Visitor: Boston Bruins

Home: Pittsburgh Penguins

Date: November 19, 1997

Scoring:

Team 1 2 3 OT Final

BOS 1 0 2 0 3

PIT 1 1 1 0 3

Visitor playmakers:

Jason Allison, Don Sweeney, Ray Bourque

Home playmakers:

Alexei Morozov, Ed Olczyk, Neil Wilkinson

Network: FSN Pittsburgh

Announcers: Mike Lange, Paul Steigerwald

Pregame: Yes

Intermissions: Yes. 1^st – Stan Savran with the 1^st period recap. 2^nd – Guy Junker with recap, Paul Steigerwald talks with Mario about the pre-game ceremony, tributes from other athletes and celebrities.

Postgame: Yes

Commercials: Yes – look for Judge Reinhold selling Subarus.

Grade: Excellent

Notes: On the night recently inducted Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux had his number 66 retired, future Hall of Famer Ray Bourque scored with 6:34 to play in regulation to lift the Boston Bruins into a 3-3 tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Lemieux, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Monday, was honored with a half-hour ceremony prior to the contest and just six months after the final game of his legendary career. Lemieux's number was the second retired in franchise history, joining Michel Briere's number 21.

"The Hall of Fame (ceremony) was something special," Lemieux said. "Tonight, was also special having played my whole career and so many games in this building. Having played here for so long, today I went through a lot of different emotions. Perhaps my favorite game was the one where I scored five goals five different ways against New Jersey. My only one regret was that we did not finish our Stanley Cup wins in Pittsburgh. I would have liked to have had the chance to lift the Cup in front of the great Pittsburgh fans who supported me so well."

After Neil Wilkinson gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead with a 90-foot slap shot that beat Jim Carey, Bourque took a cross-ice pass from rookie Hal Gill and beat Tom Barrasso with a slapper from just inside the blue line.

"When (defensemen) get goals, it's like gravy on the potatoes for us," Boston coach Pat Burns said.

Jason Allison and Don Sweeney each scored for the Bruins, who are 1-0-4 in overtime. Alexei Morozov and Ed Olczyk tallied for the Penguins, who are 2-0-4 in overtime.

"We just played the best road team in the NHL. I don't know if many people know that," Penguins coach Kevin Constantine said. "Probably too many memories were taken back to last year when they were the last place team in the league. Boston's has the best NHL record on the road and you can see why -- they keep working hard."

Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr missed his third straight game with a strained hip muscle.

The Bruins took a 1-0 lead 2:21 into the game when Jason Allison lifted a rebound of Anson Carter's blast over a prone Barrasso for his seventh goal of the season.

Morozov tied the game just 86 seconds later. Straka lost the puck as he cut to the net off the right wing. Morozov, who was trailing the play on the left wing, wristed the puck into the lower right corner of the net for his sixth goal this season.

Olcyzk gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead with 7:18 to play in the second period. Straka took a pass from Chris Tamer and cut to the net from the left boards before finding Olcyzk, who wristed it in from the slot past Carey for his eighth goal of the season.

Olcyzk has 14 goals in 32 career games against Boston.

"Boston is a good team. They're young and hungry, well-coached, well-disciplined ... you have to continue to play hard," Olcyzk said.

Sweeney tied the game 2-2 early in the third period with his first goal since March 1st.

"I did not think we played very well. The ebb and flow was not going our way. We threw the puck in the middle at times," Sweeney said. "Pittsburgh is a team playing a lot like we are. You have to realize there was going to be a ceremony. There were no excuses about it being Mario's night."

Boston outshot Pittsburgh 3-1 in overtime but mustered no quality scoring chances. The Bruins are 1-11-1 in their last 13 games in Pittsburgh.

Thanks Dave!

Running time: 2:42 (2 discs)