NHL Roundup : Lemieux Makes His Points in 5-3 Win

When Mario Lemieux ended Wayne Gretzky’s string of scoring titles at eight last season, some people thought it was a fluke.

This season, Lemieux has two objectives. One is to prove that his scoring title was no fluke, and the other is to get the Pittsburgh Penguins into postseason play.

Lemieux, 23, who is in his fifth season with the Penguins, seems to have both in sight.

Lemieux had 2 goals and 2 assists Tuesday night at Pittsburgh to lead the Penguins to a 5-3 victory over the New York Islanders, who have lost 13 of their last 14.

Lemieux scored his 33rd goal to tie the score early in the last period, then assisted on Bob Errey’s goal that won it with 3:26 remaining.

Lemieux is pulling away in the scoring race. He has 86 points in just 31 games.

The Penguins stretched their lead in the tough Patrick Division to 4 points over the New York Rangers.

Tom Barrasso stopped 28 shots to improve his record with the Penguins to 9-3-2.

Detroit 6, St. Louis 3--Steve Yzerman scored his 32nd goal halfway through the third period at Detroit to break a 3-3 tie and enable the Red Wings to stretch their Norris Division lead to 9 points.

Four minutes earlier, Yzerman’s perfect pass on a power play enabled Paul MacLean to score the tying goal after the Blues outplayed the Red Wings for more than 2 periods.

Yzerman, who assisted on 2 other goals, stretched his scoring streak to 22 games, tying his club record.

The Red Wings scored 4 times in the last 12 minutes.