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Tuesday, February 11, 2003

By Dave Molinari, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Ottawa Senators vs. Penguins, 7:38 p.m. tomorrow, Mellon Arena. TV, radio: Fox Sports Net; WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970).

LW Martin Straka (hamstring) and G Jean-Sebastien Aubin (hand) were the only players to sit out the Penguins' 55-minute workout at Mellon Arena yesterday. Coach Rick Kehoe said he expects both players to participate in practice today, but that he plans to hold Straka out of the Penguins' game against Ottawa tomorrow so that his injury, sustained during the first period of the Penguins' 5-2 victory in Boston Saturday, will have time to heal. After the game against the Senators, the Penguins will be off until they visit the New York Rangers Friday night. With Aubin apparently ready to go back on active duty, management will have to determine if it wants to carry three goalies on its 23-man roster. Because that seems unlikely, Aubin or Sebastien Caron likely will be sent to the Penguins' farm team in Wilkes-Barre, unless the Penguins trade a goalie.

One of the many holes left by RW Alexei Kovalev's trade to the New York Rangers is on the right point of the No. 1 power-play unit, and newly acquired D Shawn Heins is a candidate to fill it. Kehoe acknowledged after practice yesterday that Heins, picked up from San Jose for a conditional draft choice Sunday night, was penciled in for work on the No. 2 unit, and after the Kovalev deal was completed, said Heins could turn up on the top group. "We're going to work on the power play [at practice today]," Kehoe said. "We'll see how it goes." Heins' most striking asset is his slap shot, which once was clocked at 106 mph. And while he worked at developing it, Heins said genetics deserve most of the credit. "Even when I was younger, I wasn't strong physically," he said. "At 15, I was like 5-8, 140 [pounds]. I was a late bloomer. I shot a lot of pucks, obviously, out in the back yard with my father and my brother. ... I can't explain it. It's something I've practiced, and it's God-given."

D Andrew Ference, traded to Calgary for a conditional draft choice Sunday night, was the Penguins' best defenseman during their drive to the Eastern Conference final in 2001, but never reached that level of effectiveness again. Ference was bothered by a hernia throughout 2001-02 and, even after he had surgery in the fall, he failed to re-establish himself as a top-six defenseman. "Sometimes, an injury will set you back and you never get back to the way you were playing at one time," Kehoe said. Ference, though, said last night that management never explained the shortcomings in his game. "I wish I had a more concrete answer [for what went wrong], but nothing was ever really laid out to me," he said. "To try to do this more in your game, or try to do that. I was never really told why things weren't going good." That doesn't mean he has any hard feelings toward his old club. "That's the thing," Ference said. "It was tough sitting out, but I couldn't really be mad. I couldn't be mad at somebody for being in my spot, because they were my buddies. And when Craig [Patrick, the general manager] called to tell me about the trade, he was extremely nice about it, thanked me for what I did in the organization. That's just the way it goes." What's more Ference is pleased to be returning to his home province of Alberta and to a city that's about an hour's drive from the home he recently had built in Canmore, in the Canadian Rockies. "It's good to come back," he said. "I feel revitalized."

Although LW Dan LaCouture, who went to the Rangers in the Kovalev deal, wasn't a major part of the transaction, he was a popular figure in the Penguins' locker room and an effective role player who never balked at standing up for his teammates. "He's a good team guy," Kehoe said. "He's a good guy, also. I know he really liked it here. You hate to see guys who like to play in cities leave, but sometimes it happens."

The Penguins' 5-2 victory in Boston Saturday not only halted a four-game losing streak, but generated confidence and momentum that might help them put together a run that gets them back into the top eight in the Eastern Conference. Having three days off before their game against Ottawa tomorrow at Mellon Arena, however, could negate the chances of a carryover from the victory against the Bruins. "It's almost better to play the next day or just have a day in between, so you keep things on a roll," C Wayne Primeau said. "But maybe it will be good. Some guys who average over 20 minutes of ice time per game, it's good for them because they can get a little more rest and get themselves mentally energized again."

Now that Mario Lemieux has become the 10th player in league history to record 1,000 assists, his next major milestone will be reaching 1,700 points, something only Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Mark Messier, Marcel Dionne and Ron Francis have done. Lemieux has 1,674, so he should reach 1,700 this season if he can stay healthy. He's a pretty good bet to ring up his 700th goal sometime early in 2003-04. Lemieux has 674, the seventh-highest total in league history. Gretzky, Howe, Dionne, Phil Esposito and Mike Gartner have breached the 700-goal plateau, while Brett Hull entered Detroit's game against San Jose last night needing just one more to reach it.

G Johan Hedberg, who stopped 26 of 28 Boston shots in his first appearance since Jan. 4, said the broken collarbone that forced him to sit out more than a month caused no major problems during or after the game. "It felt really good, actually," he said. "I totally forgot about [the injury]. Every time I step on the ice, for the first five minutes, it's a little stiff and sore, but as soon as I get warm again, it goes away." Hedberg said he took two shots off the area of his injury Saturday, but the extra padding he wore protected him.

The Penguins' solid defensive work against the Bruins was the cornerstone of that victory -- Boston managed only three shots during the first period -- but their confident and aggressive work in the attacking zone was a major contributor, too. Despite losing their previous four games, the Penguins did not play passively in their zone. They tried to pressure the Bruins into giving up the puck, then got play moving in the other direction as quickly as possible. "Good defensive hockey isn't necessarily sitting back," C Randy Robitaille said. "We have to be in their face. When they make a pass, we have to jump. You have to take their time and space away. That's what playing good defensive hockey is. That, in turn, is going to create turnovers, and that's when we go."

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (24-23-4-3) tied, 3-3, at Rochester. LW Toby Petersen scored his 15th and 16th goals, C Kris Beech his 14th. LW Tomas Surovy and RW Alexandre Daigle each had two assists. G Mike Valley stopped 31 of 34 shots.

WHEELING (20-27-3) did not play.