NHL Roundup : Lemieux Scores Twice, but Falls Short of 200

In recent seasons the big news in the National Hockey League has centered around a couple of great centers, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. This season--the regular part of which ended Sunday--was no exception.

While Gretzky left the defending champion Edmonton Oilers to make a solid contender of the Kings, Lemieux had another sensational season.

Lemieux led his Pittsburgh Penguins into the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. Wednesday night, the big, talented youngster will, in his fifth NHL season, get his first taste of playoff action against the New York Rangers.

Although he broke one of Gretzky’s numerous offensive records, Lemieux, in winning his second consecutive scoring championship, missed his major goal--to become the only player besides Gretzky to have 200 points in a season.

Lemieux, the NHL’s most valuable player last season, was on a course to break Gretzky’s most coveted records, for most goals and most points, but had to settle for 199 points.

He went into Sunday’s game at Philadelphia needing just three points. Although he had two goals, including the one in overtime that beat the Flyers, 6-5, he failed to pick up his needed third point.

The goal came into an empty net, the Flyers having removed goaltender Ron Hextall with time running out in overtime and Lemieux shot the puck into the net from center ice.

Lemieux wound up with 85 goals, only the second player to reach 80. Gretzky did it twice, with a high of 92. He had 14 goals with his team short-handed to break Gretzky’s record of 13.

Without Gretzky, the Oilers, who won four of the last five Stanley Cups, became just an ordinary team with a great goaltender, Grant Fuhr.

Although Fuhr held the Oilers together, he wasn’t the best goalie in the league. That honor went to Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens. Roy went 27 games at the Montreal Forum without losing and his 2.49 goals-against record was the league’s best.

The Calgary Flames, for the second consecutive season, had the best overall record. They improved 12 points over last season. Not only did the Flames divide up a $200,000 pot, but they will retain home ice advantage as long as they remain in postseason play. Many experts think they will go all the way.

The Flames had another first. They signed Sergei Priakin to a contract last Wednesday and the veteran winger became the first Soviet hockey player to play in the NHL. He played two regular season games and the Flames decided he could help their bid for the Stanley Cup.

The Canadiens lost out on the bid for best overall record, but they had much success under rookie Coach Pat Burns. The 36-year-old coach with limited experience appeared in danger of losing his job when the Canadiens were 4-7-1 after 12 games. Burns soon turned the club around and they had the Adams Division wrapped up early. They won it by 27 points.

While the Kings, with Gretzky, posted the biggest improvement--19 points--the biggest disappointment was the New York Islanders. A year ago the Islanders won the tough Patrick Division with 88 points. Despite winning their last two games, the Islanders had only 61 points this time.

The flop of the Islanders, which brought back Al Arbour, a coach on four consecutive Stanley Cup winners, enabled the Washington Capitals to end a string of six straight second-place finishes to win their first Patrick Division title.

Speaking of coaches, there were a number of them. When Winnipeg was off to a slow start, management fired Coach Dan Maloney, the former tough forward of the Kings, and then dumped General Manager John Ferguson, too.

Probably the most unusual firing was Saturday morning. General Manager Phil Esposito said he was unhappy with the way his New York Rangers were playing and fired Coach Michel Bergeron with just two games left in the regular season. Although Bergeron coached the Rangers to their best finish in five years, Esposito took over as coach.

Esposito became 0-2 for the season when the Rangers lost their regular-season finale to the last place Islanders.

Although they finished with just a 37-35-8 record, the Rangers produced two of the best rookies--Brian Leetch and Tony Granato. The chances are Leetch, a high-scoring defenseman, will be named the outstanding rookie.

A trio of standouts will vie for the outstanding defenseman award. Ray Bourque of Boston, Chris Chelios of Montreal and high-scoring Paul Coffey of Pittsburgh are the candidates.

Only five teams will not compete in the playoffs. In addition to the Islanders, failing to qualify were Toronto, New Jersey, Winnipeg and Quebec.

Buffalo 4, Quebec 2--Mike Foligno scored two goals at Buffalo, helping the Sabres to finish in third place in the Adams Division.

As a result, the Sabres will play the Boston Bruins in the opening round of the playoffs, while Hartford must go up against Montreal.