Penguins Lose Focus and Then the Game

The Pittsburgh Penguins talked about not letting Mario Lemieux’s return be a distraction, but it didn’t work out that way.

Darcy Tucker scored twice and Curtis Joseph stopped 29 shots as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Penguins, 5-1, Saturday night at Toronto.

It was the Penguins’ first game since Lemieux announced his comeback. Lemieux, expected to play his first game later this month, didn’t make the trip to Toronto, but his presence was felt.

Reporters descended on Pittsburgh’s game-day skate, asking about Lemieux’s return. During the game, a fan wearing a Leafs’ jersey held up a sign that read “Hurry Back Mario!”, while others sported Lemieux’s jersey.

“We talked about it being a distraction before the game,” Pittsburgh Coach Ivan Hlinka said. “It’s a big thing, and I think everybody is thinking about it because there are too many reporters and TV guys and sometimes you can lose the concentration.”

Tucker gave Toronto a 2-1 lead at 1:21 of the first period. He made it 4-1 with a wrist shot past Penguin goalie Garth Snow at 11:35 of the third.

St. Louis 6, Chicago 4--Jochen Hecht scored two goals as the Blues beat the Blackhawks at St. Louis.

With the victory, their fourth in a row at home and ninth in 10 games, the Blues improved their record at Savvis Center this season to 12-1-1.

Pierre Turgeon scored his 11th goal at 13:42 of the third period when he beat Blackhawk goalie Jocelyn Thibault to give St. Louis a 5-4 lead.

Boston 6, New York Rangers 4--Bill Guerin scored two goals to tie New York’s Theo Fleury and the Kings’ Ziggy Palffy for the league lead with 20, and the Bruins defeated the Rangers at Boston.

The Rangers lost for the first time this season when leading after two periods. It was the first time the Bruins had won a game by two or more goals since Oct. 26.

Guerin scored the game winner on a two-on-one breakaway. He got a pass from Jason Allison and fanned on the shot, but the puck went in off his skate to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead.

Washington 3, New Jersey 2--Peter Bondra scored short-handed to spark a three-goal outburst in the first period that carried the Capitals at East Rutherford, N.J.

Chris Simon and Jeff Halpern also scored for the Capitals, who are 7-3-2 in their last 12 games. New Jersey, which lost its second in a row after a nine-game unbeaten streak, got goals from Scott Niedermayer and Sergei Brylin.

Atlanta 5, New York Islanders 2--Donald Audette had three goals and an assist at Uniondale, N.Y., for his third career four-point game, and the Thrashers won for the fifth time in six games.

Andrew Brunette also scored for the Thrashers, and Tomi Kallio added an empty-net goal with 16.8 seconds left.

Colorado 4, Florida 2--Joe Sakic had a goal and two assists at Sunrise, Fla., as the Avalanche won for the seventh time in eight games.

Milan Hejduk, Peter Forsberg and Chris Drury also scored for Colorado, which leads the league with 45 points.

Calgary 7, Carolina 2--Jarome Iginla scored two goals in a 76-second span and Clarke Wilm had a career-best three points as the Flames rolled past the Hurricanes at Calgary, Canada.

Iginla scored twice in the first period and gave the Flames a 3-0 lead less than 13 minutes into the game. Calgary entered the game with the NHL’s third-worst offense, averaging 2.03 goals, slightly ahead of expansion teams Columbus and Minnesota.

Ottawa 4, Montreal 2--Marian Hossa scored two goals and the Senators beat the Canadiens at Montreal to complete a sweep of the home-and-home series. Ottawa won, 1-0, at home Friday.