NHL ROUNDUP : Lemieux Sits With Sore Back but Penguins Win

The back problems of Mario Lemieux continue, but the Penguins aren’t hurting yet.

Lemieux, the NHL’s leading scorer, left the game after the first period Tuesday night against the Boston Bruins.

After the second period, a team spokesman said Lemieux had aggravated his back and would not return. His condition will be evaluated daily.

The Penguins won the game, 6-2, at Pittsburgh, and Lemieux finished without a point for only the fourth time this season.

It was the second consecutive game Lemieux left early because of back problems.

“It’s an aggravation of what he’s had all along,” Penguin physician Charles Burke said. “He gets stiff. It gets to the point where he has trouble bending over and doing the things you need to do to play hockey. As the game went on, it just got harder and harder for him.”

Lemieux has missed only one game this season. He did not play Dec. 3 at Los Angeles against the Kings because of what the team said was a bruised heel.

Despite Lemieux’s absence, the Penguins stretched their unbeaten streak to 5-0-1, improved their home record to 16-2-3 and remained unbeaten against Adams Division opponents at 8-0-2.

The Bruins have lost four of their last five.

Winnipeg 4, Calgary 2--Fredrik Olausson scored a power-play goal with four minutes to play to lift the Jets at Calgary.

Olausson fired a low shot from the blue line that Flame goaltender Mike Vernon couldn’t see.

Teenu Selanne drew an assist on the play to go with the goal he scored earlier. Mike Eagles and Luciano Borsato got the other Winnipeg goals, Borsato scoring into an empty net.

Gary Roberts, off for cross-checking on the winning goal, and Theoren Fleury scored for the Flames, who saw a 10-game unbeaten streak and an eight-game winning streak stopped.

St. Louis 6, Edmonton 1--Brett Hull continued a midseason surge with two goals and Nelson Emerson had two goals and two assists as the Blues won at St. Louis.

Hull has seven goals in the last four games, including three two-goal games, and has 26 goals for the season. He scored his 300th and 301st goals in 362 career games with St. Louis.

Emerson, whose name has been linked in trade talks between the Oilers and Blues in a deal for holdout Joe Murphy, scored his 15th and 16th goals.

Quebec 2, N.Y. Islanders 1--Ron Hextall stopped 29 shots for his 150th career victory as the Nordiques won at Uniondale, N.Y.

Mike Ricci scored the game-winner for Quebec at 17:51 of the second period. He won a faceoff from Pierre Turgeon, controlled the puck, and headed behind the net.

Ricci shook off Turgeon as he circled in front and backhanded the puck by goalie Glenn Healy’s missed poke check and between his pads.

Montreal 2, San Jose 1--Mario Roberge’s goal with 7:14 remaining gave the Canadiens a victory at Daly City, Calif.