Pittsburgh's Lemieux vents frustrations

PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins couldn't solve Florida Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo, which was frustrating enough. Mario Lemieux couldn't stomach what Brad Ference was doing, and his frustration boiled over.

The Hall of Fame center, upset with Ference for a second-period cross-check to his back, dropped his gloves to fight with the fourth-year defenseman late in the Penguins' 6-0 loss to the Panthers. Lemieux was assessed minor penalties for slashing and instigating, a major penalty for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct.

"The way he plays, he's got to expect that," the Penguins' owner said of Ference. "He takes a lot of cheap shots out there, and when the game is out of hand like that, he's going to pay for it."

Lemieux hadn't been ejected from a game for fighting since April 24, 1996, when he took on Washington's Todd Krygier in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Thursday's fighting major was his first in a regular-season game since March 20, 1987, at Washington, when he tangled with Bobby Gould.

Ference said he was only doing his job late in the second period when he hit Lemieux, after which the Penguins' captain skated toward him in the neutral zone, away from the play. Ference then was tackled by Pittsburgh's Ian Moran.

"Some of these star players, you have to play them hard," Ference said. "You let that guy move around with the puck, he's going to get two or three points on you. You have to make sure you're tight on him.

Asked if he was ready to throw punches at Lemieux during their third-period fracas, for which he was not penalized, Ference said, "At that point, I was just like, 'Let's get back to Fort Lauderdale and call it a day."'