NHL ROUNDUP : Penguins Lose First Game Without Lemieux

The Pittsburgh Penguins played as if they had something other than hockey on their minds.

In its first game since discovering Mario Lemieux has Hodgkin’s disease, the NHL’s best club looked miserable Thursday night in a 7-0 loss to the Boston Bruins at Boston.

“We can’t blame everything on Mario (being out). We just played a bad game,” Jaromir Jagr said. “But you see how we miss him.”

The Penguins, tied for the league scoring lead, managed only 21 shots and gave up two shorthanded goals. They appeared disorganized at times as they suffered their first shutout against Boston since 1977.

Steve Heinze scored three times for the Bruins, once while Boston was shorthanded. Dave Reid added a shorthanded goal and Steve Leach had a power-play goal. Don Sweeney and Ted Donato also scored.

The Penguins announced Tuesday that Lemieux, the NHL scoring leader, has Hodgkin’s disease and will be sidleined at least four to six weeks while undergoing radiation treatment. Team doctors said the disease was detected early and Lemieux has an excellent chance for a full recovery.

The Penguins, winners of two consecutive Stanley Cups, also were missing goalie Tom Barrasso, sidelined because of chickenpox. Barrasso, who leads NHL goalies with 25 victories, is expected to be sidelined at least a week.

Philadelphia 4, Calgary 4--Garry Galley’s goal with 7:21 to play in the third period lifted the Flyers to a tie at Philadelphia.

Galley’s slapshot from the left circle beat goaltender Mike Vernon for his sixth goal.

St Louis 4, Ottawa 1--Craig Janney had a goal and two assists and Curtis Joseph stopped 37 shots as the Blues beat the Senators at Ottawa.

Brett Hull added his 28th goal and an assist, Jeff Brown had a goal and an assist and Rich Sutter scored shorthanded.

Washington 3, NY Islanders 0--Mikael Pivonka extended his point-scoring streak to eight games with a goal and two assists, and goaltender Don Beaupre stopped 33 shots at Uniondale, N.Y.

The shutout was the Capitals’ first this season, and Beaupre’s 13th overall. He kept it intact by deflecting Steve Thomas’ wrist shot with 8:28 remaining in the third period.

Montreal 5, Quebec 3--Kirk Muller’s 20th goal of the season 1:01 into the third period broke a tie and helped the Canadiens beat the Nordiques at Quebec City.

Stephan Lebeau scored twice and Mike Keane and Vincent Damphousse also had goals for Montreal (27-15-5), which has won five of its last six games.

Chicago 3, Minnesota 1--Goaltender Ed Belfour continued his mastery over the North Stars, beating them for the fifth consecutive time at Chicago. He is 13-5-1 against Minnesota.

Steve Larmer’s 399th goal, a second-period shorthander, helped provide Belfour with his 20st victory.