OTTAWA -- Defenseman Brooks Orpik did not make it into the Penguins' lineup for their game against Ottawa at Scotiabank Place last night, but he expects to be back soon.

Perhaps when they visit Atlanta tomorrow night or, at worst, for their game Monday at Florida.

"It's feeling better every day," Orpik said yesterday.

"I'm probably farther along physically than I think I am, but it's a bit of a mental hurdle as well. Just confidence in the injury being over with."

Although neither the Penguins nor Orpik, who was hurt in a 3-0 loss last Tuesday in Boston, have divulged the nature of his injury, he is wearing a large brace on his right knee.

While the precise nature of his injury remains a mystery, one thing that seems to be certain is that he won't aggravate it by playing.

"From talking to the doctors, they say I can't do anything worse to it," Orpik said.

"It's something that's more [discomfort caused by] scar tissue or something like that than it is me reinjuring it."

Ottawa center Mike Fisher, best-known for his solid two-way play, entered the game last night with nine goals in 18 games.

Teammate Jason Spezza, regarded as one of the league's better offensive talents, had one goal over the same span.

Fisher was understandably pleased with his output, even though he was hard-pressed to fully explain it.

"It's one of those things where, sometimes, you get in streaks or spurts where the puck seems to go in, and it's done that for me early this season," he said. "For whatever reason, the puck's been going in."

Spezza, conversely, acknowledged frustration with his inability to get goals, despite the praise he has received for upgrading his overall performance.

"I've worked hard on my conditioning and trying to play a more complete game, but I'm definitely frustrated right now with the fact that I only have one goal," he said.

"I expect more of myself offensively. I think I definitely can produce more. I look forward to getting rolling a little bit, just getting back to playing solid around the net."

The formula for doing so, Spezza suggested, is reduce the game to its fundamentals.

"When you're struggling, the simpler things happen, the better," he said. "It's going to be an ugly one [that ends the drought], I'm sure. If it's a nice one, I'll have to wait until an ugly one comes."

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar was back in uniform against the Senators after sitting out 12 games with a broken wrist.

Precisely when he will be back in pre-injury form, however, is something on which he declined to speculate.

"It's hard to predict," he said. "I missed a month, and it's going to take me a while to get going, I'm sure. But it's one of those things where there is no recipe. You just have to go out there and play."

Gonchar said he did not anticipate taking any steps to protect his damaged wrist --"With that kind of injury, you can't really put tape inside of my wrist on the bone" -- and was adamant that he did not return to the lineup prematurely because of all the injuries the Penguins have had on defense.

"No, no, no," he said. "This kind of injury, you have to make sure everything is healed correctly. I'm not trying to do something because someone else is injured.

"We've talked to the doctors, we've done another MRI and X-ray and everything, and everything is looking good."

With Orpik still out of the mix and Mark Eaton's status for last night uncertain, the Penguins recalled defenseman Chris Lee from Wilkes-Barre. Lee is the leading scoring among Baby Penguins defensemen, with one goal and six assists in 15 games. He also has 41 shots, third-most on the team.

Lee, 24, is 6-foot, 185 pounds and has played 185 career games in the American Hockey League.

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said forward Tyler Kennedy's recovery from what is believed to be a groin injury is "moving along in a positive direction," but did not specify a target date for his return. ... Ottawa winger Jarkko Ruutu on the run of injuries for his old club: "We don't want them healthy. They're way too good for that."

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