Mario Lessard
Canadian ice hockey player
Mario Lessard (born June 25, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender.
Born in East Broughton, Quebec, Lessard began his National Hockey League career with the Los Angeles Kings in 1978, the team he would play his entire NHL career with. Lessard recorded four shutouts in 1978-79, tied for second best in the league. Lessard also was an NHL second team All-Star in 1981 and appeared in the 1981 NHL All-Star Game.
Lessard may be best known as the Kings goalie in the Miracle on Manchester playoff game in April 1982 in which the Kings rallied from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-5 in overtime. Early in overtime of that game, Lessard mishandled the puck 40 feet in front of his net as he attempted to beat Glenn Anderson to the puck and stop a breakaway; with the net wide open and defenceman Mark Hardy trying to act as goalie, the Oilers Mark Messier shot the puck over the open net. The Kings scored two minutes later to win. After the game Lessard lamented that his mistake nearly blew the amazing comeback. He retired after the 1984 season.
01Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | W | L | T | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% | GP | W | L | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% | ||
| 1969-70 | Sherbrooke Castors | QMJHL | 15 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 560 | 63 | 0 | 6.76 | .831 | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | ||
| 1970-71 | Sherbrooke Castors | QMJHL | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | ||
| 1971-72 | Sherbrooke Castors | QMJHL | 17 | , | , | , | 1020 | 72 | 2 | 4.24 | .895 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 133 | 24 | 0 | 10.83 | .784 | ||
| 1972-73 | Sherbrooke Castors | QMJHL | 37 | , | , | , | 2180 | 161 | 0 | 4.43 | .880 | 6 | , | , | 360 | 24 | 0 | 4.00 | .881 | ||
| 1973-74 | Sherbrooke Castors | QMJHL | 36 | , | , | , | 2140 | 180 | 0 | 5.05 | .860 | 4 | , | , | 240 | 24 | 0 | 6.00 | .892 | ||
| 1974-75 | Saginaw Gears | IHL | 59 | , | , | , | 3186 | 171 | 4 | 3.22 | , | 17 | 10 | 7 | 1016 | 64 | 2 | 3.78 | , | ||
| 1975-76 | Saginaw Gears | IHL | 62 | , | , | , | 3323 | 187 | 3 | 3.38 | , | 12 | 7 | 5 | 722 | 31 | 1 | 2.58 | , | ||
| 1976-77 | Fort Worth Texans | CHL | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 192 | 11 | 0 | 3.44 | .896 | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | ||
| 1976-77 | Saginaw Gears | IHL | 44 | , | , | , | 2489 | 144 | 0 | 3.47 | , | 18 | 12 | 6 | 1059 | 52 | 1 | 2.95 | , | ||
| 1977-78 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 57 | 30 | 19 | 6 | 3295 | 204 | 1 | 3.71 | , | 4 | 1 | 3 | 239 | 10 | 1 | 2.51 | , | ||
| 1978-79 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 49 | 23 | 15 | 10 | 2860 | 148 | 4 | 3.10 | .892 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 126 | 8 | 0 | 3.81 | .890 | ||
| 1979-80 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 50 | 18 | 22 | 7 | 2836 | 185 | 0 | 3.91 | .869 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 207 | 14 | 0 | 4.06 | .880 | ||
| 1980-81 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 64 | 35 | 18 | 11 | 3746 | 203 | 2 | 3.25 | .893 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 220 | 20 | 0 | 5.45 | .837 | ||
| 1981-82 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 52 | 13 | 28 | 8 | 2933 | 213 | 2 | 4.36 | .856 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 583 | 41 | 0 | 4.22 | .868 | ||
| 1982-83 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 19 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 888 | 68 | 1 | 4.59 | .843 | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | ||
| 1982-83 | Birmingham South Stars | CHL | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 405 | 28 | 0 | 4.15 | .876 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 637 | 35 | 0 | 3.30 | , | ||
| 1983-84 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 6 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 266 | 26 | 0 | 5.86 | .838 | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | ||
| 1983-84 | New Haven Nighthawks | AHL | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 281 | 27 | 0 | 5.77 | .830 | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | , | ||
| NHL totals | 240 | 92 | 97 | 39 | 13,529 | 843 | 9 | 3.74 | .875 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 1,136 | 83 | 0 | 4.38 | .867 | ||||
"Lessard's stats". The Goaltender Home Page. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Mario Lessard”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- MarioLessard.png by Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain
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