Mario Lemieux, an ice hockey Hall of Famer who won Stanley Cups and NHL scoring titles before buying the Pittsburgh Penguins and then returning to the ice, retired from the game for a second time on Tuesday.
Lemieux, who has overcome cancer and battled heart problems in a comeback, announced his decision at a news conference.
"This is always a difficult decision for any athlete to make," Lemieux said.
PHOTO: AP
The 40-year-old Lemieux learned in early December he has an irregular heartbeat that can cause his pulse to flutter wildly and must be controlled by medication.
Lemieux, the National Hockey League's seventh-leading career scorer with 1,723 points, tried to return a week after being hospitalized with the problem, but it flared up again during a Dec. 16 game against Buffalo and he has not played since.
Lemieux has been practicing the last several weeks with the intent on returning this season but, with the Penguins stuck in a 10-game losing streak and with no hope of them making the playoffs, decided to quit playing for a second time.
He also retired after the 1996-1997 season following years of back problems and a 1993 diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease, but he returned midway through the 2000-2001 season and has played since.
However, he has again fought through injuries -- including two major hip problems -- that caused him to miss most of the 2001-2002 and 2003-2004 seasons. He had seven goals and 15 assists in 26 games this season.
Lemieux, a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 1997, led the Penguins -- the NHL's worst team before he was drafted in 1984 -- to successive Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992. He won six NHL scoring titles, three MVP awards and two Conn Smythe awards as the Stanley Cup playoffs MVP.
Lemieux, who wore No. 66 throughout his career, scored 690 goals and had 1,033 assists in 915 career games. He also became the first major pro sports star to buy the team for which he played, assembling a group that bought the team in federal bankruptcy court in 1999.
Lemieux's group has owned the team since but announced last week it is selling -- a possible prelude to the team leaving Pittsburgh in June 2007. One reason Lemieux is selling is because he doesn't want to be the owner who relocates the team from Pittsburgh.
Martin Brodeur made 24 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and Brian Gionta scored his 29th goal to help the New Jersey Devils beat the New York Islanders 4-0 on Tuesday for their 10th victory in 11 NHL games.
Brodeur, seventh on the NHL's career shutout list with 79, improved to 24-3-15 and lowered his goals-against average to 2.59. The Canadian Olympic goalie has all four of his shutouts this season in the last 11 games.
Jamie Langenbrunner and Scott Gomez each had a goal and an assist, Viktor Kozlov also scored and Patrik Elias added two assists for the Devils.
Sabres 2, Rangers 1
At New York, Ales Kotalik had a goal and an assist to lead Buffalo.
Kotalik scored 1:53 into the third period after Rangers defenseman Marek Malik gave up the puck in his own end. Kotalik scooped up the loose puck, wheeled and fired a wrist shot that beat Henrik Lundqvist.
Ryan Miller made 23 saves for Buffalo.
Thomas Vanek gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 11:13 of the first period. Lundqvist stopped Kotalik's slap shot from the left point, but lost sight of the rebound long enough for Vanek to chip the puck high to the glove side for his 13th goal.
Jaromir Jagr's 30th goal of the season made it 1-1 at 6:55 of the second period. It was the 14th straight season he has reached 30 goals.
Bruins 3, Thrashers 2
At Atlanta, P.J. Axelsson scored with 7:02 remaining and Boston handed Atlanta its third straight loss.
Boston spent much of the third period on the power-play, including a couple of two-man advantages. But the teams were at even strength when Axelsson scored his first game-winning goal of the year.
The Bruins are playing their best hockey of the season, winning for the fourth time in six games, losing the other two in shootouts.
Boston scored a couple of fluky goals off Lehtonen, and the Thrashers picked up one when Boston goalie Tim Thomas knocked the puck into his own net.
Blue Jackets 6, Canucks 5
At Columbus, Ohio, Trevor Letowski scored with 4:37 left to lift Columbus in its highest-scoring home game in five years.
In a wild game that had little defense and end-to-end action, the Blue Jackets blew leads of 2-0, 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 before Letowski's goal.
Todd Bertuzzi, Nolan Baumgartner and Daniel Sedin each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks. Sami Salo and Alexandre Burrows also had goals. Markus Naslund added two assists. Jan Hrdina had two goals, Bryan Berard had a goal and two assists and Nikolai Zherdev had a goal and an assist for Columbus, which has won six of its last nine games.
Panthers 3, Lightning 2, OT
At Tampa, Florida, Olli Jokinen scored twice, including the game-winner with 1:45 left in overtime and Roberto Luongo made 48 saves to lead Florida.
Luongo was within 4 minutes of his first shutout since opening the season with consecutive blankings before allowing Brad Richards' goal, which appeared to hit off Florida's Chris Gratton, at 16:09. Luongo then allowed Ryan Craig's equalizer from the low slot with 48.3 seconds remaining.
Jokinen helped snapped Florida' three-game losing skid on his rebound goal from the left-circle during overtime. The Panthers also got a goal from Gratton.
Predators 2, Red Wings 1, OT
At Detroit, Paul Kariya's breakaway goal 35 seconds into overtime gave the Predators their second consecutive win in two days over Detroit at Joe Louis Arena.
Monday night's game -- a 3-2 win -- was a makeup for the Nov. 21, contest, in which Detroit's Jiri Fischer collapsed on the bench in the first period because of cardiac arrest.
Steve Sullivan scored the other goal for Nashville (31-12-6) and Tomas Vokoun made 38 saves. Mathieu Schneider got Detroit's goal and Manny Legace stopped 26 shots.
Wild 3, Coyotes 2
At St. Paul, Minnesota, Brian Rolston scored two goals to give Minnesota its first four-game winning streak in a single season in franchise history.
Rolston put the Wild up 2-1 in the second period, then notched the game-winner, his 22nd of the season, with Minnesota short-handed 6:30 into the third period.
Geoff Sanderson and Keith Ballard scored for Phoenix. It's the first time in the Wild's five-year existence that they have won four in a row in the same season.
Avalanche 7, Flames 4
At Denver, Joe Sakic scored two goals in a five-goal second period for Colorado to help the Avalanche stun the Northwest Division-leading Flames.
The two goals pushed Sakic (561) past Guy Lafleur for 18th place all-time NHL goal scoring list. It also ended an 11-game goal-less streak for Sakic, who last scored on Dec. 30 at San Jose.
Antti Laaksonen had a short-handed goal as the Avalanche ended a two-game losing streak.
Chuck Kobasew had his first career hat trick for the Flames, who maintained their two-point lead in the division over Vancouver.
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