New Owner Lemieux Gets First Victory

Even in the regular season, Jaromir Jagr and the Pittsburgh Penguins are finding ways to frustrate Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils.

Jagr had the go-ahead goal and two assists and the Penguins gave Mario Lemieux his first victory as an owner, defeating the Devils, 7-5, Thursday night at East Rutherford, N.J., in a game in which Brodeur was ejected for whacking Matthew Barnaby in the legs with his stick.

The mild-mannered Brodeur and the pesky Barnaby disagreed over how hard the goaltender hit him, but referee Paul Stewart felt it was bad enough to call a match penalty at 14:32 of the first period. Pittsburgh led 3-1 at that point on three goals by Alexei Morozov.

The penalty does not carry an automatic suspension, but the NHL will review the action. Barnaby had to be helped off the ice but returned for the final two periods of the first game between the teams since an injured Jagr rallied the bankruptcy-ridden Penguins to a first-round playoff victory over the Devils in seven games.

Brodeur said there was no intent to injure.

“If I really swing at all, he was so exposed I really could have hurt him,” said Brodeur, who didn’t believe he should be suspended.

Jiri Slegr, Robert Lang and Alexei Kovalev also scored for Pittsburgh.

Ottawa 4, Boston 3--Newly annointed captain Daniel Alfredsson scored two goals to lead the Senators past the Bruins before a home sellout of 18,500 at Kanata, Ontario.

The Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the Senators came back behind Alfredsson, who was named captain in the wake of Alexei Yashin’s contract holdout.

Carolina 2, Philadelphia 0--Ron Francis had a goal and an assist and Arturs Irbe made 30 saves as the Hurricanes defeated the Flyers at Philadelphia.

The loss marked the first time in the Flyers’ 33-year history that they have gone scoreless in their first two games.

Detroit 7, Atlanta 1--Steve Yzerman scored his first goal of the season to ignite a three-goal first period and the Red Wings cruised past the Thrashers at Atlanta. It was the second NHL game for the Thrashers, who lost in their debut on Saturday 4-1 to New Jersey at Philips Arena.

San Jose 3, Edmonton 2--Mike Ricci’s second goal of the game came three minutes 44 seconds into overtime, lifting the Sharks past the Oilers for their third consecutive victory to start the season.