NHL PLAYOFFS ROUNDUP : Lemieux, Penguins Stay Red Hot

The NHL playoffs started just the way the regular season ended--with Mario Lemieux scoring and the Pittsburgh Penguins streaking.

Lemieux had two goals and two assists as the Penguins tied the league record with their 12th consecutive playoff victory, beating the New Jersey Devils, 6-3, in a Patrick Division first-round playoff opener Sunday at Pittsburgh.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins tied the playoff winning streak set in 1984-85 by the Edmonton Oilers and also remained unbeaten (18-0-1) since March 5.

“Records are nice, and they happen to this team if we play well,” Lemieux said. “But even when we made that run down the stretch, we couldn’t wait for the playoffs to start.”

The first two periods were vintage Penguins, with a succession of highlight-film goals, breakaway rushes and power-play flurries. The regular-season champion Penguins needed only 1:40 to take a 1-0 lead on Rick Tocchet’s power-play goal after Dave Barr was called for a high-sticking infraction on Lemieux. Pittsburgh pushed it to 3-1 early in the second period on two Lemieux goals.

St. Louis 4, Chicago 3--The Blues took home-ice advantage from the Blackhawks with a come-from-behind victory at Chicago, stirring memories of the game Chicago blew to start the Stanley Cup final against Pittsburgh last year.

The Blues trailed, 3-1, midway through the second and were still down, 3-2, midway through the third. But they took advantage of a late power play to score twice in 27 seconds in the opener of the Norris Division semifinal.

In the opening game of last year’s final series, the Blackhawks led by three goals but let Pittsburgh rally for a 5-4 victory. Chicago was never really in the series again and eventually was swept.

Washington 3, New York Islanders 1--Dale Hunter scored twice in the third period to lift the Capitals to a rare comeback victory over the Islanders at Landover, Md., in the opener of their Patrick Division series.

Rick Tabaracci stopped 22 shots for the Capitals, who had won only three games when trailing after two periods--the last time on Dec. 29 against the New York Rangers.

The Capitals, stymied by goaltender Glenn Healy for the first two periods, trailed, 1-0, when Hunter stuffed in a rebound with 16:42 left. He then gave Washington the lead with 12:59 remaining when he gained possession of a loose puck in front of the net and lifted the puck past Healy with the Capitals on a power play.

Buffalo 5, Boston 4--Former Bruin Bob Sweeney scored 11:03 into overtime to give the Sabres the victory over Boston in the opening game of their Adams Division playoff at Boston.

Sweeney’s slap shot from the faceoff circle to the right of the Boston net sailed between the legs of Bruins goalie Andy Moog, ending a frenetic overtime period of end-to-end action.

Cam Neely and Steve Heinze had scored for Boston in the final 4:16 of the third period to send the game into overtime, after the Bruins’ sloppy play for much of the game led to a 4-2 deficit.

Alexander Mogilny scored two goals and the Sabres took advantage of several poor clearing passes to lead for most of the game, but the Bruins twice rallied from two goals down.

Dave Hannan and Pat LaFontaine, who missed part of the second period with a knee injury but returned in the third, also scored for Buffalo, which has never won in five previous playoff series against Boston.

Quebec 3, Montreal 2--Scott Young scored 16:49 into overtime to complete a dramatic comeback as the Nordiques defeated the Canadiens at Quebec in the opener of their Adams Division playoff series.

Young carried the puck down the right side, went around the net and tucked the puck in off goaltender Patrick Roy’s stick for the game-winner.

Martin Rucinsky and Joe Sakic scored for Quebec in the final two minutes of regulation to force overtime.

Dionne took an elbowing penalty at 17:17 of the third period and Quebec Coach Pierre Page pulled goaltender Ron Hextall with two minutes left to play.

Mats Sundin fed Rucinsky from behind the net for a shot that trickled past Roy.

Hextall was out of the net again when Sakic’s harmless looking shot went in off Roy’s pad with 48 seconds remaining to tie the game.