Lemieux’s Worries Put Aside

After spending the previous two days worrying about his newborn child, Mario Lemieux found peace on the ice Tuesday night, scoring five goals and registering two assists to dominate his first game against Wayne Gretzky in more than three years and lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to an 8-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Lemieux’s wife, Nathalie, gave birth to their third child on Sunday. The 2-pound, 5-ounce boy was three months early and is expected to remain on a respirator for a few days.

“The baby’s doing great, my wife is doing great, so now I can go back and think about hockey and do my job,” Lemieux said.

Lemieux got his sixth hat trick of the season and 37th of his career. He fell one goal short of tying the modern NHL record, last accomplished by Darryl Sittler of Toronto in 1976.

“It was Mario’s show, no question about that,” Blues Coach Mike Keenan said. “He put on quite a spectacle tonight.”

Gretzky had one assist for the Blues, who are 5-6-2 since he was acquired from the Kings on Feb. 27.

“Tonight was very special,” said Lemieux, who passed Guy Lafleur for 11th on the NHL career points list with 1,357. “I was ready to play early. I felt very good and everything went in for me. I could have had a couple more. A night like that doesn’t happen too often.”

Lemieux, who scored five goals twice before in his career, leads the league in goals (63) and points (146). He also got his 800th career assist on Brad Lauer’s third-period goal.

It was the 21st Lemieux-Gretzky matchup since Lemieux came into the league in 1984 and the first since Nov. 6, 1993. The Penguins are 7-13-1 in those games.

Keenan broke up the combination of Gretzky and Brett Hull during the game.

“Brett said he’s confused so we’ll try him with [Peter] Zezel,” Keenan said.

Hull, who scored one of the Blues’ four goals, declined comment.

St. Louis goalie Grant Fuhr started his 74th consecutive game, one short of the NHL record he set with Edmonton in 1987-88. Fuhr was lifted after allowing two goals on seven shots.

Lemieux scored the first of three consecutive goals at 15:37 of the first period to break a 2-2 tie. The Penguins were eight seconds into a power play when Lemieux beat goalie Jon Casey.

Lemieux completed his hat trick at 8:43 of the second period, converting Petr Nedved’s pass just as the first half of a two-man advantage expired. Lemieux’s fourth goal was a shorthanded breakaway, his league-leading seventh shorthanded goal.

His fifth goal, off a give-and-go pass from Ron Francis, came as a Blues’ power play expired.

Meanwhile, Blues winger Shayne Corson’s jaw was broken by J.J. Daigneault’s first-period check. Keenan said he wasn’t sure how long Corson would be out but said the player could be lost for the playoffs.

“It was clean check,” Keenan said.