Guy Lafleur arrived at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena on April 2, 1980 with 48 goals to his credit since opening night. In each of the five preceding seasons, the Canadiens’ electrifying right-winger had found a way to break the 50-goal barrier.

With the score 3-2 in his team’s favor, “The Flower” covered half the distance remaining between he and his objective, finding the twine at 15:10 of the second period.

Then, with 5:22 elapsed in the final stanza, after the Canadiens got goals from Réjean Houle and Mark Napier, Lafleur beat Rogatien Vachon a second time to reach the 50-goal plateau for the sixth season in a row, an NHL first. Until that point, no other player had put together more than five 50-goal campaigns.

To this day, only Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy, with nine consecutive 50-goal seasons each, have reached the mark more often than Lafleur.