Everybody remembers Mario Lemieux scoring five goals, five ways on New Year’s Eve, 1988. (Although nobody figured out exactly what Lemieux had done ‘til the next day.)

But who remembers when the Penguins netted five goals in 127 seconds?

I do. I was there. It was glorious.

As the NHL season approaches (but not nearly fast enough given the Steelers’ collapse), I feel obligated as a Penguins lifer to consider the team’s big moments pre-Mario.

There weren’t many. The scale wasn’t as grand. The Civic Arena wasn’t often sold out.

But, boy, we had fun.

Not least was that night at the Igloo when the Penguins scored five times in 2:07, an NHL record that still stands.

It occurred Nov. 22, 1972 against St. Louis, the Penguins’ biggest rival then. (Philadelphia had not yet morphed into a team of felons.) The eruption started with eight minutes left and turned a 5-4 nail-biter into a 10-4 romp.

The first two goals came in an 18-second span. After an 82-second break, the Penguins scored three times in 27 seconds.

Bryan Hextall, Jean Pronovost, Al McDonagh, Ken Schinkel and Ron Schock each tallied during that five-goal outburst. McDonagh finished the evening with a hat trick and assist. The Penguins scored seven goals in the third period to overcome a 4-3 deficit.

The Blues held a 42-34 edge in shots, but the Penguins’ goaltender played well. You’ve heard of him: Jim Rutherford. He later took the management route. Good goalie. Hall-of-Fame GM.

The attendance was 12, 405, 491 shy of a sellout. (No balconies yet.) Delirium was at a rare level. The goals kept pouring in. Each elicited a bigger explosion. The rival was thoroughly humbled. Top heel Barclay Plager, a Blues defenseman, was minus-4 and derisively serenaded: “Bar-clay! Bar-clay!”

One 11-year-old kid was particularly rapturous: His favorite player, Greg Polis, had a goal, two assists and a fight. That’s a Gordie Howe hat trick plus a bonus helper.

On Jan. 17, 1974, Polis got traded to St. Louis. A sad day for that kid, now 13. Bob “Battleship” Kelly and Steve Durbano came the other way. The Penguins were suddenly tough.

As too often happened with the Penguins then, the events of Nov. 22, 1972 ultimately didn’t amount to much. The Penguins finished fifth in the NHL’s West Division, missing the playoffs by three points. Finishing just ahead in fourth was, of course, St. Louis.

The Penguins made the playoffs in nine of 17 years pre-Mario. That sounds OK, except they only won three playoff series, and one of those was in 1975 before collapsing horribly in the quarterfinals by blowing a three-games-to-none series lead to the New York Islanders. This was particularly disturbing to a certain 14-year-old.

The biggest goal pre-Mario was scored by George Ferguson. The “Fergy Flyer” tallied in overtime to win Game 3 of a best-of-three preliminary-round playoff series vs. Buffalo in 1979. It was the Penguins’ first series win since 1975, their last ‘til 1989. Ferguson was crazy fast.

The most goals pre-Mario got scored by Rick Kehoe, with 55 in 1980-81. That season also saw Kehoe win the NHL’s Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for “sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of play.” More significant, Randy Carlyle won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s top defenseman. He remains the only Penguin to do so.

The 1974-75 season was big. It just ended horribly. The Penguins went 37-28-15 for 89 points, their biggest output pre-Mario and one that amazingly wasn’t topped until 1992-93.

In 1975-76, Pronovost became the first Penguin to score 50 goals and Pierre Larouche the first Penguin to accumulate 100 points. Both happened on the same night: March 24, 1976 in a 5-5 home draw with Boston. Fifteen-year-old me was there, and loudly approved.

The Penguins had two All-Star Game MVPs pre-Mario: Polis in 1973 and Syl Apps Jr. in 1975. I have a stick Polis used in his effort.

Larouche scored 53 goals in 1975-76, edging Pronovost by one. Kehoe, as mentioned, got 55 in 1980-81. Mike Bullard had 51 in 1983-84 but, incredibly, none were game-winners. Good thing, too, because that’s the year the Penguins “earned” the right to draft Lemieux by finishing last.

There were heartbreaking near-misses besides ’75, like Game 5 losses in best-of-five playoff series in 1980, 1981 and 1982 to Boston, St. Louis and the Islanders, respectively. The last two came in overtime. The last one marked the only time the Islanders were pushed to an elimination game during their run of four straight Stanley Cups from 1980-83.

We took what we could get back then. But thank God Lemieux showed up. My 59-year-old self is satisfied with what I’ve seen.

But we didn’t see enough of Michel Briere, who had a great rookie season in 1969-70: 44 points in 76 regular-season games, then eight points in 10 playoff games before sustaining fatal injuries in a postseason automobile crash.

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