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Sunday, November 03, 2002

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Penguins vs. Florida Panthers, 7:38 p.m. Wednesday, Office Depot Center, Sunrise, Fla. TV, radio: Fox Sports Net; WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970).

The Penguins scratched C Randy Robitaille (ankle), C Vladimir Vujtek (shoulder), LW Martin Straka (back), RW Shean Donovan (knee), D Andrew Ference (abdomen), D Josef Melichar (shoulder) and D Hans Jonsson. The Lightning scratched C Brian Holzinger (leg), RW Ben Clymer (foot), LW Chris Dingman and D Nolan Pratt.

Immediately after the game the Penguins demoted C Kris Beech and RW Milan Kraft to their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre. Beech played two games since his recall Wednesday and had one assist. Kraft played in a limited role last night and did not register a point.

Kraft took Donovan's place on the fourth line, working with C Kent Manderville and LW Steve McKenna. That kind of checking duty isn't what the Penguins had forecast for Kraft when they made him their first pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, but Kraft is not complaining. When he was demoted to the AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre before this season, he made up his mind to become a more complete player. "I know I can score, so I wanted to work on other parts of my game, become better defensively," he said. Coaches in Wilkes-Barre praised Kraft as the team's best defensive forward in his eight games there. Asked if Kraft could develop into a two-way NHL contributor, General Manager Craig Patrick replied: "Absolutely. It's not that he's deficient on defense, but we can all learn to get better at everything. He's working at it, and he'll get better and better."

It took seven home games, but the Penguins finally produced their first sellout crowd, filling Mellon Arena with a standing-room-only crowd of 17,108. The previous largest crowd was 16,188 Oct. 26 against the Sabres. "It's great to see," said Tom Rooney, head of Team Lemieux LLC. "It's taken a little while for our strong start on the ice to translate into ticket sales, but there's usually a delay like that. People like to buy in advance." Rooney also pointed out that the biggest crowds so far have been for the three promotional nights. As a result, team officials have decided they will add as many as eight promotions to those already on the schedule. That includes at least two more bobblehead giveaways: Iceburgh Feb. 23 and Kevin Stevens March 16. Those already scheduled to have bobbleheads for the season are Ulf Samuelsson, Martin Straka, Joe Mullen and Alexei Kovalev.

Patrick said last night that the Penguins are "looking at a number of different options" to move Vujtek off the NHL roster, one of which is buying out his $600,000 contract for this season. Vujtek, 30, had one assist and a minus-4 rating in five games before his shoulder was injured in the Monday home game against the Capitals. "I talked to him and told him things haven't gone as we all expected," Patrick said. "I told him we're looking at our options." Most buyouts call for the team to pay two-thirds of the contract's value. Vujtek apparently would prefer to return to his previous team, HPK-Hameenlinna, with which he led the Finnish Elite League in scoring last season, over a demotion to the AHL.

Robitaille said yesterday his initial plan to return to the lineup Wednesday "might look a little optimistic right now." He was disappointed with the way his fractured ankle felt during a brief skate Friday, and X-rays have shown that the healing is moving more slowly than thought. He was supposed to have more X-rays taken last night.

The Penguins were on the positive end of what NHL coaches call a "tired game" for the fourth time in the young season. Those occur when one team plays the previous night but the other doesn't. The Lightning played Friday in Washington, while the Penguins were off. "It doesn't mean you're going to win because of that, but it's something you always talk about before the game," G Johan Hedberg said. "You want to make sure you get an early jump on a team like that." The Penguins are 3-0-1 when facing a tired opponent, and they have yet to operate on the other side of the equation. "That's the way the schedule is now but, down the road, we're going to play teams that are sitting there waiting for us," Coach Rick Kehoe said.

D Dick Tarnstrom has been singled out for praise by C Mario Lemieux for his performance on the power play since being added to the first unit seven games ago. "It's always nice to hear your teammates say good things about you," Tarnstrom said. "Especially someone like him." The left point man always has been important to Lemieux, who prefers to set up along the left boards and play catch with the point while dissecting the rink. Even so, Lemieux and Tarnstrom have spent little time discussing plays, preferring to work mostly off instinct. "He'll maybe say some little things, but not too much," Tarnstrom said. "When everything is going good, it just clicks."

WILKES-BARRE (3-4-1) did not play. The Baby Penguins yesterday recalled D Darcy Robinson from Wheeling of the ECHL.

WHEELING (3-8) lost, 6-5, at Reading. RW Michel Ouellet scored his first two goals of the season, RW Steve Crampton his second and third. D Ryan Gillis scored his second. C Zenon Konopka and C Mike Nelson each had two assists. G Mike Valley and G David Chant combined to stop 39 of 45 shots.