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Back-to-back games reduced in 2001-02

Thursday, July 12, 2001

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The Penguins' 2001-02 schedule, released by the NHL yesterday, has plenty of noteworthy points.

A two-week break for the Olympics. An opener against the Stanley Cup champions on national television. Plenty of additional Saturday afternoon home games. A visit from the Washington Capitals -- Jaromir Jagr's new employer -- four days before Christmas.

But the most important aspect of the schedule is the reduced number of back-to-back games and how that might affect Mario Lemieux's back.

The Penguins will play only 17 sets of back-to-back games, five fewer than last season, fulfilling a request the team made of the league months ago after Lemieux was advised by doctors that the best time to rest his back was when the team played on consecutive days.

Lemieux said a month ago he plans to play no more than 65 or 70 out of the 82 regular-season games to ensure he has plenty of energy for the playoffs, but the new schedule could boost that number.

"We wanted as few back-to-backs as possible, and we might have gotten even fewer if it hadn't been an Olympic year because that makes a schedule much more challenging," said Tom McMillan, the Penguins' vice president of communications. "Especially with Mario's situation, we made back-to-backs the priority over things like which days of the week we had. We knew there was going to be a trade-off."

Last summer, the Penguins pushed hard for specific matchups and specific dates to help sell tickets. But the team sold out the final 32 games of last season, including eight in the playoffs, after Lemieux returned Dec. 27.

His presence had a significant impact on the schedule in another way: Television wants to show him as often as possible.

The Penguins will open the season Oct. 3 at Mellon Arena against the defending champion Colorado Avalanche. Faceoff is 8 p.m., a half-hour later than usual, because the game will be televised nationally by ESPN. The first puck drop of the NHL season will occur an hour earlier in Toronto in a game between the Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.

Also because of television, the Penguins will play nothing but afternoon home games on Saturdays in 2002. After a Dec. 29 night game against the Senators, the final seven Saturday home games start at 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. ABC will show all of those games nationally or regionally. The Penguins played only five afternoon home games last season. The previous season, there was one.

"Those were the things the league and the TV people asked us to do," McMillan said. "With Mario's comeback, we're a very hot item for TV. Last year, they couldn't plan for us because they made their schedules before they knew Mario was coming back. Now, they can plan for him."

The Penguins will have a two-week break Feb. 13-26 while NHL players, including Lemieux, participate in the Olympics at Salt Lake City. That tournament will push back the close of the league's regular season to April 14, a week later than last season. The Penguins' final game is April 13 at Boston, and the playoffs will begin April 17 or 18.

Other schedule highlights:

Jagr and the Capitals also will come to Pittsburgh March 24. The Penguins will play at the MCI Center Dec. 11 and Dec. 22.

There will be 13 home games each on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There will be four on Tuesdays, three each on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays, and two on Thursdays.

The longest homestand will be five games, Dec. 12-21. The longest road trip will be four games, which will happen three times: Nov. 6-13, Nov. 29-Dec. 26, April 3-8. The second of those trips spans the continent in eight days, with visits to San Jose, Phoenix, Toronto and Boston.

The Penguins will face their Atlantic Division rivals five times each. They will play the rest of the Eastern Conference's teams four times each. They will face most Western Conference teams twice.

The Penguins will not travel to face the Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild. Teams that will not visit Mellon Arena are the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators.

Three road games will be only a three-hour drive from Pittsburgh: Oct. 14 and Jan. 10 at Buffalo and Feb. 28 at Columbus.

The Penguins will play only three home-and-home series, with the Senators, Capitals and Montreal Canadiens. Last season, they had seven.

The NHL All-Star Game is Feb. 2 in Los Angeles.