How many Pittsburgh Penguins players have scored 50 goals in a season?
As the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate two former players, Kevin Stevens and Matt Cullen, entering the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, it is an excellent time to look back at the club's 50-goal scorers, which includes Stevens.
Here's to celebrating the nine players who have achieved the milestone while wearing a Penguin uniform.
Jean Pronovost (One)
1976
It took nine seasons, but one of Pittsburgh's first 50-goal scorers was Jean Pronovost, then 30, who netted 52 lamplighters in 1975-76. As a four-time 40-goal scorer, that year marked the only time he reached 50 goals in his career.
Pierre Larouche (One)
1976
Pierre Larouche was just 20 when he set the Penguins record for most goals in a season, 53, in 1975-76, the same season Pronovost joined the 50-goal club.
Eventually, Larouche would score 50 again with the Montreal Canadiens in 1980, winning two Stanley Cup rings with the club in 1978 and 1979.
Rick Kehoe (One)
1981
Five years after Larouche set the top goal mark in a season, Rick Kehoe scored 55 goals in 1980-81. It was a career year for the right winger, who also finished with a career-high 88 points. After 11 seasons, Kehoe ranked second in all-time goals with 316.
Mike Bullard (One)
1984
Mike Bullard played seven seasons in Pittsburgh and became the fourth player to score 50 goals, finishing the 1983-84 campaign with a career-high 51. He would score 40 goals on two more occasions, once with the Penguins and the other Calgary Flames.
Sidney Crosby (One)
2010
Sidney Crosby ranks second in franchise history with 592 goals and is a one-time 50-goal scorer, with 51 in 2009-10. As he enters his 20th season, the longest-serving captain in Penguins history is a 16-time 20-goal scorer who averages 31 goals a year.
Evgeni Malkin (One)
2012
Evgeni Malkin is the last Pittsburgh skater to join the 50-goal club. He reached the milestone in the 2011-12 season, the same year he won the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer with 109 points. Like Crosby, Malkin is a model of consistency, averaging 27 goals a year, and is just two lamplighters away from 500.
Kevin Stevens (Two)
1992, 1993
Kevin Stevens is headed to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2024. Besides winning two Stanley Cup titles, he was also a two-time 50-goal scorer, collecting 54 in 1992 and breaking his personal best a season later with 55 in 1993.
Jaromir Jagr (Two)
1996, 2001
The ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr was the NHL's leading scorer in the 1990s with 958 points. In 1996, he reached the 50-goal plateau for the first time, finishing the season with a personal best of 62 goals. During his final campaign in Pittsburgh in 2001, he netted 52 goals before setting the New York Rangers team record with 54 in 2006.
Mario Lemieux (Six)
1987, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1996, 1997
Only three skaters have scored 80 or more goals in a single season: Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, and Mario Lemieux. In fact, Lemieux is the only player in Penguins history to score more than 62 goals in a campaign, netting 85 (1989), 70 (1988), 69 (1993), and 69 (1996).
In addition to those outstanding performances, which resulted in four scoring titles, Lemieux also finished the 1987 (54) and 1997 (50) seasons with more than 50 goals. Considering Le Magnifique owns so many Penguins records, his six 50-goal campaigns are a mark that may never be broken.
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