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Sunday, December 19, 1999 By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Pavel Bure will smile sheepishly when you point out to him that the Florida Panthers have yet to lose this season when he scores.
"It's just a coincidence."
That's modest, but it's probably not the case.
Bure nailed the back of the net twice to spark a 5-2 victory over the Penguins last night at the Civic Arena, lifting Florida's record to 13-0-1 when he gets at least one goal.
And that's been happening quite a bit lately ...
From there, consider that Florida has won four in a row, 13 of its past 17, and soared to the top of the Southeast Division standings with a 19-10-2 record. All but two games of that surge have come since Bure recovered from a broken finger in early November.
"Obviously, it's more fun when you score and the team wins," Bure said. "But if I don't score and we win, that's good enough for me, too."
It has taken Bure, 28, nearly a year to fully recover from his previous trip to town.
On Feb. 5, he turned awkwardly on the Civic Arena ice and tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. A month later, he had reconstructive surgery and was lost for the season. He spent the next six months rehabilitating, much of it with Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, who had a nearly identical injury.
"He's gone through a tremendous amount of adversity," Panthers Coach Terry Murray said. "But he looks like he's starting to step up and become a very comfortable player out there."
To say the least.
Bure is once again one of the league's most dynamic and productive players, and he is unquestionably its hottest. His showing against the Penguins came less than 24 hours after a spectacular hat trick in a 4-2 victory at Buffalo.
"He's had quite a couple of days," Murray said. "He's really alert right now, really making things happen on the offensive side of the game. Pavel really forces the opposition to think about what he's going to do when he's out there."
"He's a dangerous player," right winger Scott Mellanby said. "His speed, his ability to finish is amazing."
That was evident last night.
Bure began his evening by setting up Viktor Kozlov's power-play goal at 12:47 of the first period with a nifty back-door pass that created a two-on-one.
He then moved into third place in the NHL's goal-scoring list by charging down the right side into the Penguins' end and snapping a shot from the right dot between goaltender Peter Skudra's legs at 11:42 of the second period.
And he capped his evening by slapping the puck into an empty net with 45 seconds left.
Although it's difficult to ignore Bure's impact, Murray emphasized that Florida's winning ways have come as a group, not on the shoulders of their superstar.
"You don't win back-to-back games in Buffalo and Pittsburgh and not have it be a team effort," Murray said. "Everybody was responsible."
Bure echoed that, saying, "All 20 guys played as one here, and that's a great feeling."
Oh, and that knee isn't exactly bugging him much.
"Put it this way," Bure said. "It always feels good when you're winning."
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He has 20 goals in just 23 games this season, including five in the past two and 13 in his past 10.