There’s Nothing to It for Lemieux on No. 600

It might have been the easiest of Mario Lemieux’s 600 goals, which is a good thing because he was a bit off his feed Tuesday night.

Lemieux scored No. 600 in his 719th game, slapping the puck into an empty net with 56 seconds to play in the Penguins’ 6-4 victory over Vancouver in Pittsburgh.

The fans chanted, “Mar-i-o, Mar-i-o, Mar-i-o” and threw hundreds of hats into the rink. Lemieux acknowledged a lengthy standing ovation with a wave of his stick as the video board replayed historic goals from his 13-year career.

“That’s why I wanted to do it tonight. To get a standing ovation like that is something special,” he said.

Lemieux especially wanted to score his 600th at home. He already planned to skip tonight’s game in Montreal because of back spasms.

“Actually, I don’t feel too great,” Lemieux said. “It’s been sore for a couple of days and it just didn’t get any better.”

Lemieux, who has 600 goals and 859 assists, joined Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Marcel Dionne and Phil Esposito as the only players with 600 goals and 800 assists. The other 600-goal scorers are Mike Gartner and Bobby Hull.

Pittsburgh’s Joe Mullen scored his 498th goal. With two more he can become the first U.S.-born player to score 500.

St. Louis 1, Detroit 1--Jim Campbell’s third-period goal gave the Blues a tie at Detroit and denied Red Wing Coach Scotty Bowman his 1,000th victory.

No NHL coach has won 1,000 games, but St. Louis, which Bowman coached to his first 110 victories, made sure it wouldn’t be a victim when Campbell’s shot, from the right circle, caromed off the cross bar and went in behind goalie Mike Vernon.

Tampa Bay 2, Phoenix 0--Chris Gratton scored 17 seconds into the game and the Lightning scored twice in its first six shots to end a three-game road losing streak.

Rick Tabaracci stopped 21 shots to make the 11th shutout of his career stand. Tampa Bay has given up third-period goals in only seven of its last 15 games.

Ottawa 4, Boston 3--Andreas Dackell scored the Senators’ third power-play goal, breaking a tie with 6:44 to play and extending Ottawa’s unbeaten streak on the road to four games (3-0-1).

Boston tied the game, 3-3, on Ted Donato’s second goal of the game, with 8:52 to play. But Dackell got his ninth goal of the season only 24 seconds after Mattias Timander was penalized for slashing.

Philadelphia 1, Buffalo 1--Joel Otto scored with 1:55 to play to lift the Flyers into a tie at Philadelphia.

Shjon Podein fed Otto from behind the net, and Otto punched it past goaltender Dominik Hasek while falling down.