Dave Isaac

@davegisaac

PHILADELPHIA — Two years ago, Flyers goalie Steve Mason showed up to the rink in a brand new red sports car.

It was around the time the goalie signed a contract extension that he treated himself to a Ferrari 458 Italia. It can top out at more than 200 miles per hour, but the goalie says, “I’ve never got close to it.”

“It’s something me and my dad have always enjoyed,” said Mason, who also owns a Mercedes. “I don’t live too far away from him in the summertime. I’ll bring both of them over to their house on a weekend. We’ll spend the afternoon cleaning them.”

The next question was whether Mason knew what had happened to the last Flyers goalie with a fast red car.

About 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning marked the 30th anniversary of when Flyers goalie Pelle Lindbergh, 26, crashed his Porsche 930 into a concrete wall near an elementary school in Somerdale.

Lindbergh’s blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit, but his teammates back then all say he was a speed demon regardless.

“He could have been stone cold sober and he still drove like an idiot," then-captain Dave Poulin told the Courier-Post back in 2010.

“The alcohol played a part,” Tim Kerr added in the same 2010 story, “but it was the speed that took his life.”

On Nov. 11, 1985, life support was pulled and Lindbergh, who suffered a broken hip, jaw, leg and had damage to his brain stem, died at Kennedy Hospital in Stratford.

Mason, born three years and five months later, knows the story.

“I knew about it even prior to getting to Philadelphia,” said Mason, who was traded from Columbus in April 2013. “Ever since I was a young kid I had a fascination with cars, my dad and I. I respect the cars. I’m not an idiot with them. I think I baby them more than anything. It doesn’t leave the garage unless there’s no clouds in the sky. I understand what the cars can do.”

He also understands that Lindbergh was a huge star in the making. It has been reported that the Flyers planned to announce the next day that Lindbergh was getting a long-term contract that would have made him the highest-paid goalie in the league.

He took Sweden to a bronze medal in 1980. He had been named an All-Star twice and was coming off a season in which he won the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the league’s best goaltender as voted by NHL general managers. The Flyers’ second-round pick in 1979 was supposed to be around a long while.

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog learned this about six years ago. The 22-year-old star forward was born in Stockholm, Sweden, just like Lindbergh, and had only heard a few stories from his father Tony, a defenseman who played with Lindbergh growing up.

“My dad, when I moved to Canada for junior hockey, got me Pelle’s biography,” Landeskog said. “He got me Pelle’s book and I read it. Great book and I learned a lot about Pelle’s legacy and his life.

“My dad would talk about how great of a goalie he was, how good of a guy he was and how tragic the story is of his life ending way too early.”

Lindbergh and Tony Landeskog also played one professional season for the Hammarby Sports Club in Sweden before Lindbergh came over to North America.

“I think a lot of people from that generation know him and that story, and I don’t think a lot of kids nowadays would know too much about him,” Landeskog said. “It’s so long ago. Kids now wouldn’t have seen him growing up, but definitely that generation would know about him.”

The Flyers remember — no one has worn No. 31 since Lindbergh’s death. There is a trophy in his memory that is awarded to the most-improved Flyer each season as voted on by the players themselves.

Across five NHL seasons, Lindbergh had a 87-49-15 record with a 3.30 goals-against average and .886 save percentage, but that was a different time in the NHL. In his last full season, his .899 save percentage was second best in the league. No one had more wins (40), saves (1,735) or minutes played (3,858) than him that year.

Then one night he was gone. He nearly took his friend Ed Parvin, of Mount Ephraim, and Parvin’s friend Kathy McNeal, with him. Parvin recovered after a skull fracture and breaks in his nose, shoulder and ribs. McNeal had injuries to her spleen and liver.

Thirty years later the Flyers have not forgotten Lindbergh, and his story is still known to the league’s young players.

“It’s a tragic story,” Mason said. “A goaltender with so much promise had his life taken away from him. He was 26 years old. It’s just a tragic situation.”

Dave Isaac; (856) 486-2479;disaac@gannettnj.com.