Lemieux Is Super in Atlanta Debut

Super Mario came to Atlanta for the first time, and the record crowd wasn’t disappointed.

Mario Lemieux scored a goal, assisted on two others and led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers Tuesday night.

An overflow crowd of 19,008 turned out at Philips Arena for Lemieux’s first regular-season game in Atlanta. The Penguins, who have won four in a row, have played before 15 consecutive sellouts since their owner ended his 3 1/2-year retirement.

“This is great for the league and great for the players and fans involved,” said Lemieux, who took one last curtain call when he was named the game’s first star. “It’s been very exciting the last month or so.”

Lemieux scored in the final minute of Pittsburgh’s four-goal second period, putting the Penguins ahead to stay and drawing cheers from even the hometown fans.

“It was quite an experience having Mario in the building,” Thrasher Coach Curt Fraser said. “You can see what he’s done for that hockey club.”

Lemieux has 15 goals and 16 assists in 15 games since ending his retirement, scoring at least a point in the last six.

Colorado 3, San Jose 1--Patrick Roy stopped 25 shots and Chris Drury scored the go-ahead goal at San Jose as the Avalanche extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games.

In a showdown between Western Conference powers, the Avalanche won its seventh in a row with a grinding defensive effort against the Sharks, who were coming off consecutive road victories over the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues.

Shjon Podein and Ville Nieminen also scored for Colorado, which has the NHL’s best record at 35-8-8-1.

Edmonton 5, Calgary 3--Anson Carter had two goals and an assist as the Oilers scored three times in less than two minutes in the third period to rally for the victory at Calgary.

With Edmonton trailing, 2-1, in the third, Carter assisted on Eric Brewer’s tying goal at 5:25. Carter then scored two goals in 37 seconds to put the Oilers in control. The three goals came in a span of 1 minute 49 seconds.

Vancouver 3, Minnesota 2--Mattias Ohlund scored 1:43 into overtime to lift the Canucks at Vancouver, Canada.

Ohlund took a backhand pass from Harold Druken at the blue line, deked Aaron Gavey in the high slot and fired a wrist shot past Jamie McLennan on the short side to give the Canucks their third victory in eight games.

Boston 5, St. Louis 1--P.J. Axelsson had two goals and an assist, and Byron Dafoe stopped 27 shots at Boston to lead the Bruins to their fourth consecutive victory.

New Jersey 3, Detroit 1--Patrik Elias had a goal and an assist, and Martin Brodeur stopped 28 shots at East Rutherford, N.J., to help the Devils end a two-game losing streak.

Ottawa 1, Washington 1--Daniel Alfredsson scored a power-play goal with 18:35 to play in regulation and Senator goalie Patrick Lalime blanked the Capitals during the final 55 minutes at Washington.

Tampa Bay 4, Florida 3--Todd Warriner ended a 25-game goal-scoring drought with two third-period goals at Tampa, Fla., to help the Lightning stop a 10-game losing streak.

Around the League

Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche will be the captains in the NHL All-Star game Sunday at Denver. The league also named Scott Niedermayer of the New Jersey Devils to the North American squad. He replaces injured St. Louis Blue defenseman Al MacInnis. . . . ABC Sports is putting another comedian in the game booth, tabbing Denis Leary to work the second and third periods of the NHL All-Star game telecast. Leary, who has a sitcom that the network will premiere in March, follows Dennis Miller, hired last year as a regular member on “Monday Night Football.” . . . Defenseman Kevin Haller of the New York Islanders will have surgery to repair a hernia and will sit out the rest of the season.