He's Super Mario again in dramatic return

PITTSBURGH (AP) _ Nobody does comebacks like Mario Lemieux. <br><br>Lemieux didn't need this latest comeback to get into the Hall of Fame _ he's already there. <br><br>He didn't need the money

Thursday, December 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PITTSBURGH (AP) _ Nobody does comebacks like Mario Lemieux.

Lemieux didn't need this latest comeback to get into the Hall of Fame _ he's already there.

He didn't need the money _ he owns his team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He didn't need to be dramatic _ this is the man who once scored the same day he had radiation treatment for cancer.

No, Mario Lemieux returned for this, the excitement of playing his sport like nobody else plays it, even after a 3 1/2-year retirement that lasted longer than many players' careers.

Lemieux returned to hockey Wednesday the same way he left it in 1997, with a performance as dominating as it was breathtaking. He had a goal and two assists, one in the game's very first minute, as his Penguins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-0.

How could this happen? How could a player, even one as skilled and as superb as Lemieux, sit out for 44 months, then come back and play as if he had been off only a week or two?

Even Lemieux couldn't fully explain it.

``I was a little surprised by the way I played,'' said Lemieux, a six-time scoring champion who retired at age 31 following years of health problems. ``It was a great moment, the kind of moment I will cherish for a long time.''

Jaromir Jagr, who had two goals and two assists while clearly benefitting from Lemieux's return, warned it won't always be this easy.

``I don't think every game is going to be like that, there are going to be a lot of tough games,'' Jagr said.

Still, it was evident the Penguins, 0-6-1 in their previous seven home games, are a much different team with Lemieux in the lineup. Much different.

The Maple Leafs, who seemed to spend much of the night admiring Lemieux's handiwork, certainly noticed.

``We gave him all kinds of room and respect, and everything the hockey world hoped for happened,'' Toronto coach Pat Quinn said. ``We weren't very good.''

For at least one night, Lemieux's comeback was as electrifying as anyone could have wished. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, whose league has unexpectedly regained the superstar it lacked with Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky in retirement, couldn't hide his smile.

``It was a great night,'' he said.

Lemieux's return visibly spurred Jagr, the four-time NHL scoring champion who began the night only 17th in the league in scoring. And it also inspired the Penguins, who Lemieux says can contend for the Stanley Cup, yet began the night with a 15-14-6 record.

Perhaps the only disappointed person in the standing room crowd of 17,148 was 4-year-old Austin Lemieux, who asked his dad for a hat trick. Austin, who wore a miniature No. 66 jersey, had to be satisfied with a three-point night.

At least his dad had this right _ Mario Lemieux warned the fans they shouldn't expect five or six points a night right away.

``It was great,'' Lemieux said. ``To be back in your first game, score a goal here in this building, and the way the crowd reacted, it was a great experience.''

Now, Lemieux must figure out how to top this.

Previously, he estimated it would take 2-to-3 weeks to return to playing like he did from 1984-97, when he led the Penguins to two Stanley Cup titles and won three MVP awards.

He might be willing to advance that timetable now.

``I felt very strong,'' said Lemieux, who missed considerable playing time earlier in his career due to back problems. ``I was a little surprised the way I felt.''

No more surprised than the Maple Leafs, who seemed confused how to defend Jagr and Lemieux at the same time.

``You can't just throw a blanket over Jagr when he crosses the blue line anymore,'' forward Gary Roberts said.

On Lemieux's first shift after his No. 66 was pulled down from the Mellon Arena ceiling, signaling his return to active duty, Lemieux threw the puck from behind the net into the crease. It deflected off Jan Hrdina's skate to Jagr, who put it in the net.

Jagr dislodged the net, but the goal was upheld after being reviewed by video goal judge Dale Ruth.

``I wanted to get off to a good start and take the pressure off right off the bat,'' Lemieux said.

That assist would have been highlight enough for most fans, but there was more. In the second period, Lemieux took Jagr's cross-ice pass to score his 614th career regular-season goal, his first of any kind since Game 4 of the 1997 Flyers-Penguins playoff series.

Lemieux beat Flyers goalie Garth Snow for that goal; on Wednesday, Snow started for Pittsburgh and made 40 saves in shutting out the Maple Leafs.

Lemieux later assisted on Hrdina's goal.

``It was like he never left,'' said Alexei Kovalev, who also scored. ``He's in the best shape I've ever seen him. He's already got all the records, and now he looks even better than before. He's been out of hockey so long, but he hasn't lost any of his skill.''