on the faceoff-factor site said it for me, too.

Lemieux was better than Gretzky. Mario wasn't surrounded by talent and protectors. He played with a lot of absolute stiffs and made them look good, too. Until DeBartolos took over the team and put a decent front-office team together, he had to battle those idiots, too.

It is a true shame that circumstances weren't kinder to him during his playing days.

[relantel]

thanks for the article and the clips, Jesse. I think this might have been the only game I witnessed the Pens win at the Cap Centre when growing up - we'd get to one game a season and most of the memories were of the Caps running up the score and the Caps fans reactions. They were brutal. Which made this game all that much more sweeter with the way Lemieux ended it.

[MRandall25]

That 4th Lemiuex goal. Wow. How isn't that on more highlight reels?

[penny lane]

wait~ coffey and mario on the PK... genius.
Mario and 2 leafs who could have been part of his statue. Because he could, Mario liked to toy with players.
So clearly~ Mario on a level by himself as a penguin .
good to hear Mike and Paul. Was the other gentleman, Jiggs ?

[pugilist13]

Absolutely awesome.

I was fortunate to be in the stands for some of those fabulous Mario goals. The person commenting on the faceoff-factor site said it for me, too.

Lemieux was better than Gretzky. Mario wasn't surrounded by talent and protectors. He played with a lot of absolute stiffs and made them look good, too. Until DeBartolos took over the team and put a decent front-office team together, he had to battle those idiots, too.

It is a true shame that circumstances weren't kinder to him during his playing days.

I dont know if I can ever make a statement that Mario was better than Gretzky. They were both great and I'm thankful I got to see their entire careers. One thing is certain, Gretzky was surrounded by better players for the majority of his career early on....And nobody and I mean nobody touched Wayne. Mario had slugs that he turned into actual hockey players in the early days. Has beens or nobody's who benefitted greatly. The kid got beat to a pulp most nights, but never backed down.

[Pitt87]

Mind drifted to this:

[FreeCandy44]

Isn't this a Sublime song? ;)

[the wicked child]

Absolutely awesome.

This pretty much says it all.

[Pitts]

I dont know if I can ever make a statement that Mario was better than Gretzky..

I can. Mario was the best ever - bar none! He was bigger, stronger, more creative and was simply dominant on he ice.

[mikey287]

Great job, very cool. I'll tell you I didn't know about that...

[GSdrums87]

Gah, I never got to see Lemieux play live in his hayday, just when he returned from retirement. He was insane. Hopefully in 15 years we see similar things of Crosby's career.

[Pitts]

Gah, I never got to see Lemieux play live in his hayday, just when he returned from retirement.

The same as my son. And, I tell him all the time, if you never saw Mario live during the late 80's, early-mid 90's, you just can't imagine how truly amazing he was. I know it's so over-stated, but if health didn't knock him down a few notches, there would be no debate over who was the best.

[GSdrums87]

My cousin and I said the same thing last night, just from watching Penguins replays on Root. I get why when Geno's at his best people say he looks like Mario; dude can literally take over entire games.

[Penspal]

He had waaaaay more moves than mae west.

[sil]

I hadn't even turned 5-years old yet. My first real memory of Lemiuex was his amazing between-the-legs goal vs. Vancouver in either '93 or '94.

[Pitts]

I hadn't even turned 5-years old yet. My first real memory of Lemiuex was his amazing between-the-legs goal vs. Vancouver in either '93 or '94.

He and Jagr always had these in season competitions. That was one of them - first to score between the legs. There was the first to 50 goals in 94 or 95 too. They both did it within a game of each other (Mario first) if I recall correctly.

Mario just seemed to be able to do whatever he wanted. I remember when he came back from retirement he wanted to score a goal directly off the face-off...damn if he didn't do it eventually!

[the wicked child]

Oh yeah. Madden bet him $1000 that he couldn't do it, and Mario looked up at the press box immediately after scoring.

[IntangibleBeer]

Gah, I never got to see Lemieux play live in his hayday, just when he returned from retirement.

The same as my son. And, I tell him all the time, if you never saw Mario live during the late 80's, early-mid 90's, you just can't imagine how truly amazing he was. I know it's so over-stated, but if health didn't knock him down a few notches, there would be no debate over who was the best.

This! I was very blessed to be a Pens season ticket holder from 87-94. Early in his career Mario was un-freaking believable. As a youngster he had moves that would fake defenders out of their equipment. And goal-tenders? He just tortured them. When he came back out of retirement, he still dominated, but he was clearly slower. But the early Lemieux? More moves than Ex-Lax.

[The Colonel]

I got to see Mario play quite a bit when I was growing up, and it was fun. I was at a lot of his big moment games. His 600th goal....his five goal game against St.Louis....his very last goal in Civic Arena...etc.......he was an icon, and was Mr. Hockey in the kate 80's early 90's.

But as far as comparisons of him and Gretzky......in my mind they are two totally different players. Even though Gretzky had many more goals then Mario, I always saw Mario as the pure finesse goal scorer over Gretzky....but yet Gretzky I saw as the playmaker. Even if Mario stayed healthy, he may have given Gretzky a run for the money in the goal department, but would not have even came close in total points. And the reason I say he would have never came close in points is this. Think about this.

If you took every one of Gretzky's goals away he ever scored....he would have more assists then anybody has points. That just blows my mind and always has. Just his assists beat anyone in total points. That in my opinion says that Gretzky in the end was better then Mario, even if Mario stayed healthy in his career.

Also...thanks for posting that video! Brings back the memories.

[IntangibleBeer]

Think about this.

If you took every one of Gretzky's goals away he ever scored....he would have more assists then anybody has points. That just blows my mind and always has. Just his assists beat anyone in total points. That in my opinion says that Gretzky in the end was better then Mario, even if Mario stayed healthy in his career.

Also...thanks for posting that video! Brings back the memories.

Actually, you make my point for me Colonel. Lemieux would feed pucks to players who 1) had no idea it was coming to them and 2) didn't know what to do when the puck arrived. Some of these stiffs scored goals because the puck bounced off them into the net. And that wasn't a rare event; it happened all the time. I mean how many goals could Gary Riesling score even when paired with Lemieux? I've seen potted plants with better hands than some of the totally forgettable Penguin forwards of the mid 80s.

No, the assist number is directly affected by the quality of the team around the player.

[The Colonel]

Warren Young, and even Robby Brown come to mind. They scored so much cause they knew where to be with Mario. Once they left Mario, that was it. They didn't produce like they did with him. He made everyone around him better. Gretzky played with talent all over the place. If Mario had that kind of talent on the Pens for as long as Gretzky did, Mario would have pushed close to Gretzkys records.......but the assists alone being more then anyone has points? To me, that still says Gretzky was the best.

[The Colonel]

Injuries and Hodgkins didn't help Mario either.

[pugilist13]

Trivia question. Who were Mario's 1st linemates in 84?

[The Colonel]

I think it was Warren Young and Doug Shedden.