PITTSBURGH Injury sidelines Penguins' Lemieux

The Penguins are 2-6-0-1 without their standout center.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Penguins center Mario Lemieux is out indefinitely because of a left hip flexor injury that already has sidelined him for more than three weeks.
Lemieux, the team's all-time leading scorer with 1,701 points, will miss home games this week against Philadelphia and the New York Rangers, a road game at Carolina on Saturday and, possibly, many more.
So far this season, the Penguins (5-10-3-1) are 2-6-0-1 without Lemieux.
"Mario continues to rehab and continues the treatment, but unfortunately he's going to be out indefinitely," Penguins head coach Eddie Olczyk said Monday.
Olczyk had been optimistic after Lemieux's most recent evaluation Nov. 17 that Pittsburgh's owner-captain would be able to return for Wednesday's game against the Flyers.
"Like anything else, there are good days, bad days, those types of things," Olczyk said.
Out since Nov. 1
Lemieux, who has not commented on the injury, has been out of action since leaving after the first period of the Penguins' 3-2 overtime win against Boston Nov. 1 at Mellon Arena. He first attempted a return to the lineup Nov. 4 at Toronto, but was scratched for that 4-2 loss and every game since.
The last time Lemieux took the ice for a practice was Nov. 10, but he lasted only six minutes before returning to the dressing room.
He continues to work out in the team's weight rooms and observes practices.
"I think we've been concerned as a club for the last 21/2 or three weeks because he's not with us," Olczyk said. "It's taken a lot longer that we would have hoped, but he's got to continue doing what he's doing and, hopefully, before long he'll be back with us."
Had been scoring
Prior to the injury, Lemieux was among the top scorers in the NHL. He was held without a point in a 3-0 loss to Los Angeles in the season opener, but had notched at least one in every other game until taking himself out against Boston.
In eight games, he had one goal and nine points and had an assist in each of those games, an eight-game streak unmatched in the NHL so far this season.
Despite missing the last six games, his nine points ties Lemieux with Aleksey Morozov and rookies Konstantin Koltsov and Ryan Malone for third on the Penguins in scoring behind Rico Fata (11) and Martin Straka, who has four goals and six assists.