Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Rookie Sidney Crosby makes his Mellon Arena debut tonight. Click photo for larger image. Tonight What: Penguins vs. Columbus Blue Jackets in a preseason game. When: 7:30 p.m. today. Where: Mellon Arena. TV/Radio: No TV or radio. The contest can be heard on the internet at www.pittsburghpenguins.com. Related coverage Penguins Notebook: No major roster surprises

Fans who show up at Mellon Arena this evening will have a chance to witness two epic firsts.

One truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The other only seems like it.

Sidney Crosby will play a home game against NHL competition for the first time when Columbus visits the Penguins at 7:38 p.m. And the Penguins will attempt to earn their first preseason victory in six tries.

Crosby's presence in the Penguins' lineup has created a buzz not usually associated with late-September hockey games here. And the Penguins' inability to win any of their previous five games has given this one an uncommon urgency.

For while the Penguins might not be developing any grave concerns about the club they're assembling -- their lineup, while top-heavy with talent, looks no less imposing than it did a month ago -- there simply is no replacement for the positive reinforcement that comes from defeating other teams.

Oh sure, the Penguins will enter their regular-season opener in New Jersey Oct. 5 with zero points, regardless of whether they run off four consecutive wins to close out the preseason or have their losing streak swell to nine.

Still, they understand that how they start in the games that count in the standings might be directly related to how they fare in the remaining ones that don't.

"It's important that we get going here, get a few wins in a row," forward Mario Lemieux said. "Get the confidence back before we start the season."

If they don't beat the Blue Jackets, it won't be because coach Eddie Olczyk was stuck with a diluted lineup.

The Penguins' forwards tonight will be Crosby, Lemieux, Ziggy Palffy, Mark Recchi, John LeClair, Ryan Malone, Matt Murley, Maxime Talbot, Andre Roy, Rico Fata, Lasse Pirjeta and Konstantin Koltsov.

Josef Melichar, Rob Scuderi, Ric Jackman, Dick Tarnstrom, Brooks Orpik and Sergei Gonchar will be on defense and Jocelyn Thibault is scheduled to play the entire game in goal, with Sebastien Caron backing him up.

The headliner of the group is Crosby, the most celebrated teenager to enter the NHL since his landlord, Lemieux.

There are about 12,000 tickets in circulation -- most were purchased in conjunction with season-ticket packages -- and while team officials are reluctant to predict how many will be used, they anticipate a crowd roughly twice the size of those for preseason games in recent years.

Crosby appeared in two exhibition games in Wilkes-Barre last week, but said the setting tonight will make this game a bit more significant for him.

"It's not the first regular-season game, but it will be the first time at home," he said. "With the home crowd, it will be nice."

Crosby was well-received by the crowds in Wilkes-Barre -- had the cheers for him at Wachovia Arena been much louder, he might have been mistaken for Andy Chiodo or Dennis Bonvie -- but the fans for whom he will perform tonight are the ones who will watch the early stages of his pro career most closely.

They are the ones who understand how getting Crosby's rights in the NHL draft lottery helped the Penguins accelerate the process of constructing a contender. And they are the ones who could infuse tonight's game, as well as one against Washington Sunday, with an excitement rarely seen at exhibition games here.

"I think it's going to be different this year, especially with Sidney playing," Lemieux said. "People want to see him. They've been hearing a lot about him, and I think our fans are looking forward to seeing him for the first time. It should be a fun day for us."

Especially if they find a way to beat Columbus, and manage to look good in the process. Which they've found to be almost as difficult as winning for the past week or so.

Most of the lines Olczyk has deployed so far -- with the exception of the Murley-Talbot-Ryan VandenBussche unit -- haven't meshed with any regularity, although the LeClair-Crosby-Recchi unit showed promise in its lone game together. What's more, many players have struggled with the crackdown on obstruction-related infractions.

The rules are the same for every team, though, and so is the starting date of the regular season. If the Penguins want to be as excited about their personnel and potential when the real games begin as they were at the start of camp, winning at least a couple of their remaining exhibition games would be a good start.

"It'd be nice to win some games," Thibault said. "I think we will. It's not fun to lose, even if it's exhibitions."