TAMPA, Fla. -- Mario Lemieux believes there is a place for goalie Marc-Andre Fleury on the Penguins' major-league roster, and said yesterday that he believes general manager Craig Patrick is trying to figure out how to get him to the NHL.

"I haven't talked to Craig about it," Lemieux said, "but that's certainly something I'm sure he's looking at."

The problem is not with Fleury's credentials -- he is, by any measure, the top goalie in the American Hockey League this season -- but with his contract: Fleury could earn between $4 million and $5 million in salary and bonuses in the NHL, and that's a financial hit ownership is unwilling to take.

Lemieux said the Penguins' payroll was about $31 million when the season began, but has risen to "probably" $33.5 million because of promotions, injuries and other personnel moves. Picking up Fleury's contract -- without first paring the payroll by a similar amount -- isn't practical, he said.

"We're not going to take that loss," Lemieux said. "We're losing $7 million already. We're not going to lose $12 [million]. It's not good business."

Neither is losing, however, and weak goaltending has played a major role in the Penguins' disappointing start. Neither Jocelyn Thibault nor Sebastien Caron has played consistently well, although Thibault strung together three strong starts in a row earlier this month.

"I think it's important that you get the big save at the right time, to keep your team in the game," Lemieux said. "And it seems like we're not able to do that at the right time."

The Penguins enter their game against Tampa Bay 5 p.m. today at the St. Pete Times Forum with the league's highest goals-against average, 4.04.

Whether Fleury could upgrade the Penguins' goaltending is conjecture, but Lemieux seems optimistic about the chances, and points to Fleury's play during a 3-2 overtime victory in Philadelphia Nov. 16 as evidence.

"I think he's shown in the past that he can win big games," Lemieux said. "He faced [47] shots in Philly and did pretty well."

Fleury had a 10-2 record (with both losses in overtime), a 1.57 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage in the AHL before the Penguins' Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm team played at Binghamton last night.

Golden Grahame

The Penguins obviously have goaltending problems, and history suggests they'll have one of a different sort this evening, if, as expected, they're forced to try to get pucks past Tampa Bay goalie John Grahame.

He has a career record of 7-1, with one tie, against them, compiling a 1.88 goals-against average in the process. If he put up numbers like those against every team, Grahame might have been in the Hall of Fame before he turned 25.

Nonetheless, Grahame said yesterday that he cannot explain his success against the Penguins -- "I've just been able to be fortunate against them" -- and that he wasn't even aware of it until a season or so ago.

"I don't really keep track of it," he said. "They have a lot of skill over there, and you have to be ready to make some saves."

Friday night frights

The Penguins' miserable showing during a 6-3 loss to Florida Friday, when the Panthers scored on four of their first eight shots, pretty much mirrored the Lightning's 8-2 loss to New Jersey that night, as Tampa Bay gave up three goals on the Devils' first four shots.

But after going 5-0-1 in the six games before facing New Jersey the Lightning isn't likely to experience another implosion today.

"We're not dwelling on [the New Jersey game] at all," captain Dave Andreychuk said yesterday. "We realize that we weren't ready to play that game. We're just going to push it aside and move on.

"This team is mature enough to realize that. There are so many games on the schedule that you're going to have those nights. You just have to put them behind you and not let it snowball."