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PITTSBURGH -- Mario Lemieux will be out indefinitely because of an injured left hip that already has sidelined him for more than three weeks.

The Pittsburgh Penguins' star center will miss home games this week against Philadelphia and the New York Rangers, a road game at Carolina on Saturday and, possibly, many more.

This season, the Penguins (5-10-3-1) are 2-6-0-1 without Lemieux.

"Mario continues to rehab and continues the treatment, but unfortunately he's going to be out indefinitely," Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk said Monday.

Olczyk had been optimistic after Lemieux's most recent evaluation Nov. 17 that Pittsburgh's owner-captain would be able to return for Wednesday's game against the Flyers.

"Like anything else, there are good days, bad days, those types of things," Olczyk said.

Lemieux, who has not commented on the injury, has been out since leaving after the first period of the Penguins' 3-2 overtime win against Boston Nov. 1. He first attempted a return to the lineup Nov. 4 at Toronto, but was scratched for that 4-2 loss and every game since.

The last time Lemieux took the ice for a practice was Nov. 10, but he lasted only six minutes before returning to the dressing room.

The Penguins' career scoring leader is working out in the team's weight rooms and watches practice.

"I think we've been concerned as a club for the last 2½ or three weeks because he's not with us," Olczyk said. "It's taken a lot longer than we would have hoped, but he's got to continue doing what he's doing and, hopefully, before long he'll be back with us."

Before the injury, Lemieux was among the top scorers in the NHL. He was held without a point in a 3-0 loss to Los Angeles in the season opener, but had notched at least one in every other game until taking himself out against Boston.

In eight games, he had one goal and nine points and had an assist in each of those games, an eight-game streak unmatched in the NHL so far this season.

Despite missing the last six games, his nine points ties Lemieux with Aleksey Morozov and rookies Konstantin Koltsov and Ryan Malone for third on the Penguins in scoring behind Rico Fata (11) and Martin Straka, who has four goals and six assists.

Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press