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Tuesday, March 18, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Matchup: Detroit Red Wings vs. Penguins, 7:38 p.m. today, Mellon Arena.

TV, radio: Fox Sports Net; WWSW-FM (94.5); WBGG-AM (970).

Probable goaltenders: Johan Hedberg for the Penguins, Manny Legace for the Red Wings.

Penguins: Lost, 7-3, in Detroit Oct. 25 and were outshot, 44-27. ... RW Rico Fata has scored or set up five of team's six goals in past four games ... Have scored two or fewer goals, total of 11, in past 10 games.

Red Wings: Are 15-1-0-1 in past 17 games and have given up more than two goals only four times in that span. ... Line of C Henrik Zetterberg, LW Pavel Datsyuk and RW Brett Hull has combined for 75 points in past 20 games. ... Rank second in NHL with nine short-handed goals, including four by RW Kirk Maltby.

Hidden stat: Game will feature four of top 10 goal-scorers in NHL history: Hull is fifth at 709, Mario Lemieux seventh at 682, Steve Yzerman ninth at 658, Luc Robitaille 10th at 628.

The Penguins practiced for an hour yesterday morning at Mellon Arena, the coaching staff emphasizing crisp passing and more frequent shooting. On more than one occasion, Coach Rick Kehoe and assistant Randy Hillier raised voices to make their points. The only players who did not participate were C Mario Lemieux and D Dick Tarnstrom, their ice-time leaders, and LW Ramzi Abid, who has a knee injury but is expected to play tonight. He was hurt Sunday in the 4-2 home loss to the Panthers but did not miss a shift.

The Red Wings will be without D Jiri Fischer (knee). C Steve Yzerman was rested Sunday for the 6-2 home victory against the Senators, but that was because he is being held out of back-to-back games to protect his surgically repaired knee. He played his first game of the season Feb. 24.

For the second time this season, the coaching staff is questioning D Michal Rozsival's willingness to play through pain. Rozsival is practicing with the team but has missed the past seven games because of a sprained thumb, complaining that he cannot shoot the puck. Kehoe yesterday joked that D Joel Bouchard, who is practicing despite likely being done for the season because of a broken jaw, has a better chance of returning before Rozsival does. The staff also had been critical of Rozsival for the length of his 15-game recovery from a separated shoulder Nov. 18-Dec. 17.

The game tonight could not appear to be more of a mismatch. The Red Wings are the defending Stanley Cup champions, owners of a $70 million payroll and a roster loaded with no fewer than seven future Hall of Fame candidates in C Steve Yzerman, C Sergei Fedorov, C Igor Larionov, RW Brett Hull, LW Luc Robitaille, D Nicklas Lidstrom and D Chris Chelios. On top of that, Detroit is peaking, having won 15 of its past 17 games. The Penguins do have the only player currently in the NHL who already is in the Hall, Lemieux, but they also have a payroll which is roughly a third of Detroit's, an 0-11-1 streak that is second worst in franchise history and a roster which includes nine players who have spent at least a portion of this season in the AHL. Despite all that, Penguins G Johan Hedberg insisted he is looking forward to the Red Wings, the only NHL team he has not faced in his three-year career: "We've got everything to win and nothing to lose. I'm so sick and tired of this losing streak right now. I would do anything to get a win. What we've got to do is play a gritty game, play well defensively and stay out of the box. If we give them space, they're going to hurt us."

With the acquisition of D Mathieu Schneider at the NHL trading deadline a week ago, the Red Wings increased to 10 the number of players they will pay $2 million or more this season. They have more players making $8 million or more -- Lidstrom ($10.5 million), Yzerman ($8.5 million) and G Curtis Joseph ($8 million) -- than the Penguins have making $1.5 million or more. Lemieux ($5.25 million) and C Martin Straka ($4 million) are atop the Penguins' list, with C Brian Holzinger ($1.25 million) a distant third.

At least one of the Red Wings will have plenty of financial motivation to score against the Penguins tonight. Hull's hat trick Sunday gave him 33 goals for the season, leaving him two shy of achieving an automatic $4.5 million contract extension for next season. His contract, signed before the 2001-02 season, states that if he scores 65 goals in a two-year span and the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup at least once, another year is to be added. Even if he were to fail to score two more goals, however, the Red Wings and Hull are expected to work out an agreement to keep him in Detroit.

The Penguins have scored only 17 goals in their 12-game slide, and that cannot be blamed solely on the many newcomers and younger players in the lineup. Not when the team's top two offensive talents have contributed as little as Lemieux and Straka have in the past two weeks. Lemieux was carrying the offense for the first half of the streak, but he has one goal and one assist in his past six games. He also has had a minus rating in nine consecutive games that has dropped his season total to minus-20. Straka is without a goal in 10 games and has only three assists in that span. Lemieux and Straka played together for most of the streak before Kehoe split them Sunday, putting Lemieux with Holzinger and RW Mikael Samuelsson, and Straka between Abid and RW Eric Meloche. They will remain that way for the start of the game tonight.

Fewer than 3,500 tickets remain for the game tonight.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (30-29-5-5) lost to Saint John, 5-0, at First Union Arena. G Robbie Tallas stopped 34 of 39 shots.

WHEELING (25-36-3) lost, 3-2, at Lexington. LW Bobby Russell scored his 21st goal, D Jean-Philippe Soucy his seventh. C Zenon Konopka had two assists. G Mike Valley stopped 22 of 25 shots.