Lemieux, a native of Montreal, and current owner of the Penguins, was on hand in Ottawa for the announcement, which took place during the second period of the game. Lemieux's childhood idol, Montreal Canadiens legend Guy Lafleur, presented him with a specially commissioned painting by artist Tony Harris to commemorate the moment voted the greatest in the NHL's first 100 years.
Click here
to watch the presentation.
On
Dec. 31, 1988
, Lemieux became the first player to ever score goals in five different ways during the same game. Before a crowd of 16,025 at Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Lemieux scored at even strength, on the power play, while shorthanded, on a penalty shot and into an empty net. Those five goals, along with assists on Pittsburgh's three other tallies, gave Lemieux an eight-point night and carried the Penguins to an 8-6 victory against the New Jersey Devils.
The bracket-style, interactive, digital and mobile program started with 64 of the NHL's most memorable events, milestones and achievements - spanning from the League's inaugural season in 1917-18 to present day. The final round of voting had Lemieux's moment pitted against Bobby Orr's goal 40 seconds into overtime, which ended the Boston Bruins' 29-year Stanley Cup® drought on May 10, 1970.
Before defeating Orr in the Final, Lemieux's five goals in five different ways beat Peter and Anton Stastny scoring eight points each, Wayne Gretzky's 802nd career goal, the New York Islanders winning their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup® championship, Darryl Sittler's record-setting 10-point game, and Gretzky's 50 goals in a record-setting 39 games.
A Blue Ribbon panel selected the 100 greatest moments of all-time and then broadcast representatives from NHL national rightsholders NBC Sports Group, NHL Network™, Sportsnet and TVA Sports, narrowed the list to 64 for vote by fans. The moments - brought to life with
video vignettes
- were placed into a bracket-style format and divided into four regions: Hart Region, Norris Region, Calder Region and Vezina Region. Fans voted from Oct. 18 through Nov. 28.
