Home >  Sports >  Penguins

Tuesday, February 06, 2001

Compiled by Shelly Anderson

Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers, 7:38 p.m. Wednesday, Mellon Arena. TV, radio: Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh, WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970).

C Mario Lemieux was among the full contingent of players who practiced yesterday at Southpointe. Lemieux and RW Alexei Kovalev, who each had a goal and an assist in the All-Star Game Sunday in Denver, flew home that night in a private jet and were available to work out with the team. Lemieux was given the option of skipping the practice but wanted to skate because the Penguins have a week between games. "We didn't get to do much skating" over the weekend, he said. "You've got the skills competition [Saturday] that you don't skate, and Friday you don't skate. Same thing Thursday. So it's been a few days. It was nice to get back on the ice and get some conditioning back before Wednesday's game."

RW Jaromir Jagr (neck), LW Josef Beranek (groin injury) and D Hans Jonsson (bruised hip) also practiced but are considered day to day.

Lemieux enjoyed himself in Denver. "It was a great weekend, to see all the attention from the media and fans -- a great reception when I stepped on the ice," he said. "It was nice to see some of the old guys. Ray Bourque told me, 'I knew you were going to come back.' And Brett Hull was the same way. We just had a lot of fun, seeing a lot of the old guys I played with in the All-Star Game for many, many years. To have a chance to play with them again was a great experience." He wasn't the only Lemieux who had a good time. His son, Austin, accompanied him to Denver. "He was in the dressing room during the skills competition. He was on the bench before the game. So he spent a lot of time with the players and he really enjoyed himself," his father said.

Newly acquired F Wayne Primeau, who is 6 feet 3, 225 pounds, skated on a line with wingers Steve McKenna, who is 6-8, 255, and Kryzstof Oliwa, who is 6-5, 235. The Penguins got Primeau Thursday in a trade that sent Matthew Barnaby to Tampa Bay. Primeau's first game with the Penguins will be against the Flyers, whose leading scorer is C Keith Primeau. Wayne hopes his line will be matched against his brother's. "Yeah, sure," he said. "Keep him off the scoreboard."

The Penguins assigned F Kip Miller to Grand Rapids of the International Hockey League. Miller, 31, had three goals, eight assists in 33 games this season.

Coach Ivan Hlinka, who spent the All-Star weekend in Florida, had travel problems and did not return in time for yesterday's workout. Assistants Rick Kehoe and Randy Hillier filled in. Lemieux, also the team's majority owner, was asked if Hlinka would be fined. "Yeah, everybody gets fined," Lemieux said, smiling.

The Mario Lemieux Foundation will establish the Mario Lemieux Centers for Patient Care and Research at UPMC. Lemieux will present a $5 million gift to John Paul, UPMC Health Systems executive vice president, Thursday at Montefiore University Hospital.

The Penguins' game Saturday against New Jersey at Mellon Arena will start at 3 p.m. It was changed from its original 2 p.m. start several months ago. The game is sold out.

As of yesterday morning, 170 tickets remained for tomorrow night's home game against Philadelphia. The Penguins have sold out their past nine games at Mellon Arena.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (25-15-6-1) did not play. RW Tom Kostopoulos has a team-high plus-12 rating and is third in scoring with 11 goals and 28 assists.

WHEELING (16-25-7) beat Trenton, 4-2, before 2,549 at the Wheeling Civic Center. RW Mike Hurley scored his team-high 19th goal, C Buddy Smith and D Chris Slater his 11th each and LW Vitali Kozel his seventh. G Joel Laing stopped 20 of 22 shots. Laing was named the ECHL goaltender of the week after posting a 3-0-0 record. He had a 1.95 goals-against average and a save percentage of .945.