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Friday, October 18, 2002

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

LOOKING AHEAD

Next game: Penguins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:38 p.m. tomorrow, Mellon Arena. TV, radio: WNPA-TV; WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970).

NOTEBOOK

RW Aleksey Morozov, who missed most of the Penguins' 3-2 victory against Atlanta Wednesday because of a badly gashed left ear, got through the team's 65-minute workout at Southpointe yesterday with no major problems. "There was a little bit [of pain], but that's normal if you get hit with the puck," he said, acknowledging that the headache caused by being struck by a puck shot by Atlanta's Lubos Bartecko hadn't gone away entirely. Morozov also reiterated that, contrary to reports from team officials Wednesday, he needed 27 stitches, not 50, to repair his injured ear. Morozov's linemates, Mario Lemieux and Alexei Kovalev, were at Southpointe, but did not participate in practice yesterday.

The workout yesterday was surprisingly long and demanding for a team that has won three consecutive games while playing every other night, and that could easily be interpreted as a message from Coach Rick Kehoe to his players that their third-period letdown against the Thrashers was unacceptable. Atlanta rallied from a three-goal deficit during the final 13 minutes of regulation and came perilously close to forcing overtime. Kehoe smiled while declining to confirm that the workout had anything to do with the Thrashers' game, saying only that an observer could characterize it as "whatever you want to call it."

G Johan Hedberg has a unique perspective on Morozov, since he never has faced him in a game but goes against him almost every day in practice. And he is adamant that he isn't surprised to see Morozov get off to such a strong start - nine points in his past seven periods of work - this season. "I've been seeing his scoring touch since the first day I came to this team," Hedberg said. "I was just waiting for it to come through [during games]. He maybe looks sometimes like he's sleeping, but he's going to be there when the puck's around the net and he's going to score on his chances." He also credits Morozov with helping Lemieux be so productive during the first week of the season. "When [Lemieux] is playing the way he is, it certainly helps out [his linemates]," Hedberg said. "But he has to have the right players with him to be successful, and [Morozov] certainly is one of those guys."

D Ian Moran seemed like a lock for the Helmet of the Week award with the oversized, spray-painted headgear he sported during the Penguins' game-day skate in Toronto Monday, but D Marc Bergevin provided some serious competition yesterday when he went through practice wearing a model that looked like it had come from an archaeological dig. "I grew up wearing a helmet like [that] in minor hockey," Bergevin said. He professed to having a good reason for wearing it, though: Because it has less padding than his normal helmet, it did not irritate a bruised area on the side of his head. Whatever Bergevin's reason, Moran was impressed. "He's old-school," Moran said. "His is nice. It was in honor of Butch Goring. I think mine was more in honor of the modern infatuation with bobbleheads."

Lemieux has put up 10 points in his past three games and is on pace to finish the season with 205 if he would manage to play in all 82 games. Lemieux probably isn't going to get through the season without missing some games - he never has done it to this point in his career - and it's unlikely he will breach the 200-point barrier. Nonetheless, Lemieux is playing some of the most inspired, and inspiring, hockey he has produced in a long time. "It looks like he's having fun out there," Kehoe said. "The things he's doing, we've seen all those things in previous years, but he still excites you."

While the Penguins won't have to deal with Tampa Bay tough guy Chris Dingman tomorrow - he'll be completing a two-game suspension for high-sticking Jesse Boulerice of Carolina last Saturday - his absence likely will give the Penguins someone else to worry about: LW Fredrik Modin. He has recovered from the groin strain that forced him to sit out the first two games of the season, but, with the Lightning having opened the season with back-to-back victories for the first time in franchise history, Coach John Tortorella might have been reluctant to tamper with his lineup when it faces Atlanta tonight. As it is, Modin, who is good for 20-plus goals in a typical season, figures to slip into Dingman's place on a line with C Alexander Svitov and RW Sheldon Keefe. "Dingman's suspension has created an opening for Fredrik Modin, who might not have had the opportunity otherwise," Lightning GM Jay Feaster told the St. Petersburg Times. "We're going to make this thing a merit system, and, after two games, no one merited coming out of the lineup. Before he was hurt, Modin had been penciled in on a line with Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards.

Tampa Bay seems every bit as excited about its start as the Penguins are about theirs, and Lightning G Nikolai Khabibulin is particularly enthused about the way his teammates are playing in front of him. Tampa Bay allowed an average of 25.5 shots during its first two games - down from 30.8 last season - and is putting a lot of energy into upgrading its team defense. "In our own end, we're trying to cover for each other," Khabibulin told the Tampa Tribune. "Seems like the last two games, everybody was hustling, guys are making a lot of good blocks. There were quite a few scoring chances where guys were blocking shots. That always helps."

The Penguins had their annual meeting with NHL Security after practice yesterday, and received the standard briefing on the perils of various activities and substances. No word on whether they also were cautioned about the evils of trying to make blind passes up the middle of the ice.

MINOR-LEAGUE REPORT

Wednesday's results

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (2-1) did not play.

WHEELING (1-2) did not play.