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head coach: Kevin Constantine

roster: C - Ron Francis, Martin Straka, C. Ferraro, Tyler Wright, Robert Lang, Sean Pronger. LW - Stu Barnes, Andreas Johansson, Alex Hicks, Garry Valk. RW - Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Morozov, Ed Olczyk, Robby Brown, Robert Dome. D - Darius Kasparaitis, Kevin Hatcher, Chris Tamer, Fredrik Olausson, Neil Wilkinson, Ian Moran, Brad Werenka, Jiri Slegr, Tuomas Gronman. G - Tom Barrasso, Ken Wregget.

injuries: Robert Lang, c (broken thumb, one to two weeks); Sean Pronger, c (broken foot, two weeks); Garry Valk, lw (abdominal surgery, indefinite).

transactions: Traded the rights to Patrick Lalime, g, to Anaheim for Sean Pronger, c. Assigned Peter Skudra, g, to Kansas City (IHL).

standings:

Eastern Conference - Northeast Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA
x-Pittsburgh 76  37  22  17    91  209  175  
Boston       74  34  27  13    81  198  175  
Buffalo      75  33  27  15    81  192  170  
Montreal     75  35  30  10    80  219  190 
Ottawa       75  30  31  14    74  175  184  
Carolina     74  31  35   8    70  183  196  
x - Clinched playoff spot

game results:

3/26 at NY Islanders  L 4-3
3/28 at NY Rangers    T 2-2 
3/29 Ottawa           T 1-1 
4/01 San Jose         L 3-2
4/04 at Tampa         W 4-1
4/05 at Florida       L 3-1

team news:

by Brett Taylor, Pittsburgh Correspondent

Pens Struggle: Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis and Stu Barnes combined for seven points to lead the struggling Pens over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. But the Lightning are the only team the Pens have been able to beat lately.

The game broke a 0-2-3 streak and a 0-4-1 road streak, but it didn't last long, because the Pens promptly went out the next night and lost to the Panthers in Miami, 3-1.

Although there have been some bright spots, for example rookie forward Robert Dome has three goals in the past five games and Barrasso is back in the lineup.

Aside from that, things haven't been going so well for the boys. Jagr has been struggling to get the puck in the net. He scored his first in a while against Tampa, now he's got 299 career and the 300th may be hard to come by because he may put a lot of pressure on himself.

The Pens need to pick up the play in the last month of the season. It will be hard for one major reason. The teams they play are not very good. In fact, the schedule has been rather rigorous all season and now that they have played all the good games they only have weak ones left. The problem with that is that the playoffs are only two weeks away. When the postseason starts, teams need to come out with all pistons firing. If they are weak in one area, it could cost them dearly.

Pens coach Kevin Constantine has to get them playing every game like they are playing New Jersey. In fact the closest thing to New Jersey the Pens play the rest of the way is Boston, who trails the Pens by 10 points. The Pens lead both second place Boston and Buffalo by 10 points with six games remaining. Their magic number is seven, so they're all but mathematically going to win the division.

What is at stake is the first round opponent. Right now the Pens have 91 points and are set to play Montreal in the first round.

Francis Keeps on Rolling: Ron Francis moved past former Penguin Bryan Trottier into ninth place on the NHL's all-time scoring list with an assist on Stu Barnes' second-period goal in the March 29 game against Ottawa.

The assist gave Francis 1,426 points in his illustrious career. The whole season has become one milestone after another for Francis. It seems he passes a new one every game.

Ronnie isn't done moving up the scoring list, either. It's a real close race in the next few spots. He'll likely end up fifth all-time by the middle of next year.

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