Did Pittsburgh ever really have a CHANCE tonight?
Lemieux suffers recurrence of irregular heartbeat
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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top><!-- begin leftcol --><!-- template inline -->BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Penguins owner-captain Mario Lemieux (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/players/profile?statsId=66) had a recurrence of his irregular heartbeat and didn't travel to Buffalo for Saturday's game against the Sabres.
<!--------------------------START PLAYER CARD------------------><TABLE class=tableheadFixWidth cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width=200 align=right><TBODY><TR class=stathead><TD class=whitelink colSpan=2>Mario Lemieux (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/players/profile?statsId=66)</TD></TR><TR class=evenrow align=right><TD align=left>http://espn.go.com/i/nhl/profiles/players/0066.jpgCenter
Pittsburgh Penguins
Profile (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/players/profile?statsId=66)</TD></TR><TR class=evenrow><TD align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1 width=190 bgColor=#ffffff border=0><TBODY><TR class=stathead align=middle><TD align=middle colSpan=6>2006 SEASON STATISTICS</TD></TR><TR align=right><TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">GM</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">G</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">A</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">PTS</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">+/-</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">PIM</TD></TR><TR align=right bgColor=#ffffff><TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">26</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">7</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">15</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">22</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">-16</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">16</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!---------------------INLINE MINI-PLAYER CARD ENDS HERE--------------------->
"He didn't make the trip because in the third period last night he was having a recurrence of an irregular heartbeat," Penguins general manager Craig Patrick said between periods of Saturday's game. "Obviously, we're concerned about it, so we left him at home."
The 40-year-old Lemieux was hospitalized Dec. 7 and diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, a fluttering of the heartbeat that was causing his heart to dramatically speed up at times. The condition can be treated with medication and is not expected to affect his career.
Lemieux played in Friday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Sabres in Pittsburgh after sitting out four games.
Lemieux, who ranks seventh in the NHL in career scoring, has a long history of medical problems.
He survived a bout with Hodgkin's disease in 1993, winning a scoring title even while missing a month of the season for cancer treatments. Before that, he couldn't play for two-thirds of the Penguins' 1990-91 Stanley Cup championship season because of a rare bone disease that occurred following back surgery.
After ending a 44-month retirement to resume his playing career in December 2000, he missed two-thirds of the 2001-02 season with a hip injury that required surgery and all but 10 games in 2003-04 for another hip injury that needed surgery.
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Mario is like put the other goalie in, I am not going to be there.