One player has tallied eight points in a game just 16 times. It's been done by just 13 different players. Lemieux did it three times, Wayne Gretzky twice.
All of Lemieux's three-point games occurred in 1988-89, his 199-point season. That was Lemieux pre-back surgery, pre-cancer. That was Lemieux with a shake-and-bake that looked both foreign and magnificent for a man standing 6-foot-4.
That was Lemieux at his very best.
Lemieux's first eight-point game was Oct. 15, 1988. Two goals, six assists at home vs. St. Louis. That psychologically clinched the scoring title. How can you beat that? Lemieux ultimately won the Art Ross Trophy by 31 points.
His second eight-point game was Dec. 31, 1988. Five goals, three assists at home vs. New Jersey. It's a night better remembered for five goals, five ways: Even strength, power play, short-handed, penalty shot, and empty net.
So unique, no one realized it was a big deal until well after the fact. Lemieux got a point on every Penguins goal. Lemieux's performance that night was recognized as the NHL's greatest moment when the league celebrated its centennial in 2017.
Lemieux's third eight-point game was April 25, 1989. Five goals, three assists in a 10-7 home playoff win vs. Philadelphia. It might have been the most overwhelming performance of Lemieux's career.
Lemieux ended the regular season with 85 goals and 114 assists.
Lemieux and Gretzky had the same number of assists. Lemieux had 31 more goals.
Besides his three eight-point games, Lemieux had a seven-point game, a six-point game and eight five-point games in 1988-89.
That's 77 points in 13 games. It seems impossible.
Back problems mounted after 1988-89. Lemieux lost agility. So he reinvented himself, substituting craft for boogie. He got a lot done, just in a different fashion. That reinvention refined itself further when Lemieux came out of retirement in 2000.
There seems little doubt that Lemieux would have had a few 200-point seasons, maybe even a 100-goal campaign, had physical problems not intervened. That would have been nice. But conquering cancer and a bad back burnished Lemieux's legend. It made him noble. It gave him a story beyond stats.
After Lemieux got eight points vs. Philadelphia, it was 23 years before the NHL saw another eight-point game: Edmonton's Sam Gagner had four goals and four assists against Chicago on Feb. 2, 2012. It has not happened since.
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
