Death March
Rugged Schedule To Test Pens
By Bob Grove

For just a moment, Mark Recchi was not in a hurry to get anywhere. Some 14 hours removed from touching down at Pittsburgh International Airport after a Friday night victory in New Jersey, the Penguins' ageless right wing had just completed practice at Southpointe and sat in his stall, watching reporters queue up to speak with Sidney Crosby, watching Ryan Whitney fire balls of tape across the dressing room, thinking about the fact more than half the team was still on the ice doing God-knows-what.

Kids.

"The hardest thing with these guys," says Recchi, half amused, "is that they love to be on the ice, and the hardest part is tapering them down a little bit, making sure they're ready for games. I mean, it's a great sign for them. But I think they're getting a better understanding of it."

If that's true-and the length of the makeshift games the Penguins' teenagers and 20-somethings were playing that day before a rapturous Washington County crowd hinted otherwise-then the timing couldn't be better. The Team That Won't Leave The Ice won't get much of a chance to do so this month.

The final full month of Pittsburgh's first playoff push in six years will be played according to a schedule put together by someone with a sick sense of humor. Or perhaps someone who figured the Penguins, 29th overall last season, wouldn't mind because they'd be long gone from the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Seventeen games in 31 days, as it turns out, will be just another challenge for hockey's most talked-about young team, a team that earned that status with a breathtaking 14-0-2 run into mid-February that had 11 other teams looking up to find Pittsburgh in the standings. Even so, it's one more obstacle a guy like Recchi could do without.

"It's crazy," he deadpans. "I don't know how the league lets that happen, to be honest with you."

The NHL hasn't let it happen to anyone else, as the Penguins will play more games in March than any other team-and five more than defending Cup champion Carolina, which entered March needing every possible point just to reach the playoffs again. Only once before in the Penguins' 40-year history have they played 17 games in one month, going 10-6-1 in December 1990 on the way to their first Cup.

"You've got to take advantage of your time off," says Crosby, who in late February was threatening to relegate the league scoring race into a contest for second place only. "It's a grind, especially because. . . if it's 17 in October it's a little different than 17 in March. It's a lot more intense and emotional now. Mentally and physically, you have to get away when you can, because your mind is on nothing but hockey at those times."

The Penguins got a little taste of their March grind during a bizarre patch of schedule in mid-February that saw them play two games in less than 24 hours and three in less than 72 hours. The day after Recchi left Southpointe, the Penguins beat the Capitals at home in a 3:35 p.m. game and then saw their streak end on Long Island in a loss to the Islanders in a 1 p.m. game in which they looked tired.

There's probably a lesson in there, says veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar.

"You have to be smart about everything: smart when you're eating, watch what you're eating, take all your rest, make sure you spend your energy right," he said. "The game is so intense, such a high tempo, you have to make sure you're ready when the game comes."

The Penguins' roster is the second-youngest in the NHL, which bodes well for the upcoming month. But that might mean getting the young players into the dressing room immediately after practice, as difficult as that may be.

"Obviously, they're going to recover quicker than older guys, but at the same time they have to watch themselves, make sure they're not staying out there after practice too long, because sometimes you can spend a lot of energy just playing around," says Gonchar. "In one way it's good for them, but in another way, experience is an issue. You have to be smart about all those things."

Recchi said he wouldn't hesitate to speak to his teammates if it helps them deal with a March schedule that includes nine road games, four sets of back-to-back games and seven games against Atlantic Division rivals.

"There's a day a gym day might be better than a skate day: do a little work in there and you'll be better off for it," he said. "It's what we have to deal with. You have to make sure you get your rest, really stay focused, because there's not going to be a lot of practice time, so when we do get opportunities to practice we have to take advantage of it and try and stay as physically and mentally fit as possible."

In addition to their youth, the Penguins also enter the final quarter of their season with an unmistakable aura of confidence they didn't have earlier. That should pay off as well when the inevitable tough times ensue this month.

"Winning has a lot to do with it, but the way we're playing, the way we're on the same page, that gives you confidence, too," says Gonchar. "You know what to expect from the guy next to you. You know what's going to happen the next minute system-wise, and that's why the confidence is going high. When you're playing right, playing within a system, you're always going to create chances. And we have a lot of talent in this room to use those chances."

Added Crosby, "We've gotten some huge goals from every guy around the room. It just makes everyone believe that no matter what the situation, no matter what the score, you have a chance to win every night."

Even when it seems like you're playing every night.

PSR Senior Writer Bob Grove has been covering the Penguins since 1981 and currently serves as a regular co-host on the Penguins Radio Network.