Ken Wregget

Mario Lemieux, a five-time scoring champion whose career with the Pittsburgh Penguins has been hampered by a bad back and a bout with cancer, says he definitely will retire after the playoffs. The 31-year-old center leads the league with 117 points on 49 goals and 68 assists. The Penguins could have another problem entering the playoffs. Goalie Ken Wregget's hamstring injury continues to bother him and he may be held out for the start of the playoffs.

Pittsburgh Penguin goaltender Ken Wregget will sit out six weeks because of a pulled left hamstring, and goalie Tom Barrasso will be out indefinitely because he will undergo shoulder surgery. Wregget injured his leg during the third period of Thursday's 3-3 tie with the Montreal Canadiens and will be replaced by Phillippe DeRouville, just called up from Kansas City of the International Hockey League.

A chronic shoulder injury is likely to keep Tom Barrasso off the ice for the rest of the year, leaving Ken Wregget as the Pittsburgh Penguins' regular goalie. Barrasso sat out the last two weeks while undergoing treatment for what General Manager Craig Patrick called a recurring problem in his right shoulder. A new rehabilitation program will sideline him for six to eight weeks, the Penguins announced Friday.

Goaltender Ron Hextall will miss 10 to 14 days because of a groin strain, but he and the Philadelphia Flyers insist his latest injury is nothing to worry about. Hextall, who sat out most of last season with injuries, left the Flyers' 7-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils with 3:06 remaining in the second period Thursday night. He suffered the injury after he did a split on a shot by Devils defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov. "I went across there and felt a little tug," Hextall said.

Defenseman Mark Hardy scored his first goal of the season with 5:22 left to lead the New York Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the slumping Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night. Hardy, the defensive-minded defenseman who scored only one goal in the previous two seasons, slapped Paul Broten's pass past Flyer goaltender Ken Wregget to break a 2-2 tie. Hardy last scored on Oct. 6, 1990. Sergei Nemchinov added a breakaway goal at 18:09.

Bob Probert's goal at 10:29 of the third period snapped a tie and lifted the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs Friday night, tying the Norris Division final at three wins apiece. The Red Wings, trying to become only the third franchise in National Hockey League history to overcome a 3-1 deficit in Stanley Cup play, host the seventh and deciding game Sunday night.

Glen Hanlon recorded Detroit's first playoff shutout in 21 years as the Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-0, Wednesday night at Detroit to stave off elimination in the Norris Division finals. Lee Norwood, Adam Oates and Brent Ashton each scored a goal as the Red Wings forced the best-of-seven series to a sixth game Friday night in Toronto, with the Maple Leafs leading 3-2. Game 7, if necessary, would be played Sunday back at Joe Louis Arena.

Alexandre Daigle scored on a breakaway with 56.5 seconds left in overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night. Daigle, obtained from Ottawa on Jan. 17, lifted the puck high over goaltender Ken Wregget from the middle of the slot for his first goal as a Flyer. Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr sent the game into overtime, scoring on a backhander from just outside the right crease with 15 seconds left in regulation.

Home-ice advantage finally meant something Friday night in a game that was only 60 minutes long. Both phenomena appeared in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins, who took four overtimes to win on Wednesday night, made shorter work of it, getting spectacular goaltending from Ken Wregget in a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals. Pittsburgh took a 3-2 lead in the series by being the first team to win on its own ice. The Penguins can finish things off Sunday in Landover, Md.