The scouts were oohing and aahing in the press box, debating whether they were witnessing the greatest line ever assembled.

Watching Mario Lemieux skate effortlessly alongside Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis often inspires such sentiments.

But the reason the scouts were marveling out loud was because Lemieux, in perhaps his final season, set up three goals in a 7-minute-33-second span of the second period on Tuesday night at Nassau Coliseum. It enabled the Pittsburgh Penguins to erase an improbable two-goal deficit and go on to a 5-3 victory over the Islanders, who outshot Pittsburgh by 50-22 and who outplayed the Penguins everywhere but on the scoreboard.

''It hardly seems fair,'' Islander Coach Mike Milbury said. ''We clearly had the better scoring opportunities. But that line makes coaching as useful as an Edsel.''