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Wednesday, December 04, 2002

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Penguins vs. New Jersey Devils, 7:38 p.m. Friday, Continental Airlines Arena. TV, radio: Fox Sports Net; WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970).

The Penguins scratched D Dick Tarnstrom (foot), RW Shean Donovan (foot), D Michal Rozsival (shoulder), D Josef Melichar (shoulder) and RW Alexandre Daigle. Tarnstrom is out two to four weeks, Donovan and Rozsival another two weeks, Melichar indefinitely. LW Martin Straka returned after missing two-plus games because of a hamstring injury. The Capitals scratched RW Dainius Zubrus (hand), RW Stephen Peat (hand), D Jean-Francois Fortin (food poisoning), D Steve Eminger and D Alex Henry. Zubrus had surgery on his hand yesterday and is out indefinitely. The Capitals recalled D Jason Doig from their AHL affiliate in Portland for the game.

Daigle, who had no points in nine games after a three-game goal streak Nov. 6-9, was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. In 23 games, he has four goals and seven assists while averaging 11 minutes, 18 seconds of ice time. His ice time had been relatively consistent until the 3-2 loss to the Bruins Saturday, when he logged just 5:59. Straka's return gave the Penguins 13 forwards and forced one out of the lineup. And, because management was pleased with the play of rookie LW Michal Sivek in his first two NHL games Friday and Saturday, he received another chance. "He's done well," Coach Rick Kehoe said. "He's probably a little nervous, but he's worked hard and had some scoring chances. He's made some plays. He's backchecked hard. He's done a lot of good things out there."

The lineup switch prompted some slight juggling of the forward lines: C Mario Lemieux was between Straka and RW Alexei Kovalev, C Jan Hrdina between LW Aleksey Morozov and RW Ville Nieminen, C Wayne Primeau between LW Dan LaCouture and RW Randy Robitaille, C Kent Manderville between Sivek and RW Steve McKenna. Straka took Tarnstrom's place on the power-play point. The defense pairings remained the same.

The name of Herb Brooks, the Penguins' director of player development, has been mentioned in regard to the Sharks' opening for a head coach -- Darryl Sutter was fired Sunday -- but GM Craig Patrick said no team has contacted him to ask for permission to speak with Brooks, as is required. The leading candidate for the Sharks' job is believed to be Ron Wilson, who was fired by the Capitals after last season.

Before joining the Capitals as an assistant coach this season, Randy Carlyle spent six years as head coach of Manitoba in the IHL and AHL. In that time, he saw many players ascend to the NHL, but none who enjoyed a more meteoric rise than G Johan Hedberg. Hedberg was playing in Winnipeg when the Penguins acquired his rights from the Sharks in March 2001, then went on to lead the Penguins to the Eastern Conference final that spring. "When a player is able to move up to the next level and have success, it's always rewarding," Carlyle said. "But really, he was the guy who earned it. For what he was able to do for our hockey club at the minor-league level, we were very fortunate to have him. He was a good guy, on and off the ice. He worked extremely hard at his game, and he took it very, very seriously. So you knew he had the makeup that, if he ever got the opportunity, he was going to make the most of it. That's what he's done here. He's come on and really stabilized his career."

Carlyle couldn't help but get a bit sentimental upon seeing the visitors' dressing room yesterday, which used to belong to the Penguins in his playing days here: "You can still see the oil drip that was there from 1978."

Capitals G Olaf Kolzig was thanking his lucky stars yesterday that he wasn't still seeing stars. In a frightening incident Sunday in Atlanta, he was struck in the face by a rising slap shot from Thrashers RW Dany Heatley with such force that his mask was sent flying 20 feet. Kolzig needed about three minutes to recuperate and went on to finish the game. Shots that knock off masks are rare in the NHL. It happened to Ed Giacomin in the 1970s and to Glenn Healy two decades later. "It was unbelievable, the way it came straight up," Kolzig said of Heatley's shot. "He really hit it hard." Kolzig has yet to see a replay of the shot.

The crowd of 11,640 was the smallest at Mellon Arena 11,485 showed for a game Dec. 2, 1999, against the Sharks. The previous low for this season was 12,161 for an Oct. 16 game against the Thrashers. Both visits last season from the Capitals and RW Jaromir Jagr drew sellouts, but the two this season -- including the 14,303 Oct. 28 -- had a total of 7,973 empty seats. The announcement of the attendance was booed.

Monday's results

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (8-11-2-2) did not play. The AHL yesterday suspended D Mike Wilson one game for a hit Saturday in Saint John, New Brunswick. He will sit out the game Friday in Houston.

WHEELING (8-14-2) did not play.