Every Penguins player had at least a minor stake in the arena negotiations between team executives and various elected officials yesterday, but none had more on the line than forwards Ryan Malone and Mark Recchi.

Malone is a Western Pennsylvania native and the first player trained in this area to play for the Penguins, while Recchi put down permanent roots here several years ago.

Malone describes himself as "a huge Penguins fan growing up," and noted yesterday that he is part of a wave of players from the region who have turned up in NHL rosters and draft lists in recent years.

"A lot of us are making it to the NHL now," he said.

Despite his strong, long-standing emotional ties to the team, Malone said he understands the position in which primary owner Mario Lemieux and his partners have found themselves in recent months.

"Mario, I think, has been patient enough," he said. "We all see that.

"He's got to do what's right for the team."

Recchi said he intends to play next season, regardless of where his current club is based.

"[Even] if the team leaves, I'll definitely want to play," he said.

"This is what I do. It's my job. It's what I like to do. I'm not quite ready to pack it in yet."

Therrien's father dies

Penguins coach Michel Therrien's father, Gerry, died yesterday in Montreal after suffering a series of strokes. He was 77.

Therrien was behind the bench for last night's game against New Jersey but is returning to Montreal and will miss today's practice as well as tomorrow afternoon's game against the New York Rangers.

Assistant coaches Andre Savard and Mike Yeo will oversee the team in his absence, with Savard designated as the assistant-in-charge.

Therrien drove from Ottawa to Montreal after the Penguins' 5-4 shootout victory Tuesday against the Senators to visit with his father but returned Wednesday to Pittsburgh.

Eighteen is enough

Devils defenseman Colin White was a late scratch after being injured in the pregame warmup.

His absence, coupled with that of right winger Brian Gionta, who did not play because of a groin problem, forced New Jersey to get by with 18 players.

That presumably didn't create a major headache for New Jersey coach Claude Julien, who had said after the game-date skate that he wasn't concerned about being down one man.

"You just have to deal with the players you have at hand, and not worry about what you haven't got," he said. "That's all I can do, and that's all the players can do.

"They have to go out there and perform. I don't see any [reason] why you can win with 18 [skaters] and not with 17."

Gionta missed eight games because of his groin injury, then aggravated it in a 5-4 overtime loss Tuesday in Philadelphia. Because he is so valuable to the Devils, they are not likely to rush him back into the lineup.

"It's important for us to make sure he's 100 percent for the stretch run," Julien said.

Gomez's drop off

New Jersey center Scott Gomez stunned a lot of people when he scored 33 goals in 2005-06 -- he had gotten more than 14 only once in any of his previous seasons -- but has reverted to form since last fall. He entered last night with 10 goals in 59 games, and none in his previous 11.

Slap shots

Michel Ouellet, who sat out the Ottawa game, returned to the lineup last night, while defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski made his Penguins debut. Forwards Nils Ekman, Ronald Petrovicky and Chris Thorburn and defenseman Alain Nasreddine were healthy scratches. ... Devils winger Cam Janssen completed his three-game suspension for a hit on Toronto defenseman Tomas Kaberle. ... Penguins all-star center Sidney Crosby, on whether he's been thinking about where the franchise will be based next fall: "Obviously, I want to stay here, but you can't afford to let your mind wander [to] what's going to happen next year. It's not going to help."