09/18/2026
Rick Tocchet learned fast that playing with Mario Lemieux came with its own rulebook – and he broke it in his very first game together. 😂
Tocchet had just arrived in Pittsburgh from Philadelphia when he dumped the puck in during a shift alongside Lemieux. "Mario gave me this look," Tocchet told The Athletic. A couple of shifts later, he did it again – and this time, Lemieux wasn't letting it slide. "Mario pulled up to me on the bench and said, 'This isn't Philly; we don't dump the puck in Pittsburgh.' He kind of smiled, but I knew him well enough to know he was serious."
The message was simple: make a play, don't just throw the puck away. "That definitely was a wake-up call for me," Tocchet said. It clearly worked – he went on to form one of the most dominant lines in Penguins history alongside Lemieux and Kevin Stevens.
