Dec 23, 2002 By Associated Press 4 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Mario Lemieux has shown off his great skill in many places during his Hall of Fame career, but the faceoff circle hasn’t been one of them. Until Monday night.

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain scored one goal directly off a faceoff and set up another off a clean faceoff win, both in the third period, as he rallied the Penguins to a 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

Lemieux had one goal and three assists in a span of 6 minutes, 2 seconds as he and linemates Alexei Kovalev and Martin Straka combined for eight points in the game’s final nine minutes to help Pittsburgh overcome a 2-1 deficit.

“I’ve tried that so many times over the years, and one of these days it was going to work,” Lemieux said.

Lemieux won a faceoff from Chris Gratton in the right circle and beat goaltender Mika Noronen all in the same motion for the game-winning goal at 13:10 of the final period.

“For some reason, I can only try that against a lefty,” Lemieux said.

With right-handed Stu Barnes opposing him in the right circle 4:01 later, Lemieux cleanly won the draw around Barnes and then slipped a pass into the slot for Straka, who scored his eighth goal.

“I think it was a bit of Mario magic,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.

It finished the improbable comeback and give the Penguins their second consecutive victory following a 10-game winless streak.

Kovalev scored the first of his two goals at 11:09 of the period to tie it at 2 off a perfect pass from Lemieux. He added his team-leading 19th goal by converting Straka’s pass at 16:02.

“It was our job, the top guys, to go out when the team’s down and lift the team,” said Lemieux, the NHL’s leading scorer with 60 points in 33 games. “The last few weeks have been tough on the team, but winning a game like this will certainly help.”

The Penguins, who broke their slide with a 2-0 home victory over Calgary on Saturday, won for the first time this season when trailing after two periods.

Rookie Ales Kotalik gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead late in the second period with his first career power-play goal at 13:28. But the Sabres, who have won only two road games this season, fell apart in the final period while losing to the Penguins for the third time this season.

“We talked about it between periods, that we couldn’t go out and sit on the 2-1 lead,” Sabres defenseman James Patrick said. “And I don’t think we did that. But these guys are so explosive they can score in bunches.

“There were some great plays by them and some mistakes by us. That’s all you can say. Off the faceoff … it’s something I’ve only seen once or twice in my 19 years. It was a brilliant play by a brilliant player.”

The loss was the third straight for the Sabres, who have won just one of their last seven games.

J.P. Dumont gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead just 1:50 in when he fired the rebound of Norman Milley’s shot past goaltender Johan Hedberg from the right circle for his seventh goal.

The Penguins tied it three minutes later on Milan Kraft’s second goal in three games. Kovalev stole the puck in the neutral zone, and his pass from the right wing glanced off linemate Michal Sivek and right to Kraft, who fired the puck past Noronen from the left circle.

NOTES: Buffalo D Alexei Zhitnik, who played his fourth game since returning from a broken foot, hasn’t scored in 78 games since beating Hedberg in November, 2001. … The Penguins scratched Brooks Orpik, Randy Robitaille and Alexandre Daigle. … Buffalo scratched Rob Ray, Rhett Warrener (groin) and Radoslav Hecl. … Sivek’s assist was his first NHL point, while Kovalev recorded his 600th NHL point on the same play. … Noronen made his first start since Nov. 12.