NHL PLAYOFFS : Lemieux, Penguins Clinch Opening Series

A few days ago, it seemed any hope the Pittsburgh Penguins had of repeating as Stanley Cup champions had nearly vanished.

They had been trounced by the Washington Capitals and trailed, 3-1, in the first-round series. Few hockey teams come back after trailing by two games in a series.

But, few have Mario Lemieux, either.

Lemieux culminated the Penguins’ uphill battle by scoring a goal and setting up another in a 3-1 victory at Landover, Md., that gave Pittsburgh the series, 4-3.

Lemieux, his back problem flaring up again, missed the opening game of the series. But, in the last six games he has been impressive, showing no signs of pain.

He opened the scoring in the finale with a short-handed score after 14 minutes. In the second period, with the score tied, he passed to Jaromir Jagr for the power-play goal that put the Penguins in front to stay.

Said Lemieux’s linemate, Kevin Stevens: “Mario loves the big games. We’re so lucky to have him. If you want anybody on your team for Game 7, we have him right here.”

Pittsburgh limited the Capitals to 19 shots and Tom Barrasso stopped 18. The comeback made the Penguins the first defending champion to get through the first round in three years.

They will play the New York Rangers in the second round.

New York Rangers 8, New Jersey 4--Mark Messier, the Ranger who knows what it’s like to win the Stanley Cup, had two goals at New York and for the first time the Rangers won Game 7 of a playoff series.

The Rangers, who have not won the NHL championship since 1940, had lost four previous seventh games. But in this one, after Mike Gartner broke a 1-1 tie with his sixth playoff goal at 9:33 of the first period, the Rangers assumed control.

Before the Devils scored again, the Rangers had already built a 6-1 lead.

Boston 3, Buffalo 2--Dave Reid, who had only seven goals during the regular season, scored with 8:20 left in regulation at Boston to give the Bruins the series, 4-3.

The Bruins bounced back from one of their worst games of the season, a 9-3 loss at Buffalo Wednesday that tied the series.

Reid beat goaltender Tom Draper on a quick wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.

Montreal 3, Hartford 2--Goaltender Frank Pietrangelo thwarted the Canadiens throughout this series, but they finally beat him in the second overtime at Montreal.

Before Russ Courtnall scored the decisive goal after 23:26 of overtime, the Whalers’ goaltender stopped 53 shots. He had not given up a goal since Gilbert Dionne scored at 11:07 of the first period.

But Pietrangelo’s teammates, after tying the score late in the second period, couldn’t beat Patrick Roy again. In the first overtime, the Canadiens had 18 shots to seven for the Whalers.