Lemieux To Lemaire: See You On Ice

Lemieux Has That Look In His Eyes

CANONSBURG, Pa., 8:33 p.m. EST February 14, 2001 -- Mario Lemieux insists he isn't feuding with Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire, the first NHL coach or player to publicly chastise Lemieux since he began his successful comeback.

The look in his eye — the same look Lemieux has gotten before when he was about to have a big game or was motivated by an opponent's words or deeds — said otherwise.

After Lemieux criticized the Wild's clutching tactics in a 4-2 victory Sunday over Pittsburgh, Lemaire responded by suggesting Lemieux shouldn't have come out of retirement if he didn't want contact.

Lemieux wouldn't get into a war of words before Wednesday night's Wild-Penguins rematch, but was aware of Lemaire's remarks.

"I've got enough problems myself without having to pick a fight with Jacques Lemaire. That's his point of view and I respect that," Lemieux said Tuesday. "We've got a game tomorrow, and we've got to be ready to play hard for 60 minutes and win the game.

"We have something to prove against these guys."

Lemieux expects to play better than he did Sunday, when he was held scoreless for only the second time in 19 comeback games. The sore back that bothered him for two games last weekend felt much better Tuesday, and he skated for the Penguins' entire hour-long practice.

How much Lemaire's comments bothered him, Lemieux wasn't saying.

"It's not a wide-open game, which they (the Penguins) would love," Lemaire said Monday. "If we're not allowed to hit and not allowed to check, I'm coming back (as a player), too. I'm going to play in this league if nobody touches me, or nobody back-checks on me, and if they let me make plays and shoot on the net and get 2-on-1s and breakaways."

The Wild coach also said the Penguins relied on clutching and grabbing more than his team did, and he planned to report it to the NHL office.

That drew a laugh from Lemieux's linemate, Kevin Stevens — the same player Lemaire said was "lucky" to be in the league. Lemaire was apparently referring to Stevens' drug arrest a year ago when he played for the Rangers.

"There's not too many guys on our team who clutch and grab," Stevens said. "If they can find 'em, let me know because we probably could use a few more guys who clutch and grab.

"Maybe they (the Wild) are playing a little game, I don't know."

What the Wild play very effectively is the neutral-zone trap, or at least a variation of what the Lemaire-coached New Jersey Devils used in winning the Stanley Cup in 1995.

The trap forces teams that thrive in the open ice, like the Penguins, to fight for every inch of open ice in the neutral zone and can cause turnovers even before a team can advance the puck past the blue line.

The Penguins made a few tactical changes in practice Tuesday to counter the trap, spending considerable time setting up breakout plays from their own zone. They also moved newly acquired center Wayne Primeau to the third line alongside Jan Hrdina and Josef Beranek. Alexei Morozov had been playing there.

"We need to generate our own offense and not let the other team dictate what we do on the ice," Lemieux said. "They're coming into our building, and we have to prove we're one of the top teams in the league."

In the future, Lemieux said, he might skip the second game of back-to-back games or miss a one-game road trip if it would be more beneficial to get back treatment.

"Maybe I should have stayed home (Sunday) and done some work on it, but I felt pretty decent after the afternoon game (Saturday) and I thought it would be a good idea to play," Lemieux said. "From now on, I have to be a little bit more careful and look at the big picture."

Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.