PITTSBURGH – If Mario Lemieux got his NHL feet wet with an assist in the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs, then he went swimming in the deep end with the sharks during the second.

	Spotlight on Lemieux
	First period Shifts: 8 Ice time: 8:58 Shots: 3 Points: 1 assist Second period Shifts: 7 Ice time: 5:59 Shots: 2 Points: 1 goal, 1 assist Game total Shifts: 15 Ice time: 14:57 Shots: 5 Points: 1 goal, 2 assists Note: Statistics provided by ESPN staff and will be updated with official game statistics when available.

About eight minutes into the second period of his post-retirement debut, the Pittsburgh Penguins' player-owner went hard to the net before being taken down by the Maple Leafs' Danny Markov. That was just a prelude to the next six minutes, when Lemieux chalked up a goal and an assist, capping a three-point spree in less than two periods.

For Lemieux's goal, Jaromir Jagr brought the puck into the offensive zone and made a quick turn that bought time and created space. He then fed a streaking Lemieux – through traffic, no less – who put the puck dead center in the net before Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph could get across the crease quickly enough to make the save. The goal gave the Pens a 3-0 lead en route to a 5-0 victory at a soldout Mellon Arena.

About four minutes later, Jagr forced the puck loose on a forecheck. Picking it up, Lemieux shoveled the puck out front and made a nice backhand over Joseph's two-pad slide.

It didn't take long for Lemieux to make his presence felt. After all the pregame video tributes and spotlights ended, Lemieux registered a point on his first shift of the game, earning the assist on a disputed goal when the net dislodged as Jagr made a kicking motion at the puck as it went in.

The play began with Lemieux holding the puck at Joseph's far side – Lemieux still has a knack for finding open space. In what seemed like a blind play, Lemieux fired the puck to the front of the net, and it ended up behind a sprawled CuJo.

All the tough talk about how the Maple Leafs would play the body on Lemieux proved to be a hoax – at least in the first period. Granted, Lemieux remained on the periphery for much of the period, but it was as if he was surrounded by a force field; no one went near him. Petr "The Younger" Svoboda finally put a shoulder into Lemieux about 12 minutes into the game.

Pittsburgh coach Ivan Hlinka wasted no time in putting Lemieux's skills to use on the power play. As is often the case, the Penguins deployed five forwards – Lemieux, Jagr, Robert Lang, Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev.

The Maple Leafs used a few different combinations against Lemieux's line, with Mats Sundin, Igor Korolev and Jonas Hoglund starting the game.

Brian A. Shactman covers the NHL for ESPN.com.