PITTSBURGH PENGUINS Lemieux is now 3 away from 1,700

He got an assist on the Penguins' only goal in a 1-1 tie with Carolina.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Ron Francis was around for many of Mario Lemieux's major career milestones. This time, he was more than happy to leave town without seeing Lemieux's next big accomplishment.
Lemieux closed within three points of becoming only the sixth player in NHL history to reach 1,700 points by assisting on the Penguins' only goal Wednesday night in a 1-1 tie with Carolina.
But the No. 5 scorer in league history, Francis, made certain the Lemieux-aided goal wasn't the only goal, even if he couldn't prevent the Hurricanes (0-2-3) from remaining the NHL's only winless team.
Taking advantage of one of the few errors made so far by rookie goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, Francis scored into an abandoned net midway through the second period to keep the Penguins from winning their second in a row.
Not the first time
It wasn't the first time Lemieux and Francis, longtime teammates and two of the NHL's best playmakers ever, figured in all the goals in a Penguins game.
"This building [Mellon Arena] has treated Ronnie well for a number of years," Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said.
So far, the NHL's oldest arena has been equally friendly to Fleury, even though the 18-year-old has won only one of his first three NHL starts there.
Fleury again made a series of difficult saves -- he stopped 35 of 36 shots -- only to give up a goal when he unwisely left the net to play a loose puck in the right circle midway through the second period.
Fleury became tangled with Hurricanes right wing Radim Vrbata and was unable to scramble back to the net, allowing Francis to score off his own rebound. Fleury, sprawled along the bottom of the circle, managed to kick away Francis' initial shot.
Penguins rookie coach Eddie Olczyk called the Patrick Roy-like stroll from the net a learning experience that can only benefit Fleury.
"I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, then I figured, 'Why not?' " Fleury said.
When he saw Francis alone with the puck, he knew why.
But the Penguins refused to blame Fleury on a night they were only 1-for-7 on the power play. Aleksey Morozov put in a rebound of Lemieux's shot off the post in the first period, but the Penguins didn't score on their next six power plays, including one that spanned the first 1:52 of overtime.