Philadelphia Flyers goalie Pelle Lindbergh was at the apex of his career on Nov. 10, 1985.

He had played for the Maine Mariners a few seasons earlier, and was the reigning Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s best goalie. He was the first European to earn the honor.

In the early morning hours that day, driving drunk after a team party, Lindbergh crashed his Porsche 911 Turbo in Somerdale, New Jersey. Declared brain dead, he was kept alive long enough for his family to fly in from Sweden to say goodbye.

The previous spring, he and the Flyers had reached the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Edmonton Oilers. The new season was barely underway, and the Flyers had just defeated the Boston Bruins for their 10th consecutive win. Lindbergh was about to sign a contract extension with the Flyers. He was 26 years old.

That’s what makes his death so senseless.

“All that blew up based on a poor decision that cost him everything and could’ve killed two other people,” said Charlie Minn, the director of an upcoming documentary on Lindbergh’s life, “The Swede of Philadelphia.”

Speaking Tuesday at the Lake House Tavern in Windham, Minn said the film will be released in November, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Lindbergh’s death.

Known primarily as a true-crime documentarian, Minn is also an avid hockey fan. Growing up on Long Island, New York, he recalled seeing Lindbergh play in the 1983 NHL All-Star Game at Nassau Coliseum, and when the Flyers came in to play the New York Islanders.

“Back then there weren’t many European players (in the NHL), so he was breaking barriers,” Minn said.

Lindbergh played a season and a half with the Maine Mariners before joining Philadelphia in the 1981-82 season. He arrived in Portland in the fall of 1980 after playing in net for Sweden in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid the previous winter. In 1979, the Flyers had selected Lindbergh in the second round, with the 35th overall pick.

The Maine Mariners debuted in Portland in 1977. A member of the American Hockey League, the Mariners routinely played before capacity crowds at what was then the Cumberland County Civic Center. The Mariners reached the Calder Cup final in 1980-81, Lindbergh’s first season. He dominated the AHL, earning MVP and rookie of the year honors. He is the only goalie in AHL history to win both awards in the same season.

Kevin Cady, then a young equipment manager with the Mariners, became fast friends with Lindbergh.

“Pelle and I seemed to hit it off. He was only three years older than me. In Portland, he was kind of a homesick kid, missing Sweden and Stockholm,” Cady said. “We would just hang out. Christmas, special occasions, because he didn’t have family.”

Cady visited Lindbergh in Sweden several times in the offseason. In 1984, he joined his friend in Philadelphia, taking a job as the Flyers’ equipment manager. When he was away from the rink, Lindbergh was a happy-go-lucky guy who would suggest they build and then fly model airplanes. Cady still can’t figure out how his friend was such a talented netminder.

“He didn’t work out very much. He wasn’t very flexible. I don’t know how he became such a great goalie. When you looked at him off the ice, he couldn’t touch his toes. And here he is, the best goalie in the world,” he said.

Standing 5 feet, 9 inches and weighing in around 180 pounds, it’s possible Lindbergh would never get a shot at the NHL today, with most goalies combining size and speed to keep the puck out of the net. A 5-foot-9 goalie isn’t going to turn a scout’s head.

The what-ifs continue. What if Lindbergh hadn’t driven that night? How would his career have played out?

“I think with the team they had, he would have won a couple of Stanley Cups with them, as long as he stayed healthy,” Cady said. “Then later, move on to some role with the Flyers. I think he’d still be with the Flyers at this point. Maybe he’d be a European scout or something along those lines.”

There were signs that Lindbergh took dangerous chances off the ice.

Before his long career in Boston sports radio and on NESN, Dale Arnold was the play-by-play voice of the Mariners and the club’s vice president of public relations. Part of his job was bringing players to schools, where they’d let the students try on their equipment, answer questions and sign autographs. On one of those school visits, Lindbergh offered to drive, and they jumped into his Corvette.

“He scared the hell out of me. When we got back, I went in to see team President Ed Anderson. I said, ‘Ed somebody’s got to talk to this kid. He’s dangerous. It’s scary riding with him. We can’t do this.’ I think Eddie did talk to him. I think a lot of people talked to him over the years, but he was an excitement freak or something,” Arnold said. “When the accident happened in Philly and I got the call, I never, ever even gave a thought to alcohol.”

Cady said he was at the dealership in Stockholm when Lindbergh picked up the Porsche. At one point, he had to send the car back to Germany for repairs. Lindbergh was advised not to take it to the United States, Cady said, because it was too powerful.

“The car was a … race car. Hence, there was a problem. Then you add alcohol to it …” Cady said.

Minn, the documentary director, said numerous people he interviewed were adamant that Lindbergh was not a big drinker. People at the party say he didn’t appear drunk. If he did, they say, they wouldn’t have let him drive. But he did.

Thankfully, both his passengers, Edwin Parvin Jr. and Kathy McNeal, survived. Minn interviewed both for the film.

“Both were forgiving with no hard feelings,” he said.  

Lindbergh does not deserve to be remembered for his biggest mistake, yet it hangs over his entire short career. He was just getting going, He opened the doors for the next generation of European goalies, players like his countrymen Henrik Lundqvist and Linus Ullmark.

If Lindbergh had been stopped on Nov. 10, 1985, gotten a ride or his friends had called a cab, maybe there would be a documentary with a happier ending. One in which Lindbergh enjoys a long, Hall of Fame career, his name engraved on the Stanley Cup multiple times. Maybe more Swedish goalies cite him as a major influence, this undersized goalie with an oversized impact whose roots include Portland.

Instead, Lindbergh’s story is a cautionary one.