Home >  Sports >  Penguins

Friday, February 07, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Penguins vs. Bruins, 3:08 p.m. tomorrow, FleetCenter, Boston. TV, radio: WTAE; WWSW-FM (94.5); WBGG-AM (970).

The Penguins scratched G Johan Hedberg (clavicle), RW Aleksey Morozov (wrist), D Janne Laukkanen (hip), D Josef Melichar (shoulder), LW Michal Sivek and LW Dan LaCouture. Sivek was scratched for only the second time since his Jan. 29 promotion from the AHL. He had no points in his past 13 games and could be headed back to the team's primary affiliate in Wilkes-Barre. LaCouture was scratched for the fifth time in seven games. D Andrew Ference returned to the lineup as Coach Rick Kehoe opted to dress seven defensemen. LW Steve McKenna returned after missing one game because of a flu-like bug which seems to be working its way around the locker room. LW Martin Straka, RW Alexei Kovalev and G Sebastien Caron recovered from similar bouts with the illness to play last night. GM Craig Patrick said it's "quite possible" Hedberg will start tomorrow in Boston. He has been out a month. The Panthers scratched D Branislav Mezei (foot), D Paul Laus (wrist), RW Jaroslav Bednar, LW Stephane Matteau and D Igor Ulanov.

Florida Coach Mike Keenan, never one shy to voice his opinion, had nary a negative word to offer about the Penguins' belligerent conduct in the third period, when they accumulated 89 penalty minutes. "It was just frustration," he said. "It happens often in these situations." Nor would Keenan criticize Penguins C Mario Lemieux for instigating a fight with Panthers D Brad Ference in that period, after Ference had hounded Lemieux most of the evening. "Mario was fairly focused to start the game," Keenan said. "He's a competitor. He's not one of the best players, if not the best player in the world, without being a competitor."

Ference, too, responded in nonchalant style when asked about his conflict with Lemieux, the last of many on the evening. "No big deal," he said. "If I can get someone like that off his game, it's going to work in our favor. You've got to play him hard. You let that guy move around with the puck, he's going to get two or three points on you." Ference appeared to be grasping his neck in pain during the encounter, but it was clear afterward he had only surface damage. "Just a roper from Mario," he said. "He was holding onto my jersey there from the back and tugging on it. Kind of burns a little." Even though Lemieux wanted to fight Ference, a 6-foot-3 veteran of 412 penalty minutes, Ference showed no interest. "I can handle myself with the fighting. But, if it's 5-0, which it was, it's not a very smart situation for me to do that. Maybe I give him a shot and he doesn't drop his gloves ... I wanted to get our team the shutout. We were just trying to play. At that point, I was just thinking, 'Let's get back to Fort Lauderdale and call it a day.' " Ference was asked if he felt Lemieux received favors from the referees in earlier encounters, when at least two obvious fouls of his were ignored. "I don't know," Ference replied. "The guy deserves kind of a double standard, too, you know? He's probably the best player ever, or at least in the top two or three, I guess. I know there's going to be at least a little bit of a double standard, but I still hope the refs call a decent game. I thought they handled it pretty well."

The crowd of 12,231 nearly got to see a goaltender fight, a rarity in hockey, in the third period, but Panthers G Roberto Luongo and Penguins G Sebastien Caron did little more than exchange a couple of shoves once they found each other in the scrum. Luongo laughed when asked if he knew Caron, a fellow French-Canadian: "Actually, this is the first time we spoke. There was no point in fighting. We had a little chit-chat. I couldn't hear most of what he said because the place was so loud at the time. I just said something like, 'Good work. Keep it up.' "

The Panthers hardly hit town on a roll. They were coming off a 6-0 loss Wednesday to the Maple Leafs, the worst margin of defeat at home in franchise history, and they had won only once in their previous seven. But that changed dramatically last night. Asked if coaching Florida was like raising a teenager, Keenan smiled and replied, "Don't ask." Florida has won four of 15 games since Jan. 4, two of those coming against the Penguins.

The Penguins announced they will play a preseason game against the Islanders in Wheeling, W.Va., home of their ECHL affiliate, Sept. 19. It will be the first NHL event of any kind in that city. New York also plans to hold part of its training camp in Wheeling, where Islanders Coach Peter Laviolette once coached the Nailers.

All of the Penguins' current players and several alumni will participate in the team's annual Charity Carnival from 1-5 p.m. Sunday at Mellon Arena. Tickets cost $5 and are available at Gate 1 on the day of the event, with all proceeds going to the Autism Society of Pittsburgh, the United Way and the Mario Lemieux Foundation. Players will be available for photographs and participate in some of the events. Lemieux and Kovalev will do autograph sessions for charity, but Lemieux's already is sold out.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (22-23-3-3) lost to Philadelphia, 4-3, at First Union Arena. RW Tom Kostopoulos scored his 15th goal, LW Toby Petersen his 14th, RW Jason MacDonald his fourth. LW Konstantin Koltsov had two assists. G Robbie Tallas stopped 22 of 26 shots. The Baby Penguins yesterday demoted LW Bobby Russell to Wheeling of the ECHL.

WHEELING (19-27-3) did not play. Two Nailers were promoted to AHL teams, RW Chris McNamara to Lowell and D Ryan Gillis to Cleveland.