Lemieux dominates Rangers again

<br>NEW YORK (AP) _ Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins ran up some more big numbers against the New York Rangers. <br><br>Lemieux raised his NHL-leading points total to 63 with a goal and two assists

Friday, December 27th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins ran up some more big numbers against the New York Rangers.

Lemieux raised his NHL-leading points total to 63 with a goal and two assists Thursday night against his favorite opponents. His effort helped the Penguins to an easy 6-1 road victory.

The Penguins have beaten the Rangers in both meetings this season, outscoring them 12-1. Lemieux has 60 goals and 131 points in 66 games with the Rangers, his most against any team.

His only goal on this night wasn't even struck cleanly. It doesn't matter when Lemieux shoots at the New York net.

``I fanned on the shot,'' Lemieux said. ``It wasn't a good shot. I was surprised it went in.''

In other NHL games, it was Ottawa 3, Buffalo 2; Detroit 4, Columbus 2; St. Louis 3, Colorado 2; Nashville 3, Dallas 1; Minnesota 2, Chicago 2; Vancouver 4, Edmonton 2; San Jose 4, Anaheim 1; and Los Angeles 4, Phoenix 3 in overtime.

Pittsburgh has won three straight following a 10-game losing streak. The Rangers fell to 1-7-1-1 in their last 10 games.

``We were winless in 10 games,'' said former Rangers player Steve McKenna, whose power-play goal at 16:46 of the first period gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead. ``I don't know if that's what they're going through. It's a matter of getting on the same page. They'll be fine.''

Jan Hrdina also had a power-play goal, and Michal Sivek, Michal Rozsival and Wayne Primeau also scored for Pittsburgh.

Mark Messier's power-play goal brought New York into a 1-1 tie in the first period.

Mike Dunham was replaced in the Rangers' goal after allowing five goals on 15 shots.

``I certainly didn't come up with the big save I needed,'' he said. ``I thought I could have had Mario's goal, and that set the tone for the rest of the night with some funny bounces that happened to go into the net and it just snowballed from there.''

Senators 3, Sabres 2

At Buffalo, New York, Daniel Alfredsson scored the tiebreaking goal and added two assists for Ottawa.

Magnus Arvedson and Todd White also scored for the Senators, 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. Ottawa won its second straight in Buffalo after going nearly four years without a victory there.

Martin Prusek made 20 saves to improve to 6-0.

Henrik Tallinder and J.P. Dumont scored for the Sabres, who lost their fourth straight.

Red Wings 4, Blue Jackets 2

At Detroit, Tomas Holmstrom scored two goals to help the Red Wings improve to 4-0-2 in their last six games and 8-1-3 in their previous 12.

Jason Woolley and Brett Hull also scored for Detroit the Stanley Cup champions. Mike Sillinger scored both goals for the Blue Jackets, who lost their third in a row.

Blues 3, Avalanche 2

At St. Louis, Pavol Demitra had two goals and an assist and Scott Mellanby scored the go-ahead goal for the Blues.

New Avalanche coach Tony Granato lost for the first time in four games. Colorado, which got a goal and an assist from Milan Hejduk, had outscored the opposition 11-6 in Granato's first three games.

Predators 3, Stars 1

At Nashville, Tennessee, Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell and David Legwand scored goals and Scott Walker had two assists for the Predators.

Pierre Turgeon scored for Dallas, which had Mike Modano back in the lineup following a three-game absence because of a concussion.

Wild 2, Blackhawks 2

At Chicago, Theo Fleury stuffed in a rebound of Alex Zhamnov's shot to tie it for the Blackhawks 3:06 into the third period.

Sergei Berezin also scored to help Chicago extended its unbeaten streak to four games at 3-0-1. Wes Walz and Stephane Veilleux scored for the Wild, winless in four (0-3-1).

Canucks 4, Oilers 2

At Edmonton, Alberta, Brendan Morrison and Todd Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist each as Vancouver beat the Oilers for the third time in less than two weeks.

Marek Malik added a short-handed goal and Mats Lindgren scored into an empty net for the Canucks, 5-2-1 in their last eight.

Mike York and Jason Chimera scored for the Oilers, who have lost a season-high five straight _ two in overtime.

Sharks 4, Mighty Ducks 1

At San Jose, California, Owen Nolan scored two goals in less than nine minutes in the second period, and Teemu Selanne scored for the sixth straight game.

Matt Cullen scored for Anaheim, which had won six of seven. The Ducks have lost four of five road games.

Marco Sturm also scored for San Jose and Patrick Marleau added two assists. Nolan ended a six-game goal drought.

Kings 4, Coyotes 3, OT

AT Los Angeles, Brad Chartrand scored at 3:14 of overtime and rookie Michael Cammalleri had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles.

Bryan Smolinski got his seventh goal before leaving early in the second period with an eye injury. Mathieu Schneider scored on a power play, and Ziggy Palffy and Lubomir Visnovsky each had two assists.

Rookie Branko Radivojevic scored with 6:01 left in regulation for the Coyotes, who rallied to tie it three times. Mike Johnson and Daniel Briere also scored for Phoenix, 0-18-3 when allowing more than two goals.