Not surprisingly, ex-Ranger John Vanbiesbrouck was at the top of Lemieux's most-scored-upon list. Lemieux lit the red light against "Beezer" 32 times (23 with the Rangers, seven with Florida and twice with the Islanders). No one else was close; former Flyer and Quebec Nordiques goaltender Ron Hextall was a distant second with 19.

Luckily for the San Jose Sharks, they didn't see Lemieux often. Lemieux played only 14 games against San Jose, but rang up 49 points in those contests?an incredible 3.5 points per game that's easily his best average against any team.

The Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets can make the claim that one of hockey's greatest scorers never got a thing off them. Lemieux played against both teams twice and didn't register a point.

"Super Mario's" last hurrah was a five-point night against Atlanta on October 27. It was the 51st time he'd scored five or more points in a game. That's well beyond the next name on the list -- Phil Esposito, who did it 19 times. But Lemieux is still far behind the leader: Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's all-time scoring leader, had five or more points in 96 games.

Former goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck was at the top of Lemieux's most-scored -upon list, lighting the lamp 32 times against him.

Quiet Brilliance -- Lost in all the attention given to Lemieux's retirement this week is Ron Francis Night. The Carolina Hurricanes are honoring the greatest player in the franchise's history (in both Hartford and Carolina) on Saturday night by retiring his No. 10 jersey. But Francis has a major connection with Lemieux as well: It was the March 1991 trade in which Pittsburgh acquired Francis from the Hartford Whalers that sparked the Pens' back-to-back Cup runs. And though they played together for four just full seasons and parts of two others, Francis is fourth on the all-list of Lemieux's setup men -- he assisted on 60 of Lemieux's tallies. Jaromir Jagr is No. 1 with 91 assists on Lemieux tallies, followed by Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey with 72.

Double-Double -- With the increased emphasis on division and conference play this season has come a boost in the number of "home-home" series -- occasions in which one team hosts another in consecutive games (as opposed to the traditional home-and-home series, in which teams play each other in consecutive games but alternate sites). Nashville played back-to-back games in Detroit on Monday and Tuesday this week, marking the ninth time this season that teams have played consecutive games in the same building -- something that didn't happen at all; in 2003-04.

The Predators swept both games -- the eighth time in the nine series that one team has swept. The only non-sweep came when Vancouver and Minnesota split two games in St. Paul on Oct. 12-14. Visiting teams have five sweeps; home teams have three. There are 10 more of these back-to-back series, including this week's Thursday-Sunday visit by Calgary to Chicago.

Double trouble -- The New York Islanders entered 2006 having lost a league-high seven games in which they led by two goals. They haven't had that problem in January -- because they can't get a two-goal lead. Since the beginning of the New Year, the Islanders were the only team in the NHL that has not led by two goals or more at some point in at least one game. In their first 11 games, the Isles had three one-goal wins (two in overtime), never led in the eight games they lost, and played with a lead for a total of just 15:47. They finally got a pair of short-lived two-goal leads on Thursday night in a 4-3 shootout victory over Pittsburgh.

At Last -- The sweep of the Red Wings moved Nashville into uncharted territory -- for all of two days. The two wins pulled the Predators into a tie with the Wings for first place in the Central Division with 68 points, marking the latest point in the season they've ever been in first place. The previous best: October 20, in 2005, 2003, and 2000. The tie didn't last long: The Preds dropped two points behind Detroit by losing in Minnesota on Thursday.

They Don't Quit: Even in the "New" NHL, teams that lead after two periods take home more than 80 percent of the available points?unless they're playing Dallas. A big part of the Stars' success this season is their ability to come from behind. Though Thursday, the Stars were 8-12-0 when trailing after two periods. That's the most wins by any team when trailing after two periods?and just one short of the NHL record of nine, set by Toronto in 2001-02 and matched by Boston in 2002-03.