Tuesday, October 21, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

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

The Penguins demoted LW Matt Murley to their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton yesterday after practice. The move clears room on the 23-man roster for the return of swingman Steve McKenna, who has not played this season because of an eye injury. McKenna remains on injured reserve, but the team likely will activate him in time for the home game tomorrow against the Hurricanes. Murley, 23, had no points, two shots and a minus-1 rating in his first three NHL games before he was scratched for the game Saturday. Management was pleased with Murley's work, but he was one of three forwards on the roster who could be demoted without having to clear waivers, along with LW Ryan Malone and RW Konstantin Koltsov. Also, the Baby Penguins are in need of help at forward after losing LW Michal Sivek and RW Colby Armstrong to major injuries in their most recent game, Friday at Syracuse. Sivek's left ring finger was broken by a slash, and he will miss four to six weeks. Armstrong's right fibula has a hairline fracture after an opponent fell on his leg, and he will miss three to four weeks. Olczyk said he was not sure which position McKenna, who has spent time at left wing and on defense, would play when he returns. McKenna practiced on the fourth forward line yesterday with C Mike Eastwood and RW Kelly Buchberger.

Coach Eddie Olczyk followed a day off by putting the team through a 75-minute practice yesterday morning at Mellon Arena, finishing with several rink-length sprints. All players participated except LW Mario Lemieux, who was attending a funeral.

Olczyk said he will decide today on his goaltender for the Carolina game. Precedent would suggest his choice will be Marc-Andre Fleury, as he gave Sebastien Caron a follow-up start last week for the stated reason that Caron had earned a point for the team in Philadelphia. Fleury earned two points Saturday against the Red Wings with a 4-3 victory. Fleury and Caron likely will split the back-to-back games this weekend against the Devils.

D Dan Focht was cleared to play after doctors found no concussion symptoms in tests yesterday afternoon. Focht was dazed momentarily after a check from behind in the game Saturday by Red Wings LW Tomas Holmstrom. He has a cut and bruise on the bridge of his nose because his face was driven into the glass. He said he also landed face-first to the ice because he could not brace himself for the fall. Olczyk called the NHL after the game to file a complaint, but the league took no action and allowed Holmstrom to play in Montreal last night. "I thought it was a borderline, very dangerous hit," Olczyk said. "The league's trying to get away from that kind of stuff. Danny had no idea he was there, and Holmstrom had one thing in mind, and that was to try to put him through the glass. I let my feelings be known." Focht watched the incident on tape and came away angry: "The league has sent out memos about protecting guys' heads. Well, he hits me in the back of the head with both hands. I think that's a blatant hit from behind." Focht suggested it would have been difficult for referees Stephen Walkom and Chris Lee to miss the incident: "There are going to plays away from the puck where the refs might not see it, but I was playing the puck. Someone should have been watching."

Although the Penguins have given up a league-high three short-handed goals, Olczyk was emphatic in stating that he has no plans to go exclusively with defensemen at the power-play points. The point men on the first unit are D Dick Tarnstrom and C Martin Straka. Straka allowed Red Wings LW Henrik Zetterberg to slice through him in the Penguins' zone for a short-handed goal Saturday, but Olczyk replied, "Absolutely not," three times when asked about possibly removing Straka. He pointed out the precise circumstances of each short-handed goal: In the opener against the Kings Oct. 10, a Tarnstrom pass intended for Lemieux ricocheted off the skate of a linesman and allowed Los Angeles C Eric Belanger a breakaway. In Philadelphia the following night, a lateral pass by RW Aleksey Morozov was intercepted at the Penguins' blue line for a breakaway by Flyers C Claude Lapointe. Olczyk assigned blame on Zetterberg's goal to C Milan Kraft for backhanding a blind pass just inside the Detroit blue line. That was picked off and led to the Red Wings' break. "I'm concerned about giving up as many short-handed goals as we have, but as far as pinning it on Marty who's the one at fault, absolutely not," Olczyk said. "The first one was bad luck, and the next two were just bad decisions. You can't throw the puck away in the middle of the ice. You've got to be 110 percent sure. Marty's not even on the radar screen when it comes to problems with short-handed goals."

The power-play turnover aside, Kraft's showing Saturday -- his first game after being scratched for the first three -- satisfied Olczyk. "For a guy who hadn't played a game in two weeks, I was happy with the way he performed," Olczyk said. Kraft had no points, no shots, a minus-1 rating and won 3 of 6 faceoffs in 8:57 of ice time.

The Penguins' penalty-killing rate of 70 percent ranks 28th among the NHL's 30 teams, but Olczyk found little fault with the short-handed play in the defensive zone. Rather, he lamented a lack of aggressive checking before the opponent has a chance to set up. "I think we've been more aggressive in our end lately, making better reads, knowing when there are trouble situations," he said. "But I think, up ice, we'd like to be a lot more aggressive. It's human nature when you give up a couple of goals to be on your heels a little bit."

LW Ramzi Abid, a scratch the first two games, has acquitted himself well since rejoining the lineup. He had six shots Thursday in Montreal and netted his first goal in a Pittsburgh sweater Saturday, deflecting a low shot by D Drake Berehowsky into the net on a power play. Abid is coming off knee surgery and a sluggish training camp. "It's nice to score, but I'm starting to feel healthy, so that feels best of all," he said. Abid said the tight range from which he scored Saturday is his norm. "That's where pretty much all of my goals come from, right around the net. That's what I did last year, and that's what I have to do to be successful this year."

The upset of Detroit had a clear carryover effect into the practice, as the coaches and players maintained a high tempo on the ice and a downright jovial mood off it. "I think everybody really enjoyed how we won and who we beat. It's a case of the guys finally being rewarded for all the work they did in training camp and the first couple games of the season," Olczyk said. "But we've got a game coming up, and we're going to be ready for that."

Olczyk gave a nod to the crowd of 13,421 for boosting the Penguins to victory Saturday: "I don't know if the fans understand how much they mean to us. I give them a lot of credit, the way they stuck with us when we were down, 3-1, the noise they made when we killed off that four-minute penalty. ... I give them a lot of credit for sticking with us, for being so vocal. That let us believe in ourselves." Olczyk noted, as have others in the organization, that the crowds have been louder and more enthusiastic for the first two games this season than was the norm last season. "You can really feel it in the building. That crowd the other night was really into that game."

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (1-2) plays tomorrow at Norfolk.

WHEELING (2-0) plays Friday at Peoria.

E-mail this story   Print this story