Montreal sends Lemieux to first loss

Mario Lemieux was remarkable again. Only this time it wasn't enough for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pittsburgh was beaten for the first time since Lemieux ended a 3 1/2-year retirement, a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night that ended the Penguins' four-game winning streak.

Lemieux scored in his fourth straight game and had two assists. He has four goals and eight assists in four games.

Eric Weinrich scored twice -- he has three of his four goals against Pittsburgh -- as the Canadiens built an early lead and held off Lemieux and the Penguins.

Weinrich, a defenseman, hadn't scored since Dec. 16 against Pittsburgh. Brian Savage had a goal and two assists as Montreal won for only the 12th time in 41 games.

"It's huge to beat them," Weinrich said. "Their top two lines are probably the best two lines in the league right now and, for the most part, we shut them down."

Weinrich respects Lemieux's contributions to hockey, but refused to give the Hall of Famer special treatment.

"If you bow down in front of him, like a god, it's not going to work," Weinrich said. "He is the best thing to happen to the game, but you have to hit him and stay in his face. The only thing you try to do is keep it clean."

In other games, it was: Minnesota 3, Detroit 2 in overtime; Toronto 3, Buffalo 3; Edmonton 2, Chicago 1; Calgary 4, Anaheim 4; Boston 1, Washington 1; and Philadelphia 6, Atlanta 4.

Sabres 3, Maple Leafs 3

Tomas Kaberle tied his career high with three assists and Mats Sundin scored his 14th goal as visiting Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak in Buffalo.

Jonas Hoglund and Sergei Berezin also scored for the Leafs, who last won in Buffalo on Feb. 17, 1999.

Denis Hamel, Dave Andreychuk and Alexei Zhitnik scored for the Sabres, 9-1-3 in their last 13 home games against Toronto. Doug Gilmour added two assists.

Oilers 2, Blackhawks 1

Todd Marchant had a short-handed goal and Tom Poti scored on a power play 2:05 later as visiting Edmonton ended a two-game losing streak.

Edmonton's Tommy Salo stopped 19 shots as the Oilers won for just the second time in their last seven games.

Steve Dubinsky scored for the Blackhawks, whose four-game home unbeaten streak ended. Chicago's Jocelyn Thibault stopped 15 shots.

Flames 4, Mighty Ducks 4

Marty McInnis had two goals and two assists for a career-high four points, and Teemu Selanne scored his second goal of the game with 8:06 left in regulation as Anaheim rallied to tie visiting Calgary.

Dave Lowry had two goals and an assist for Calgary. Valeri Bure and Jarome Iginla also scored for the Flames.

Bruins 1, Capitals 1

Kyle McLaren scored with 2:39 remaining in regulation as Boston rallied to tie Washington and finished its five-game road trip with a 2-1-2 record.

Chris Simon scored a first-period power-play goal for the Capitals, who are 14-5-2 in their last 21 games.

Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig, 13-4-2 since Nov. 22, finished with 30 saves, while Boston's Byron Dafoe stopped 29 shots.

Flyers 6, Thrashers 4

Keith Primeau scored two goals and Mark Recchi had one goal and three assists as Philadelphia scored three goals in the first 2:19 and held on for the win in Atlanta.

The Flyers squandered a 5-0 lead before improving to 6-2-4 since Bill Barber took over as coach for Craig Ramsey.

Rusian Fedotenko, Justin Williams and Simon Gagne also scored for the Flyers. Donald Audette, Andrew Brunette, Jeff Odgers and Chris Tamer scored for the Thrashers.