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He is human Lemieux held to one point in Penguins' 4-3 win
Updated: Saturday January 13, 2001 1:51 AM
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Mario Lemieux can make it look so easy, even his teammates can get distracted -- and on some nights, the opposing team, too. Lemieux and fourth-liner Kip Miller scored before the New York Islanders had a shot on goal and the Pittsburgh Penguins finally beat a team with losing record, winning 4-3 Friday night. The Penguins -- 5-2 since Lemieux came out of retirement -- ran the Islanders' losing streak to a season-high seven. Pittsburgh also won for the first time in its last seven games against sub-.500 teams, a stretch in which they had three ties. The Penguins took a 3-0 lead early in the second period, watched the Islanders get back in the game with two quick goals, then regained their two-goal lead on Alexei Kovalev's breakaway goal early in the third period. "We need to develop a killer instinct," Lemieux said. "Obviously, when you're up 3-0 you want to get that fourth goal and put it away, but it didn't happen that way. We're going to have to play a little smarter." The Islanders, who have the NHL's worst record at 11-26-4-2, started playing well after they forget they were going up against Lemieux, coach Butch Goring said. "Before the game, I was worried about us being a little starry-eyed, and the first seven or eight minutes they came out storming," he said. "We were standing around watching and they quickly built a lead. "From then on, I thought we played a terrific game." Lemieux didn't need long to score his third goal in two games, beating goaltender Wade Flaherty on a one-timer from the edge of the left circle off Robert Lang's cross-ice pass 2:14 into the game. Lemieux's seventh goal in seven games also was the Penguins' eighth in 21 power-play chances since Lemieux returned Dec. 27. The Islanders' Dave Scatchard was off for interference.
Miller, who didn't play in four of Lemieux's first six games back, made it 2-0 at 3:01 with the Penguins" second goal in 47 seconds, steering a shot inside the far post as he skated across the slot. Coach Ivan Hlinka didn't begin playing a fourth line until being urged by Lemieux to start going deeper on his bench. "I felt it was important we started getting everybody involved," Lemieux said. The Islanders, 1-10 in their past 11 games and accustomed to slow starts, trailed 13-0 in shots before finally getting their first shot on goal nearly nine minutes into the game. Still, despite falling behind 3-0 on defenseman Janne Laukkanen's second goal of the season, the Islanders wound up outshooting the Penguins 33-27 and closed to within 3-2 on second-period goals by Bill Muckalt and Zdeno Chara. "It's a huge challenge to play against a team like that, and I thought we played well," Chara said. "Every time they had the puck, it was a dangerous situation for us." The Penguins, whose inability to put away teams with inferior records has been a season-long problem, finally halted the rally as Kovalev scored his 21st of the season 3:17 into the third. Kovalev got free on a breakaway after grabbing a loose puck in his own end and, ignoring defenseman Roman Hamrlik, put a hard wrister from the left circle past Flaherty. "I just wanted to get some space to take a shot," Kovalev said. "I didn't want to get in the position of having to go around him, so I shot it right away." Tim Connolly scored a power-play goal with 33 seconds left and the Penguins' Matthew Barnaby off for fighting. Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin made 30 saves and now is 2-0 since returning from a six-week layoff following arthroscopic knee surgery. He will likely start Saturday night's rematch against the Islanders on Long Island.
Notes: Goring decided not to start John Vanbiesbrouck, who has
allowed 30 goals to Lemieux - by far the most of any NHL goalie.
... The Penguins are 6-6-4 against losing-record teams. ...
Pittsburgh is 4-1 at home since Lemieux returned and 10-10-1
overall at Mellon Arena. ... The Penguins are 5-2 with Lemieux in
the lineup. ... Defenseman Hans Jonsson assisted on the Miller and
Kovalev goals.
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