Penguins Set Stage for Steelers

The Pittsburgh Penguins staged a Super Bowl party Saturday afternoon and the Steelers can only hope things work out as well for them today.

Mario Lemieux had three goals for his 36th career hat trick and also had two assists as the Penguins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-4, at Pittsburgh for their fourth consecutive victory.

Penguins fans, encouraged to use the game and its national TV exposure to show support for the Steelers, waved Terrible Towels and roared when Steeler highlights were shown on the video scoreboard, accompanied by recorded good-luck messages from Penguin players.

Lemieux’s performance kept the fans cheering.

“I’ve been able to work out a lot more in the last couple days and it really showed tonight,� Lemieux said. “I had a little bit of jump and I was able to make some plays and buy some time. That’s the best I felt in a long time.�

Philadelphia is winless in Pittsburgh (0-10-4) since Nov. 21, 1990.

St. Louis 2, Tampa Bay 1--Tony Twist scored twice for the first time in his six-year career, and Grant Fuhr stopped 23 shots to lead the Blues to a victory at St. Louis.

Twist, who is normally used as an enforcer but has three goals in his last three games, scored twice in a 2:17 flurry in the second period.

Fuhr started his 47th consecutive game and is the only goalie to start every game this season.

Chicago 5, Detroit 5--Falling behind the high-powered Red Wings, 4-0, is usually fatal. But the Blackhawks beat the odds and almost won the game before settling for a tie at Chicago.

The Blackhawks scored five consecutive goals to erase the 4-0 deficit before Detroit’s Niklas Lidstrom scored with 17 seconds left in the third period to forge a tie between the Western Conference’s top two teams.

Detroit extended its unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1).

Montreal 4, Winnipeg 1--Martin Rucinsky set up four goals, and Jocelyn Thibault made 41 saves as the Canadiens continued their mastery over Winnipeg at the Forum.

It was Winnipeg’s last visit to the Forum and the Jets should be glad. Montreal ended up with a 21-2 record home against the Jets, winning the last 13 games. The Canadiens are moving into the new Molson Center.

Rucinsky assisted on a first-period goal from Valeri Bure, second-period goals by Stephane Quintal and Mark Recchi and another by Bure in the third. Recchi’s goal was the 600th point of his eight-year NHL career.

N.Y. Rangers 5, Boston 3--Pat Verbeek and Mark Messier scored key goals as the Rangers raced to a 3-0 lead and then hung on against the Bruins at Boston to extend their unbeaten streak to eight games.

After the Bruins had trimmed the lead to 3-2, Messier skated in on a partial breakaway with Jozef Stumpel hanging onto him and beat Bill Ranford. The Bruins pulled within a goal again, 4-3, but Messier added another goal.

Vancouver 6, N.Y. Islanders 3--Esa Tikkanen scored two goals and Corey Hirsch stopped 25 shots to help the Canucks prevail at Vancouver. Travis Green scored twice for the Islanders.

Colorado 4, San Jose 3--Valeri Kamensky grabbed a rebound, hesitated and then nonchalantly flipped a backhander into the net with 2:49 gone in overtime as the Avalanche won at San Jose.

Florida 6, Buffalo 3--Six Florida players scored, including a club-record three goals in the game’s opening 8:34, and the Panthers drove all-star goaltender Dominik Hasek from the net for the second time this season en route to a victory at Miami.

Ottawa 2, Toronto 2--Senator rookie Daniel Alfredsson scored with 9.6 seconds left in regulation in a tie at Kanata, Canada.

Alfredsson’s goal on a perfect goal-mouth feed from Radek Bonk made good a brilliant 42-save performance by Damian Rhodes against his old team.

New Jersey 4, Hartford 4--Devil center Bobby Holik scored on a 50-footer with 2:55 remaining in regulation to force a tie at Hartford, Conn.

Sean Burke made a season-high 50 saves.