NHL PLAYOFFS : Lemieux Gets Room to Roam; Penguins Beat Bruins, 4-1

It’s not so much the home crowd as the home rink for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Mario Lemieux, using the larger Civic Arena rink to outskate his shadows, scored one goal and set up another as the Penguins beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1, Sunday night in Game 3 of the Wales Conference finals.

The Penguins blanked Cam Neely, Vladimir Ruzicka and Craig Janney, who had six goals as the Bruins won the first two games at Boston.

Lemieux, constantly shadowed by Bob Sweeney and Dave Poulin in the first two games in Boston, said Pittsburgh’s bigger rink “is a big advantage to us because of the speed we have . . . It’s tougher to cover us here.”

Goals by Kevin Stevens and Ron Francis gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead in the second period.

Boston cut it to 2-1 at 10:24 of the second period on Ray Bourque’s seventh goal of the playoffs, but Lemieux’s rush set up Grant Jennings’ goal 16 seconds later.

Lemieux, who has three goals and two assists in the last two games, beat goaltender Andy Moog on a highlight-film breakaway at 13:11 of the second period.

Game 4 will be Tuesday night in the Civic Arena, where Boston is 0-2 this season.