STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS ROUNDUP : Lemieux’s Defense Leads Penguins

Mario Lemieux, the NHL’s scoring champion, helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win by playing some solid defense Monday night.

Lemieux had only one assist at Landover, Md., but his play at the other end of the ice was instrumental in helping Pittsburgh limit the Washington Capitals to 23 shots.

The result was a 5-2 victory that enabled the Penguins to stave off elimination in their Patrick Division semifinal series.

“When you’re not skating as well as you want to, you have to do different things to help the team,” Lemieux said. “That’s what I did tonight. My legs weren’t there, so I tried to compensate by playing good defense. Some nights, you have to do that.”

The Capitals still lead the series by 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled for Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.

The Penguins checked so well that Washington’s Dino Ciccarelli, who had four goals during Game 4, did not have a shot on goal.

Buffalo 2, Boston 0--Rookie goalie Tom Draper, rebounding from his worst game of the playoffs, stopped 28 shots as the Sabres won at Boston to cut the Bruins’ lead in the Adams Division semifinal to 3-2.

The Sabres, trying to become the seventh team in NHL history to win a best-of-seven series after trailing by 3-1, can pull even at home Wednesday night.

Draper, who has played all five games, stopped only 14 shots during a 5-4 overtime loss Saturday night. This time he was sharp, although rarely tested, as he posted his second shutout in his 39 NHL games and first in the playoffs.

Buffalo, which lost the previous three games even though it outplayed Boston in Game 4, got goals from Pat LaFontaine during the first period and Dave Hannan during the second. Petr Svoboda assisted on both goals.

Boston goalie Andy Moog was ejected with 5:06 to play in the second period for spearing Wayne Presley while the Sabres were celebrating Hannan’s goal.

New York Rangers 8, New Jersey 5--The Rangers rediscovered their power play in this game at New York and put themselves one game away from the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I guess both teams were ready to explode offensively,” New York’s Mike Gartner said after scoring three goals, two on the power play, to lead the Rangers.

The Rangers took a 5-0 lead with the help of three power-play goals, then withstood a rally by the Devils, who twice came within one goal during the final period.

A victory in Game 6 at New Jersey on Wednesday night would put the regular-season NHL champions into the Patrick Division finals against either Pittsburgh or Washington.

Montreal 7, Hartford 4--Kirk Muller scored twice as the Canadiens got four goals in the last 4:59 of the second period and beat the Whalers at Montreal to take a 3-2 lead in their Adams Division semifinal series. Montreal leads the series, 3-2.

Disputed goals by Muller and Brian Skrudland helped Montreal overcome a 3-1 deficit. The Canadiens then took the lead on goals by Muller and Patrice Brisebois.

Muller’s disputed goal came after he went around the defense and saw his shot blocked by Frank Pietrangelo, but defenseman Brad Shaw pushed Muller and the puck into the net for a short-handed goal.

Only 36 seconds later, Steve Konroyd dragged Skrudland down in front only to see the puck go in off the Montreal center’s skate on a rebound to tie the score.