April 25, 1989
In one of the highest scoring games in Flyers playoff history, the Tuesday night tilt between the Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins was big on offense and short on defense.
A certain Hall-of-Famer wearing number 66 would have a lot to do with that too.
Mario Lemieux’s four-goal first period, along with 3 more assists, took out the Flyers, 10-7, in Game 5 of the Patrick Division Finals.
Even before the first cup of beer got warm, Super Mario had three goals past goaltender Ron Hextall, one of those on the power play. The Penguins Bob Errey scored at 7:07 to make it 4-0 and the Flyers were reeling.
Once the Flyers had a chance to breathe, former Penguin, now Flyers centerman Mike Bullard knocked one past Pittsburgh’s Tom Barrasso to make it 4-1 at 11:45. As the period was winding down, Tim Kerr was whistled for holding, and the Penguins took full advantage on the power play.
Super Mario struck again.
It was his fourth of the game, heck the fourth of the period and the Pens were up 5-1 with 2:51 left. Adding insult to injury, Troy Loney got in on the action just 35 seconds later and the Penguins took a 6-1 lead to the locker room.
The Flyers started quick and in the second period. Real quick.
Just six seconds in, on the power play, Pelle Eklund scored to make it 6-2. The Pens would answer right back, as now Lemieux was in a giving mood, assisting on a Kevin Stevens goal and the lead was back to five.
Midway through the period, Brian Propp scored to make it 7-3 before Lemieux would set up Rob Brown twice in a three minute span, to give the Penguins at 9-3 lead at 12:55.
After the Brown goal, Hextall was furious at Brown for his "salute" and Hextall chased after him along the near boards. His antics got him a 10-minute misconduct, but also got him pulled as coach Paul Holmgren, inserted Ken Wregget.
As the third period started and down six goals, the last thing anyone thought about was a comeback, except the Flyers themselves. They started the third period just as fast as the second, getting a short-handed goal from Derrick Smith just 48 seconds in.
Things were calm until Tim Kerr scored halfway through the third to make it 9-5. Eklund added his second of the game to make it 9-6 on the power play with less than 7 minutes left and things got a little more interesting. When Kerr scored with just under three minutes to play to make it 9-7, there was a glimmer of hope.
That glimmer was erased, by who else? Number 66. His fifth goal and eighth point of the night came on an empty-netter at 19:23, and the game was all but over at 10-7.
Except, there were a few "calling cards" that needed to be left for Game 6.
Scott Mellanby, Keith Acton and Terry Carkner started a line brawl with just under ten seconds to go. Gord Murphy got involved, even backup Wregget came out of the crease to get involved.
In true Flyers fashion, they got their frustrations out, flushed away the bad game and moved on. It had to have some effect on the Penguins squad as they were not nearly as successful after their 10-goal outburst.
In Games 6 and 7, the Flyers allowed just three goals, winning 6-2 at home and then Game 7 back in Pittsburgh, 4-1.
As for Lemieux? He recorded one point, a goal, and was a collective minus-6 for the last two Pittsburgh losses.
Mike Watson is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @Mwats_99.
