NHL PLAYOFFS : Lemieux Points Penguins to Victory, 6-4

Mario Lemieux had a bad back, a bad shoulder and a bad feeling about what was happening to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It added up to a bad night for the Washington Capitals.

Lemieux scored three goals and had a hand in three others Thursday night as the Penguins defeated the Washington Capitals, 6-4, at Pittsburgh in a penalty-riddled Game 3 of their Patrick Division semifinal series.

The Capitals lead the series, 2-1.

“We used two lines and four defensemen against Mario, and sometimes that’s not even enough,” Capital Coach Terry Murray said. “When you get him out there on the power play as much as he was . . . he pretty much did what he wanted.”

The Penguins, trailing 2-1 after one period, scored four goals in the second period.

Lemieux’s six-point night was barely enough as the Capitals rallied from a 5-2 deficit with two late third-period goals, only to have Lemieux seal the Penguins’ first victory of the series with an empty-netter with 51 seconds left.

Lemieux, who missed Game 1 because of a shoulder injury and sat out most of the final two periods in Game 2, set up Pittsburgh’s first three goals--then scored the final two in a 50-second span to give the Penguins a 5-2 lead.

Penguin Coach Scotty Bowman is 115-74 in postseason play, breaking a tie with Al Arbour to become the winningest playoff coach in NHL history.

Hartford 5, Montreal 2--Murray Craven scored two goals and set up another before a crowd of 6,728 at Hartford, Conn., as the Whalers won for the first time after two losses in their Adams Division semifinal series.

The crowd broke a Hartford playoff-record low of 12,245 set three years ago against Montreal and was the third-smallest in Hartford’s NHL history.

Montreal Coach Pat Burns allegedly struck a fan with the butt end of a stick as the Canadiens left the ice. Hartford police said a report on the incident would not be available until today.

Boston 3, Buffalo 2--Adam Oates scored his second consecutive game-winner, breaking a tie with 39 seconds left in the second period at Buffalo to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Adams Division semifinals series.

Oates cut across from the corner to deflect a pass from the point by Ray Bourque past goalie Tom Draper.

Oates, who won Game 2 in overtime, gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead in the series, which resumes in Buffalo Saturday night.

New Jersey 3, N.Y. Rangers 1--Chris Terreri made 33 saves at East Rutherford, N.J., and an opportunistic offense helped the Devils take a 2-1 lead in their Patrick Division semifinal series.

Terreri, overshadowed by the Rangers’ goaltending duo of John Vanbiesbrouck and Mike Richter this season, was the star for a second consecutive game as the Rangers outshot the Devils, 34-18.

The Devils made three of their first seven shots.