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HEAD COACH
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Kevin Constantine
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ROSTER
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C - Martin Straka, Robert Lang, Jan Hrdina, Tyler
Wright. LW - German Titov, Kip Miller, Matthew Barnaby, Dan
Kesa. RW - Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Kovalev, Aleksey Morozov, Robby
Brown, Martin Sonnenberg. D - Darius Kasparaitis, Kevin Hatcher,
Brad Werenka, Jiri Slegr, Ian Moran, Sven Butenschon, Bobby
Dollas, Neil Wilkinson, Jeff Serowik, Victor Ignatjev, Maxim
Galanov. G - Tom Barrasso, Peter Skudra, Jean-Sebastian Aubin.
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INJURIES
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Tom Barrasso, g (hand, couple weeks); Victor Ignatjev,
d (shoulder, couple weeks); Jeff Serowik, d (concussion,
indefinite); Kevin Hatcher, d (broken foot, couple weeks); Darius
Kasparaitis, d (knee surgery, done for the season); Maxim
Galanov, d (shoulder, indefinite).
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TRANSACTIONS
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Traded Stu Barnes, lw, to Buffalo for Matthew
Barnaby, lw.
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GAME RESULTS
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3/13 Philadelphia W 4-0
3/16 Dallas T 2-2
3/17 at Tampa Bay W 2-0
3/20 Nashville T 1-1
3/21 at NY Rangers T 2-2
3/23 Chicago W 5-2
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STANDINGS
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Atlantic Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
New Jersey 68 38 22 8 84 201 168
Pittsburgh 69 35 22 12 82 210 182
Philadelphia 71 32 22 17 81 208 172
NY Rangers 71 29 32 10 68 196 199
NY Islanders 71 20 42 9 49 162 209
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TEAM NEWS
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by Jerry Fairish, Pittsburgh Correspondent
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It reads just like an episode of Seinfeld, "Prognosis Negative."
Just as they were starting to put some pieces in place for the
playoffs, the Penguins lost their best defenseman, Darius
Kasparaitis, with a season-ending knee injury. The hard-hitting
blueliner will have to undergo surgery to repair the MCL in his
right knee and will not be able to return until next season.
This was the second time he injured the knee; the first was back
in the pre-season and he was thought to be out for the year.
However, Kaspar opted to rehabilitate the knee and instead only
missed eight games of the season. In a game against the Edmonton
Oilers, Kaspar once again aggravated the injury and will not be
able to recover for the season. This may just about kill the
Penguins chances of being truly competitive in the playoffs.
Kasparaitis could probably play the playoffs if he wanted to,
however, he's only 26 years old and has a whole career ahead of
him. So at this point he decided that it was better to have the
surgery now then to try and play and risk his whole career.
Kasparaitis isn't only the defenseman the Pens have had to play
without recently, they've lost Kevin Hatcher (broken foot, 3-4
weeks), Jeff Serowik who is day-to-day due to a concussion that
he can not shake, Victor Ignatjev (shoulder, indefinite), and
Maxim Galanov (shoulder, indefinite).
The Penguins have no doubt been hurt by the injuries, so they've
called up defenseman Sven Butenschon to fill the void.
Butenschon has done a very good job trying to help out the
defense, but let's face it he's no Darius Kasparaitis. Kaspar
was the emotional leader out there. His vicious checks would
help motivate the other players to pick up the pace, which it
usually did. Nobody in the NHL gets under someone's skin like
Kasparaitis. He can make even the elite players in the league
take a penalty solely out of frustration. He's awesome, he's
unrelenting, and he could kick Darcy Tucker's ass any time he
wanted to. Kasparaitis who injured the knee on March 5 was put
on the IR for a week to wait for the swelling to go down.
And finally...
Please send money. Mike Dell and I are strapped.
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