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Tuesday, December 26, 2000

Mario Lemieux was, for a dozen winters, sucker-punched and slashed, held and hacked, and still he managed to be the only player in NHL history to average more than two points per game.

And when his comeback with the Penguins formally begins tomorrow night against Toronto at Mellon Arena, Lemieux should expect to get his share -- and then some -- of abuse from opposing players.

He might get a little extra room and consideration early on -- who wants to be known as the guy who assaulted a legend? -- but if Lemieux puts up points the way many observers expect, other teams figure to begin viewing him strictly as an offensive force to be stopped by any means necessary.

Having Lemieux back won't seem so great for the game when it's their team that's serving as his supporting cast on the highlights shows.

And Lemieux is realistic about how other teams will treat him. The bruises he got during his first go-round have long since healed, but Lemieux knows he'll be getting some fresh ones real soon.

"I don't think that's going to change," he said. "That's the way it's been in the past. I'm just another player out there trying to compete, and obviously I'm going to have to be aware of that, that there might be some guys taking some shots.

"But I've dealt with that my whole career, trying to get away from checkers or defensemen. I'm used to that, and I know how to deal with it."

Trivia question

The Penguins will play the first of four consecutive games at Mellon Arena when Toronto visits tomorrow. How many times have the Penguins swept such a homestand? Answer at end.

Food for thought

If the Penguins win their game in Buffalo this evening, it probably will be because a big-time forward like Jaromir Jagr or Alexei Kovalev had an excellent game. Or perhaps because Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek had an off-night.

Or maybe, just maybe, because the Penguins had some particularly good toast, muffins and fruit during the pre-game snack at their hotel.

That mini-meal became part of the Penguins game-day routine earlier this season, when they had an early game-day skate before an 8:08 start at Madison Square Garden.

The Penguins played well in that game, a 4-1 victory, and promptly made the snack a part of their routine. Coincidentally or otherwise, the Penguins are 8-4-5-1 on the road this season, one of the best away marks in the league.

"It's nothing magical," conditioning coach John Welday said.

Maybe not. But you'd never know it from their record.

No love lost

There are a lot of rivalries in the NHL. Some pretty fierce ones, when you get right down to it.

Penguins farmhand Andrew Ference, however, pointed out recently that his team in the Western Hockey League, the Portland Winter Hawks, had a rivalry with the Seattle Thunderbirds that likely equaled -- if not surpassed -- anything in the NHL.

And if familiarity truly breeds contempt, it's no surprise that those clubs didn't care much for each other.

"One year, we played them 16 times out of 72 games," Ference said. "We had a war. And that's not even counting exhibition and playoffs."

Because Portland and Seattle are just a few hours apart on Interstate 5, WHL officials had no qualms about pairing the Winter Hawks and Thunderbirds at every opportunity. And then doing it again.

"We'd go stretches where we'd play them four games in a row," Ference said. "We wouldn't go night after night after night after night, but home-and-home, then a couple of days off, then home-and-home again.

"I hated Seattle. After playing them for four years ... I probably played them over 100 times. A guy on the other team could be the nicest guy, but you'd still hate him because you play them so many times."

Freedom of speech

Penguins forward Matthew Barnaby had a highly publicized falling-out with Hasek during their days together in Buffalo, when they were on opposite sides of an inflamed debate over the merits of then-Coach Ted Nolan.

Barnaby actually threatened to "run" Hasek during training camp because of his belief that Hasek played a leading role in the firing of Nolan, with whom Barnaby is very close.

Barnaby, though, views their feud as ancient history, and actually defends Hasek's right to express his opinions, no matter how much Barnaby disagreed with them.

"I'm never going to give him a call to see what's going on at the house, but we got through things," he said. "It was over [before Barnaby left the Sabres]. When you're teammates, you've got to get through things.

"When I look back, he had the right to say whatever he wanted about anyone. If he didn't like Ted Nolan at the time, he didn't like him. I stand up for people I really care about, and I did then. But ultimately, you have the right to say whatever you want about anyone."

Barnaby and Hasek won't be interacting, civilly or otherwise, when the Penguins visit HSBC Arena tonight, however, because Barnaby will be sitting out the third game of his four-game suspension for grabbing the arm of a fan at National Car Rental Center last Wednesday.

Sound advice

Jagr has shown signs lately of being ready to reclaim his place among the game's premier players, but if he ever decides to leave hockey, he might have a pretty good career as a guidance counselor.

Certainly, he gave some pretty sound advice to Martin Havlat when they met for the first time in the Czech Republic a few years ago.

"I just met him once, because his dad wanted to meet me and wanted to ask me some questions about whether he should stay in the Czech Republic or come play junior here," Jagr said.

"I told him that if he has a chance to play on the national team, to stay in the Czech Republic, because it's a better level than playing junior here. He should play against big guys in the Czech Republic."

Havlat did precisely as Jagr suggested, and has no reason to second-guess his decision.

"He played for the national team," Jagr said, "and made a name for himself."

Now, Havlat's doing that on this side of the Atlantic. He has eight goals and nine assists in 26 games with Ottawa and, despite a shoulder injury that took a chunk out of his season, ranks among the league's most impressive and promising first-year players.

Marked man

The Penguins hope to have defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, who missed the past three games because of a rib injury, back in the lineup tonight, because he adds a badly needed physical presence.

Kasparaitis, meanwhile, just wishes the officials would give him the opportunity to play his style. Some of them, he believes, almost seem intent on taking body contact out of the game.

"Old-time referees like [Paul Stewart] and [Kerry] Fraser, they'll let you do that," Kasparaitis said. "They'll let you play hard, let you hit. But the new guys who came into the league, it's like they don't like to see a big hit anymore.

"Last year, for the first time in my career, I got suspended twice, I think, just for hitting a guy too hard. Now I've got to think about it every time I go into the corners. Probably, they're looking for me. They know I play that way all the time.

"But there's nothing I can do. I just have to play hard all the time because that's my style. But it kind of bugs me now because I feel like I can hurt the team."

Trivia answer

The Penguins have gone 4-0 in a homestand three times in franchise history. They did it Feb. 15-21, 1975, Jan. 30-Feb. 6, 1988 and Nov. 22-29, 1998.