Lemieux leads Penguins to victory

Lemieux leads Penguins to victory

CLEVELAND, Pennsylvania (Reuter): Pittsburgh superstar Mario Lemieux has missed most of the season with injuries but inactivity has not hurt his game any.

In just his 18th appearance of the season, Lemieux scored two powerplay goals and had two assists to lead the Penguins to a 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins in a neutral site game at Cleveland.

Kevin Stevens notched his 39th and 40th goals and Tom Barrasso made 40 saves as the Northeast Division-leading Pens completed a sweep of the six-game season series with Boston.

The victory moved Pittsburgh three points ahead of second- place Montreal with five games left in the regular season. Boston is tied with Buffalo for third-place in the Northeast, one point behind Montreal.

First period goals by Peter Taglianetti, Stevens and Lemieux staked Pittsburgh to a 3-0 lead.

After second period goals by Glen Wesley and Daniel Marois pulled the Bruins within 3-2, Lemieux and Joe Mullen scored 1:15 apart to open a 5-2 advantage.

Stevens' second goal gave him at least 40 goals for four consecutive seasons.

In Detroit, Dino Ciccarelli's powerplay goal with 11:07 left in the third period enabled the Red Wings to forge a 3-3 tie with the St Louis Blues.

Stellar goaltending by Curtis Joseph preserved the tie for the Blues. Joseph faced a 50-shot barrage, making 47 saves.

At Washington, Pelle Eklund and Mike Craig scored 37 seconds apart in the second period to spark the Dallas Stars to a 6-3 victory over the Capitals.

The Stars scored four times in the second period to turn a 1-1 game into a 5-2 lead after two.

In Chicago, Ed Belfour returned from a four-game absence to stop 36 shots and Christian Ruuttu set up both Chicago goals as the Blackhawks skated to a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames.

Former Flame Gary Suter and Paul Ysebaert scored the second- period goals for the Blackhawks, who snapped a six-game winless streak to move into a sixth-place tie with Vancouver in the Western Conference.

Belfour, who had not played since suffering a strained hip muscle March 22, blanked Calgary until Gary Roberts got his 41st goal at 4:15 of the third period.

The Flames lost for just the second time in their last 10 games. Results

St Louis 3, Detorit 3 (OT) Pittsburgh 6, Boston 2 Dallas 6, Washington 3 Los Angeles 6, Edmonton 1 Chicago 2, Calgary 1