NHL Roundup : Lemieux Stages Show in 5-2 Win Over Sabres

Although he personally brought the Edmonton Oilers from nowhere to the top of the hockey heap, Wayne Gretzky has always insisted that there is no such thing as a one-man team.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are inclined not to agree with Gretzky.

In Mario Lemieux, the Penguins have a player who performs as if he is a one-man team.

Lemieux scored two goals and assisted on another Wednesday night at Pittsburgh to lead the surging Penguins to a 5-2 victory over Buffalo. The win put the Penguins, the surprise of this season, just one point out of third place in the tough Patrick Division.

Last season, when Lemieux was just an outstanding rookie, the Penguins were the second-worst team in the league, winning only 24 of 80 games.

Last year’s rookie is now second only to Gretzky. The Penguins are 30-25-7. They have 67 points. Only seven teams in the league have more points than Bob Berry’s young team.

Lemieux is the spark. He is second in scoring to Gretzky and has scored in 20 consecutive games. He has scored 40 goals and has been impressive at both ends of the ice.

“I seem to play better when the games become more important,” Lemieux said. “We are battling to make the playoffs, and I’m just trying to do my part. This is a lot more fun than last season when we were out of the race before it started.”

After 62 games last season, the Penguins were only 21-36-5 for just 47 points. And Lemieux had only 30 goals.

Minnesota 5, Hartford 2--It was only a month ago that Mike Liut was brilliant in goal and the Whalers were talking playoffs.

Now, Liut can’t stop the puck, and the Whalers have fallen into the Adams Division cellar.

Liut, 1-7-1 in his last nine starts and booed constantly, gave up 4 goals on 12 shots in the first period and was removed. He has given up 15 goals on the last 46 shots against him.

The Whalers, six points away from a playoff spot, are 2-12-1 in the last 15 games.

Edmonton 8, Winnipeg 2--While closing in on his own record for assists, Wayne Gretzky is also moving up in the goal-scoring race.

In this game at Winnipeg, Gretzky had two goals and four assists. He has 127 assists and needs 9 more in 17 games to break his record.

His 45 goals put him one behind teammate Jari Kurri.

The Oilers, in their most impressive performance in some time, got an excellent game from goalie Grant Fuhr, who stopped 44 shots, 21 in the first period.

Mark Messier scored three goals in a row for the Oilers.

New Jersey 7, New York Islanders 2--After this humiliating defeat at East Rutherford, N.J., the once-powerful Islanders are in a battle for a playoff spot.

In the Patrick Division, they are in third place, only one point ahead of Pittsburgh and six ahead of the New York Rangers.

Mike Bossy scored his 44th goal of the season for the Islanders and the 518th of his career. He is tied with Guy Lafleur, former Montreal star, for ninth place on the all-time list.

Montreal 4, Vancouver 2--Mike McPhee scored twice at Vancouver, and goaltender Steve Penney, making his first start since Jan. 10, stopped 18 shots to earn the victory.

The Canucks’ winless streak is at nine games.