Penguins still uncertain of Lemieux's return By ALAN ROBINSON AP Sports Writer Monday November 19, 2001 6:11 PM CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) - The wait goes on for Mario Lemieux. Lemieux, off to the slowest start of his career because of season-long hip pain, missed practice again Monday and might not play Wednesday when the Pittsburgh Penguins meet Vancouver. Lemieux rushed himself back into the lineup after missing five games following arthroscopic hip surgery Oct. 29, only to pull himself out again after three games as the pain persisted. The player-owner sat out a 1-0 overtime victory Saturday against the New York Rangers and, if he misses Wednesday's game, his latest layoff might stretch to at least three games. The Penguins play Friday at Nashville before returning home to play Buffalo on Saturday, and it would seem unlikely he would try to play in back-to-back games when he is not yet 100 percent. "He's questionable, and I don't really know if he's going to be ready," coach Rick Kehoe said Monday. "We're in a stretch now where he can take a couple of days and rest and do what he has to do. He feels a little sore and that's why he didn't play the other night or practice, to get a little rest." Lemieux admittedly hastened his recovery after the operation to remove torn cartilage, so he might not want to risk returning prematurely this time. "He got the OK to play, he felt good and we weren't scoring a lot of goals and he's such a competitive guy, he wanted to get back in the lineup and help the team," Kehoe said. "But he jump-started himself too early and, hopefully, he'll get a little break now and gets to be 100 percent healthy." For now, the Penguins are taking it game by game, trying to manufacture their offense elsewhere until Lemieux returns. They got an overtime goal from Jan Hrdina with slightly more than 18 seconds remaining to win Saturday, and Alexei Kovalev had consecutive three-goal games in a victory over New Jersey and a tie against the Islanders before that. "We know we're going to get Mario back eventually and when he does come back, this team will have a new look," said rookie Toby Petersen, who has played on Lemieux's line. "It's going to be a different team, too." And, the Penguins hope, a different Lemieux. Despite Lemieux's slow start, Kehoe doesn't detect any dropoff in Lemieux's game despite his 44-month retirement that ended 11 months ago or his advancing age. Lemieux turned 36 last month. Kehoe said it is unfair to judge Lemieux's play by his statistics - one goal and nine assists in 11 games - because he hasn't been healthy since late in training camp. Lemieux tried to play his way through the pain early in the season before deciding to undergo surgery. "Until the injury, he was looking forward to a big year," Kehoe said. "From the end of training camp, we haven't seen him 100 percent. Once he becomes 100 percent, it's just a matter of getting back into game condition. "Sometimes that takes a little while, but there is no reason why, in a couple of more weeks, if this heals and he's 100 percent, he won't be putting up the numbers."
