Penguins History: Mario’s Amazing Streak

For Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux, the 1992-93 season represented the pits and the pinnacle of his career all wrapped into one. His balky back seemingly a thing of the past, the 27-year-old center bolted from the starting blocks at a scorching pace.

After piling up 101 points in just 38 games, Lemieux decided to have a doctor check a small lump on his neck early in the New Year. Mario was stunned to learn that he’d contracted Hodgkin’s disease, a form of cancer that attacks the lymph nodes.

“Just the word cancer scares you a lot,” the Pens’ owner recalled. “I didn’t cry right at the time I was at the doctor’s, but when I got in my car I actually started crying the whole way down to my house. That was probably the toughest day of my life.”

Following surgery to remove an infected lymph node from his neck, Mario immediately began a battery of radiation treatments. While the prognosis for recovery was good, no one knew when—or if—he would be able to return to the lineup. At the very least, he seemed finished for the season.

“I was amazed when the doctors sat in my office and told me what they’d found,” Penguins general manager Craig Patrick said. “Then the more we learned about it, the more we heard about it, the more we understood about the disease, things were a little easier to swallow.”

Lemieux responded well to his radiation treatments. Displaying recuperative abilities bordering on the superhuman, he made his triumphant return against Philadelphia in the Spectrum on March 2—less than two months after learning of his illness.

Infamous as among the most hostile fans in all of sports, the Flyers’ faithful stood in unison and gave Mario a warm, heart-felt ovation. Missing a patch of hair and wearing a protective collar to protect his singed neck, Lemieux remarkably notched a goal and an assist.

“It’s unbelievable,” his linemate Kevin Stevens said. “How can you even imagine what he did tonight? There’s only one person in the world who could do it, and it’s him.”

It was then that No. 66 issued a staggering proclamation. He intended to surpass Buffalo’s Pat LaFontaine in the scoring race.

“I felt that the scoring title was mine to lose,” Mario would recall. “Even when I was sick, when I was going through the treatments, I always thought about coming back and winning the scoring title.”

At the time, Lemieux trailed the Sabres’ gifted center by a dozen points—with only 19 games to play. Even his most ardent supporters gave Mario little or no chance. After all, he was barely a month removed from energy-sapping radiation treatments.

Lemieux would astonish the hockey world with perhaps the greatest athletic achievement of all time. Playing like a man possessed, he tallied 51 points over a 16-game stretch—an astounding average of 3.19 points per game. During his unprecedented hot streak he recorded seven multiple-goal games, including back-to-back four-goal games and a five-goal effort against the Rangers. A veritable one-man wrecking crew, Mario scored or assisted on a whopping 55 percent of his team’s goals over that span.

Not only did he catch LaFontaine, he buried his rival by 12 points to capture his fourth Art Ross Trophy. In total, Mario registered an astonishing 160 points in 60 games, including 69 goals. His scoring average of 2.67 points per game for a single season was the third highest in NHL history, behind only Wayne Gretzky.

Swept up in Lemieux’s jet stream, the equally hot Penguins established an NHL record with 17-consecutive victories.

“He played so wonderfully that it makes you forget why he was out,” said Penguins vice president Tom McMillan. “In comparison to the NBA, if Michael Jordan missed a third of the season would he win the scoring title? No.”

Mario by the Numbers