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Thursday, December 07, 2000

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Penguins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:08 p.m. Saturday, Air Canada Centre. TV, radio: Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh; WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970).

The Penguins scratched C Jan Hrdina (strained groin), C Roman Simicek (flu), LW Rene Corbet (cervical strain), LW Kip Miller (groin), D Ian Moran (knuckle), D Bob Boughner (wrist), D Janne Laukkanen (knee) and G Jean-Sebastien Aubin (knee). The Bruins did not dress C Joe Thornton (charley horse), C Andre Savage (shoulder), LW Joe Hulbig (abdomen), D Kyle McLaren (knee), D Darren Van Impe (knee), D Peter Popovic (foot), G Byron Dafoe (knee) and RW Lee Goren.

Although the Penguins' three recalls of the past two days -- C Billy Tibbetts, LW Toby Petersen and LW Greg Crozier -- are expected to be returned today to the Penguins' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre, GM Craig Patrick did make one transaction yesterday which doesn't figure to be revoked anytime soon. D Josef Melichar, who had been a healthy scratch in eight consecutive games, was demoted to the Baby Penguins. Patrick explained that was done for two reasons: One, he wanted Melichar, 21, to get some ice time. Two, he needed to clear a roster space because of all his emergency recalls in the past week. In 12 games, Melichar had two assists, 15 penalty minutes and a minus-6 rating.

Hrdina appeared to be seriously injured after a thunderous, neutral-zone collision late in his first and only shift Tuesday in Ottawa, but team officials yesterday listed him as day to day. Corbet, hurt Tuesday in a fight with Senators D Shane Hnidy, is day to day, as are Simicek and Miller. Laukkanen could play as early as next week. Moran, Boughner and Aubin likely are out until January.

Banged up as the Penguins are, the Bruins are in far worse shape. They played without their top goaltender in Dafoe, their top defenseman in McLaren and their best young forward in Thornton. All of which helps to explain why they lugged a three-game losing streak into town. "We need some confidence in terms of success," Coach Mike Keenan said. "Winning begets winning. But we're also in a very developmental stage right now. We've got three rookies on defense, and very little experience overall. I'm not using that as an excuse, but we've got a huge hole in our lineup without Thornton. That would be like the Penguins playing without Robert Lang. It impacts the team. It makes a difference."

With Dafoe out, the Bruins had struggled mightily in net until they claimed G Peter Skudra off waivers from the Sabres Nov. 14. Skudra made his eighth consecutive start last night, and he has done more than his share to earn a long look from Keenan. "He gives us some experience at the position," Keenan said. "He's a competitor, and he's well liked by his teammates. They play hard for him, and that's been a big plus for him." Skudra, 27, spent 1997-2000 with the Penguins, mostly as a backup. "I'm happy to have the chance to play a lot," he said yesterday morning. "Especially against my old teammates." Skudra made 18 saves to beat the Penguins, 3-1, nine days ago, and he played even better last night, finishing with 27 stops.

Bruins C Jason Allison came to Pittsburgh fresh off a four-point effort Monday which moved him back into the NHL's top five leading scorers with 14 goals, 20 assists. That also gave him a five-point edge on Penguins RW Jaromir Jagr, the three-time defending scoring champion, but Allison didn't seem inclined to make much of that yesterday: "I really don't look at it like that. I just want to be somewhere up there, the higher the better. But personally, it doesn't really matter if I'm ahead of Jagr or not. I know he's not playing his best. He's the best player in the world. When he's on his game ... it's very difficult to stop him."

The crowd of 13,307 last night was the Penguins' smallest of the season. It comes on the heels of their third sellout of the year Saturday for a 3-2 loss to the Sabres. The previous smallest crowd was 13,356 Nov. 22 for a 3-1 loss to the Hurricanes.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (15-5-4) did not play. LW Greg Crozier has three goals, two assists in past three games. For the season, he is fourth in team scoring with 13 goals and 12 assists, and he has a point in 16 of the club's 24 games.

WHEELING (7-13-3) did not play.