PITTSBURGH — Mario Lemieux looks to be 37 going on 27.
With the NHL's crackdown on obstruction creating the open ice, the wide-open play and the frequent scoring chances Lemieux thrives on, it's no wonder one of the NHL's greatest players ever is piling on the points.
Lemieux set up every Pittsburgh goal in a 3-2 victory over Atlanta on Wednesday night, giving him 10 points in three games and a newfound appreciation for what he says is the way hockey should be played.
"They're trying to give the game back to the great players and that's the way it should be," Lemieux said. "You can make plays out there and it's making it exciting for everybody."
In the only other games Wednesday night, Los Angeles held off Anaheim 4-2, and Boston beat Vancouver 6-3.
Even the Thrashers appeared as enthralled as the 12,161 fans by a succession of Lemieux's remarkable plays: a between-the-legs pass at mid-ice, a feed from along the boards that led to Alexei Kovalev's goal and a wraparound setup on Aleksey Morozov's fifth goal in three games.
And this guy also owns the team?
"When we got out there, our eyes were as big as saucers watching Lemieux do whatever he wanted out there," Atlanta coach Curt Fraser said. "We talked all day about it, prepared for it and when we got out there, we didn't do it."
They're not the only ones. Since the Lemieux-Kovalev-Morozov line was put together following a 6-0 loss to Toronto, they've piled up 25 points and accounted for 10 of 14 goals during a three-game winning streak.
Despite going 1-for-8 Wednesday and 5-for-29 on the power play so far, the Penguins might be benefitting as much as any NHL team from the obstruction enforcement.
After winning only 28 games last season, as they badly missed the traded Jaromir Jagr's scoring and Lemieux was hurt nearly all season, the Penguins are 3-1. They also have the league's top two scorers in Lemieux (10 points) and Morozov (9).
Morozov got Pittsburgh's first goal after Lemieux carried the puck to him from behind the net, only to get hurt about a minute later when Atlanta forward Slava Kozlov's pass struck him in the left ear.
The Penguins said he needed 50 stitches to close the wound, but Morozov said it wasn't quite that many. Despite missing the final two-plus periods, Morozov still has five goals and four assists in three games.
KINGS 4, MIGHTY DUCKS 2: At Anaheim, Calif., Jamie Storr made 31 saves in his first start of the season to help Los Angeles improve to 3-0.
Jason Allison, Bryan Smolinski, Adam Deadmarsh and Eric Belanger scored for Los Angeles, and Dan Bylsma and Steve Rucchin countered for Anaheim. The crowd of 11,332 was the smallest in the 74 games between the Southern California rivals.
BRUINS 6, CANUCKS 3: At Vancouver, British Columbia, Glen Murray scored twice for Boston and assisted on Sergei Samsonov's go-ahead goal.
P.J. Axelsson, Marty McInnis and Joe Thornton also scored for Boston. Harold Druken, Todd Bertuzzi and Daniel Sedin scored for Vancouver.