Lemieux and Jagr Both Reach 50-Goal Plateau

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ 5-4 victory over the Hartford Whalers Friday night at Pittsburgh was a 50-50 proposition.

Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr both scored their 50th goal in the third period, enabling the Penguins to overcome Brendan Shanahan’s hat trick.

The Penguins planned to celebrate with champagne and Jagr is buying.

“I told him that on the bench,” said Lemieux, who got his 50th about four minutes before his teammate did. “We had a little race going after he scored his 49th. The first one to 50 was for a bottle of champagne. I have one coming, I guess. It was a special night.”

Lemieux scored his 50th in his 50th game, the third fastest he’s reached that level in his five 50-goal seasons. Jagr became the first Czech-born player to score 50 goals in a season.

“There haven’t been that many Czechs that have played the game,” he said.

Tampa Bay 3, New York Islanders 2--Rob Zamuner scored with 14.1 seconds left in overtime at Uniondale, N.Y., to enable the Lightning to win its fifth consecutive game.

John Cullen had the other two goals for Tampa Bay.

Boston 7, Edmonton 4--Adam Oates had two goals and two assists and goaltender Bill Ranford weathered a shootout to turn back his former teammates at Edmonton. Ranford, who was traded from the Oilers to the Bruins on Jan. 11, made 29 saves and had an assist.

Winnipeg 1, Chicago 0--Dallas Drake scored 17 seconds into overtime at Winnipeg to halt the Jets’ four-game losing streak.

New Jersey 6, Montreal 5--John MacLean matched a career best with four assists at East Rutherford, N.J., helping the Devils, who had scored the second fewest goals in the league, enjoy a rare offensive explosion.

The six goals were the second highest total for the team this season.

Buffalo 7, Philadelphia 2--Pat LaFontaine scored a pair of goals and set up two others for the Sabres at Buffalo.

Vancouver 3, San Jose 1--Martin Gelinas scored two goals as the Canucks beat the Sharks at Vancouver.