On this day in 1989, Mario Lemieux scored his 9th hat trick of the season, which was one shy of the NHL record. In a game that was riddled with penalties (44 minutes dished out total), not much defense could be found either.
The Penguins scored five goals, all by Mario except for a power play goal by Paul Coffey. However it wasn't to be on this night as the visiting Hartford Whalers would put up nine behind 3 point performances by Ray Ferraro, Scott Young, and John Anderson.
For Lemieux, the hat trick goal also marked his 13th short-handed goal, which set an NHL record that still stands today. The previous record from the 1982-83 season was set by Wayne Gretzky with 12. Interestingly enough, the closest any player has come to threaten this record in more recent history was in 2001-02 when Brian Rolston had nine. Putting that in perspective to today, short-handed goal scoring machine, Jordan Staal, has only ever scored seven in a season.
Mario went on to score another goal late in the game, a power play goal and his 83rd of the season
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