NHL Roundup

PITTSBURGH (AP) _ Mario Lemieux was ejected for fighting late in the Pittsburgh Penguin's 6-0 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday. <br><br>Lemieux, who had eight penalty minutes heading into the

Friday, February 7th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PITTSBURGH (AP) _ Mario Lemieux was ejected for fighting late in the Pittsburgh Penguin's 6-0 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday.

Lemieux, who had eight penalty minutes heading into the game, picked up 29 with 5:12 to play. The league's leading scorer slashed Florida's Brad Ference and then dropped his gloves against the fourth-year defenseman.

``The way he plays, he's got to expect that,'' Lemieux said of Ference. ``He takes a lot of cheap shots out there, and when the game is out of hand like that, he's going to pay for it.''

What bothered the Penguins' owner the most was a second-period cross-check to his back. After challenging Ference late in the game, Lemieux was assessed minor penalties for slashing and instigating, a major penalty for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct.

In other NHL games Thursday night, it was Colorado 1, Detroit 0; Toronto 3, Tampa Bay 2 in overtime; Boston 6, Montreal 3; Ottawa 2, Philadelphia 2; St. Louis 4, the New York Rangers 4; and Chicago 2, Calgary 2.

Lemieux's last ejection for fighting was April 24, 1996, when he took on Washington's Todd Krygier in the playoffs. Thursday's fighting major was his first in a regular-season game since March 20, 1987, at Washington, when he tangled with Bobby Gould.

Lemieux's frustration is understandable. Pittsburgh has lost four in a row and five of its last six home games. The Penguins, trying to avoid missing the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since 1988, are 1-6-1 in their last eight games.

Niklas Hagman, Kristian Huselius and Matt Cullen broke out of long scoring slumps for Florida. Hagman scored his first goal in 29 games, Huselius his first in 19 games and Cullen his first in 17.

Roberto Luongo made 28 saves for his fifth shutout of the season and 14th with the Panthers, a team record.

Bruins 6, Canadiens 3

In Boston, Martin Lapointe scored his first goal since the second game of the season and Jeff Hackett stopped 28 shots against his former team as the Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 Thursday.

Glen Murray, P.J. Axelsson, Nick Boynton, Kris Vernarsky and Joe Thornton scored Boston's other goals. Brian Rolston had three assists for the Bruins, 4-1-0-1 in their last six games.

Former Bruins Mariusz Czerkawski and Joe Juneau had Montreal's goals, with Czerkawski collecting a pair.

Hackett, acquired from San Jose on Jan. 23 after being dealt by Montreal earlier that day, still was wearing his Canadiens' pads and mask Thursday. He was tested early as Murray was whistled for a double-minor for high-sticking 10 seconds into the game. But Hackett stopped the few chances the Canadiens got.

Flyers 2, Senators 2

In Ottawa, Eric Chouinard scored in the first period and assisted on Jeremy Roenick's goal in the second as Philadelphia beat Ottawa.

Chouinard, acquired from Montreal on Jan. 29, scored his second goal in three games with Philadelphia before setting up Roenick's 18th goal of the season.

Flyers goalie Roman Cechmanek made 43 saves as Ottawa outshot Philadelphia 45-30 overall, including a 19-11 margin in the opening period.

Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson had two assists, setting up first-period goals by Zdeno Chara and Todd White.

Maple Leafs 3, Lightning 2, OT

In Tampa, Florida, Nik Antropov scored a rebound goal with 1:11 remaining in overtime to lead Toronto over Tampa Bay.

Antropov scored from close range after Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin stopped a shot by Bryan McCabe. The goal came after Tampa Bay's Nolan Pratt hit the goalpost.

Trevor Kidd made 34 saves for Toronto, which has won eight straight games against the Lightning. The Maple Leafs are 16-2 overall at Tampa Bay.

Jonas Hoglund and Mikael Renberg had the other Toronto goals. Both scored for the first time in 13 games.

Ruslan Fedotenko and Dave Andreychuk scored for Tampa Bay.

Avalanche 1, Red Wings 0

In Detroit, Patrick Roy recorded his 64th career shutout, tying him with Toronto's Ed Belfour for the most by any active goaltender, as Colorado beat Detroit.

Alex Tanguay scored for the Avalanche, who left Brett Hull waiting to join the 700-goal club. Hull has not scored in six games.

Roy made 28 saves and earned a shutout against the Red Wings for the first time. His three shutouts this season have come in the past six games.

Belfour blanked Florida on Wednesday night for his 64th shutout.

Blues 4, Rangers 4, OT

In St. Louis, Keith Tkachuk and Mikael Samuelsson scored two goals each, and each got one late in the third period as St. Louis defeated New York.

Pavol Demitra had a goal and two assists for the Blues, who are 2-0-2 in their last four games, and rallied from an early 2-0 deficit after pulling goalie Brent Johnson.

Steve Martins also scored for the Central Division leaders, who finished with Fred Brathwaite in the net.

Bobby Holik got his 250th career goal and Boris Mironov also scored for the Rangers.

Flames 2, Blackhawks 2

In Calgary, Alberta, Chris Drury scored the tying goal and goaltender Jamie McLennan made 30 saves, including 10 in overtime, to give Calgary a tie with Chicago.

Kyle Calder put Chicago ahead 2-1 at 7:19 of the third period, but the lead lasted just 25 seconds. Oleg Saprykin worked his way out of a corner and slid a pass in front to Martin Gelinas, whose poke at the puck was stopped by goalie Steve Passmore. Drury put in the rebound.

Chicago started overtime with 1:41 left on a power play and managed six shots on goal, most of them dangerous chances. The Blackhawks' final chance came in the waning seconds on a two-on-one. Steve Sullivan fed a pass across to Sergei Berezin cutting in, but McLennan stacked his pads for the save.

Jarome Iginla also scored for Calgary, and Lyle Odelein scored for Chicago.