Mario Lessard

Mario Lessard
Born (1954-06-25) June 25, 1954
East Broughton, QC, CAN
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for AHL
Springfield Indians
New Haven Nighthawks
NHL
Los Angeles Kings
NHL Draft 154th overall, 1974
Los Angeles Kings
WHA Draft 128th overall, 1974
Quebec Nordiques
Playing career 1977–1984

Mario Lessard (born June 25, 1954) is a Canadian retired 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 a 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 boneheaded play nearly blew the amazing comeback. He retired after the 1984 season.

Career statistics

Regular season

Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1969–70 Sherbrooke Castors QJHL 15 3 5 0 560 63 0 6.76 .831
1970–71 Sherbrooke Castors QJHL — — — — — — — — —
1971–72 Sherbrooke Castors QMJHL 17 — — — 1020 72 2 4.24 .895
1972–73 Sherbrooke Castors QMJHL 37 — — — 2180 161 0 4.43 .880
1973–74 Sherbrooke Castors QMJHL 36 — — — 2140 180 0 5.05 .860
1974–75 Saginaw Gears IHL 59 — — — 3186 171 4 3.22 —
1975–76 Saginaw Gears IHL 62 — — — 3323 187 3 3.38 —
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 —
1977–78 Springfield Indians AHL 57 30 19 6 3295 204 1 3.71 —
1978–79 Los Angeles Kings NHL 49 23 15 10 2860 148 4 3.10 .892
1979–80 Los Angeles Kings NHL 50 18 22 7 2836 185 0 3.91 .869
1980–81 Los Angeles Kings NHL 64 35 18 11 3746 203 2 3.25 .893
1981–82 Los Angeles Kings NHL 52 13 28 8 2933 213 2 4.36 .856
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
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

Playoffs

Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1971–72 Sherbrooke Castors QMJHL 3 0 3 0 133 24 0 10.83 .784
1972–73 Sherbrooke Castors QMJHL 6 — — — 360 24 0 4.00 .881
1973–74 Sherbrooke Castors QMJHL 4 — — — 240 24 0 6.00 .892
1974–75 Saginaw Gears IHL 17 10 7 — 1016 64 2 3.78 —
1975–76 Saginaw Gears IHL 12 7 5 — 722 31 1 2.58 —
1976–77 Saginaw Gears IHL 18 12 6 — 1059 52 1 2.95 —
1977–78 Springfield Indians AHL 4 1 3 — 239 10 1 2.51 —
1978–79 Los Angeles Kings NHL 2 0 2 — 126 8 0 3.81 .890
1979–80 Los Angeles Kings NHL 4 1 2 — 207 14 0 4.06 .880
1980–81 Los Angeles Kings NHL 4 1 3 — 220 20 0 5.45 .837
1981–82 Los Angeles Kings NHL 10 4 5 — 583 41 0 4.22 .868
1982–83 Birmingham South Stars CHL 11 6 3 — 637 35 0 3.30 —
NHL totals 20 6 12 — 1136 83 0 4.38 .867


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.